Shelly Jackson’s Stich Bitch left me scratching my head and all jazzed about Hypertext at the same time. This difficult-to-follow piece navigates in and around the subject of linear and non-linear writing. Amusingly enough the piece seemed to be fairly linear itself.
After a couple of reads I realized that once I got past her erratic writing style, she had some really novel ideas. I found it very interesting, and was surprised that the piece was written in 1995. The idea of a “choose your own ending” style of writing wasn’t new, but the idea of creating this style of writing incorporated with Hypertext was fairly novel.
She brings up a really interesting point in the “Gaps, Leaps” section; if Hypertext and non-linear pieces don’t follow the chute method, then what besides the desire to ‘find out what happens next’ will propel readers to continue reading? Good point. If I’m reading a story to get to a certain end, I like to know that it has one. She then brings up the point that some pieces might be written in an effort to get the reader to stop reading, to start their own non-linear “novel”, to get off the couch, to do something extraordinary.
This chapter inspired me to think of writing in a whole new light. My perceptions of “good writing” haven’t changed, but they’ve certainly expanded, which is comforting because my favorite writing of my own is rather disorganized and passion driven rather than academic-worthy. On an academic level, this piece would be considered atrocious. Her writing is disorganized, rough-draft level at best. But as she brings up in the article, “Every crank with a web page can put together whatever crack-potpourri she pleases.” And that is exactly what I intend to do!
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