Brooks, Kevin Michael
1999
Metalinear Cinematic Narrative

64-82
Describes approaches to how a story can evolve:

1. 64-67, Knowledge-based Approach: don’t really understand
2. 67-70, Simple-Link Approach: basically the way hypertext/links work; user clicks his way through a story
3. 70-74, Multiple Character Approach: user interacts with characters (see 72: story engine) and learns the story from them
4. 74f, Puzzle Approach: user moves from puzzles to puzzle and learns the story on the way; ARGs do this -> downside: Sean Stewart: TNAG
5. 75-78, Traffic Circle Approach: user starts at a central place from where he goes down story lanes and always returns to the central place
6. 78fSingle-Stream Cinematic Sequence Approach: moving pictures tell something in their order, even if the user is able to choose in what order to watch them
7. 80-82, Folded Approach: not sure this is a real category (perhaps he just wanted to present his past creative work); a main character tells sth (as a moving picture?) -> user can click on screen anytime -> detail about that scene is then told by 12 characters discussing it -> user can click on on of the 12 to hear his perspective (second fold) -> user can make main character talk to that character (third fold)

72
Definition-story engine:
“the term story engine is used to describe a set of software algorithms designed to make decisions regarding how a computer-based story should proceed.” The user does something and the story engine responds in a certain way.

93
“the metalinear form extends the writer’s narrative voice so the writer can say more things in more ways.”

95
“A writer is not so much someone who has something to say as he is someone who has found a process that will bring about new things he would not have thought of if he had not started to say them.” William Stafford, from WRITING THE AUSTRALIAN CRAWL, February 1982

201
“Metalinear narrative is the name proposed by this research for this new narrative form. The metalinear narrative is a collection of small related story pieces designed to be arranged in many different ways, to tell many different linear stories from different points of view, with the aid of a story engine which sequences the story pieces.”

202
“Metalinear narrative has three primary components:

• An abstract story structure composed of narrative primitives which a writer can manipulate and rearrange according to her creativity. The story structure provides the narrative framework, or spine, for the many linear narratives to be produced from the metalinear narrative
• A representation of story granules to be resequenced in various ways. This repre­sentation includes annotations of how each granule fits into the story structure and the narrative relationships between the story granules
• Methods of resequencing story granules based on their representation and the pro­vided abstract story structure. The story engine chooses granules which fit the sto­ry structure according to predetermined narrative styles

My thesis is that a writing tool which offers the author these three key elements, as well as knowledgeable feedback about narrative construction and context during the creative process, is essential to the task of creating metalinear narratives of significant dimension.”

205
“Met­alinear narrative may make it easier for all of us, not just a few of us, to tell our stories.” -> empowerment