Writer's Resources

Q. What is your background and why did you decide to create an Interactive Novel? e.g. did your academic/professional background lead you into this project?

A. I've been writing since I can remember; the first story was The Energy Man, along the lines of The Hardy Boy series. I never lost touch with writing, no matter what line of work I was in. I've been a farmer, a roofer, in the military -- a lot of different jobs. The eight years I spent in the military were interesting, eye-opening, all the normal cliches. In addition to good life experience, I was eligible for the G.I. Bill, a benefit of the U.S. military that pays a certain portion of college. I took advantage of it and went to Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. After an abortive attempt at being a computer engineer, I switched to journalism. My then-wife was the one who suggested that I take those courses, "since (I) always wanted to write."

That was the turning point. I majored in journalism, but I have a double minor in English -- emphasis on Shakespeare and writing poetry. It was during this time that I learned that as much as I loved to write, the joy was in beginning the task, not winding up the tiny details that make a great story/novel. Poetry was a favorite, both writing and reading. Sylvia Plath is my favorite poet, though I also enjoy Galway Kinnel, Anne Sexton, T.S. Elliot and (believe it or not) Kate Bush.

I worked for the college newspaper, the literary magazine and the alumnus tabloid. My destiny in newspapers was set. After graduation I took a job with a small weekly in Wetumpka (WE-tum-ka). I stayed there for four years, tapping away at small weekly things, with big ideas about being a famous poet. Later, I took a job with The Montgomery Advertiser as a copy editor; I still wanted to be a poet.

It was at the Advertiser that I learned that I had a talent that few others had; computers seem to like me. I learned how to use them at a phenomenal rate, and they rarely crashed - at least for me. I started experimenting some with the code that the programmers used for the Harris system that was the Advertiser's front end (this is how reporters/editors get copy into a newspaper). While I wasn't a programmer, I found that I could manipulate the code to get the designs that I wanted in print; I could do things no one else could do. I liked designing pages that reflected the story. I liked working with editors and writers. I wasn't particularly brilliant as a copy editor, but I could make a page jump.

My first marriage was breaking up, and I took another job as a production manager at The University of Alabama to get a away and think about things. I later got a divorce.

Working at the University was miserable. I was no longer a writer, nor an editor. But my talent with computers made the next four years -- at least for the students -- quite wonderful. It was there that I learned about the Net and about designing a basic pagination system that replaced manual paste-up. Seeing the Net and designing the pagination system made me realize -- on an unconcious level -- how tightly tied words and computers would become. The Net in particular.

While at the University, I got married again. A wonderful woman, and we have two children now -- Joe and Rachael. I hated that job, and the woman that I worked for. After four years I was ready to leave. I sent out applications to every job I could find listed, doing anything. I finally got a job as Production Editor for The Press of Atlantic City.

I moved my family from Alabama to New Jersey, bringing a few household things, a Macintosh and a wealth of knowledge about the early Internet. The Web hadn't yet been introduced.

The management at The Press is very forward thinking, and after a year and a half I managed to convince them that we needed to have a presence on the Net. I began with an experiment in my own account, building first a Kate Bush page. My talent with computers held me through - I found that html was easier than any of the coding I had previously attempted. Next, I built The Press of Atlantic City Online (http://www.acy.digex.net/~acpress/acpress.html). It wasn't enough, though. Online culture demands more than information shoveled onto the Web. It demands interactivity.

At a newspaper conference (this year) in the U.S., called Nexpo, I had a brainstorm. I would create what I thought was the ultimate in interactive creativity -- a novel that had writers from around the world contributing from their own viewpoints and cultures. I call it No Dead Trees. It can't be printed on paper, and it must be read on the Web. And even then it may not make any sense.

This novel is now a passion. It's something that I plan to take into my old age. I'm 40, now, and I look forward to working on it when I'm 70.

Q. How much of the structure of the story line, if you can define it in such simple terms, did you put up from the start? e.g. did you just start with a list of characters?

A.There was no structure to speak of. I placed 10 cyberpeople in a room with the barest of descriptions about each. You can still find these descriptions at cast.html. The room had a couch, a rug, a fireplace and a stack of wood. That's all there was.

Q. Have you read much of the critical theory on hypertext and has anything you have read influenced the way you set up the basic structure of you Novel?

A. No. I stumbled across some of the theory later on, and I've read some. But, when I started the novel, I thought it was an original idea. Now, the structure of the novel still depends on reader input. Theory is fine, but if people don't understand, theory is meaningless.

Q. How much time per day do you spend on the novel?

A. Other than the last couple of weeks (my budget again), I spend three hours a day on NDT, except for Sunday. On that day, I work about eight hours.

Q. Did you realise from the start how much time it would take to keep your site updated, and if you had known from the start would you have still took up the project?

No, I didn't know how much time, though some people tried to warn be that it would be time-consuming. And I've made it even more so, by adding artwork and the indexes. I don't mind spending the time, though. I love this project. It's worth the time.

Q. How did you attract writers to submit to the novel?

A. Finding folks for the novel has been an ongoing process. I started with the newsgroups, targeting the creative areas first. I sent posts that described the novel in vague terms, invited them to the URL and then waited. Since then, I've added getting the URL for No Dead Trees listed with other writing and horror sites. I also haunt horror, sci-fi and AD&D newsgroups.

Q. What do you think the main advantages of a piece of hypertext fiction are over the traditional linear form?

A. Have you ever read a book and wanted to know more about another character? Who sh/he was, shere s/he had been prior to the entrance into the written work?

Several times, I've found myself wondering just what had happened to bring a character to a given point in time. With the written work, this is impossible. Its linear nature forbids it, as well as its printed nature; you can't add more pages to a printed work.

With the Interactive Novel, anything can happen. For example, in monica3.html (I believe this is the one.) Monica attacked a young girl wandering the streets. As a reader, I wanted to know, "What was the girl doing out there? Who was she? Is she dead?" Were this a printed work, those questions would go unanswered. In the Interactive Novel, however, all things are answerable. The little girl was entered as a character, and an entire world sprang from her existence. Her name is Aileesha.

But it didn't stop there. Someone must have known who Aileesha was. Someone had to be her parent. Enter Solstacsi and the Packet Worlds. Later additions are Hoppy and Maude.

The single greatest advantage of hypertexted fiction is its tree structure. It can grow forever, in any direction.

Q. What have been your main problems in constructing the 'Interactive Novel' so far?

The second biggest problem, though, is keeping writers interested. They're the lifeblood of the project, but since there is no pay, no glory, and not even a real "printed" byline, they fall by the wayside. I'm beginning now, though, to take the long term view; I plan to be running this novel 20 years from now, so if I don't get a new story every day, or even every week, I don't worry as much as I used to.

The third problem is cohesion. Writers from around the world take part in this novel, and melding their works into a whole is problematic. The plot is still developing, and as such, the characters (and their writers) tend to run a muck. Also, different writing styles -- third person, first person, passive, active -- tend to be distracting to the readers in the group. I'm sure a brilliant editor would have no problems with this; I am not a brilliant editor.

Q. Do you ever feel restricted by the problems of the www? eg.. slow downloading and the differences between web browsers.

A. Many of the users of No Dead Trees are from Europe; NDT is located in the U.S. Slow downloads have been a problem, particularly on graphics intensive pages. I try to keep the graphics to a minimum on story pages, though I use them for illustrative purposes. Different types of Web browsers hasn't been as much of a concern. Since the novel is basically a text file, most can see what's there with ease. I do need to go back and rebuild some links to make it more Lynx compatible, though; the tree link is available to Lynx users.

Beyond that, the novel is perfect for the Web, and definitive of Web culture. It's interactive, and joins many from cultures around the world. That's important to me. The Web, by way of the novel and like works, can make the world a smaller and friendlier place. It allows us to explore our differences in a non-threatening way.

David Benson
No Dead Trees Interactive Novel
http://www.nodeadtrees.com/

Copyright © L J Winson 1995. This page was last updated 08 February 1998 17:26:26