I almost set up web hosting today. This is one of those things with me; I will plan so far ahead that I will never get anything done.
One part of me says, write a book; this is what people want.
This is the most accessible format, readable everywhere, and people miss your
voice.
The other part of me loves to dream. I dream in backward
formats, arcane text-parsed adventures written with Inform or Twine, giving
readers a chance at interactivity and branching narratives. A massive problem
with those formats lies in that they are primitive interactive formats with a
tiny audience, and they also require people to download HTML files and run them
locally.
Unless you pay for web hosting and put them on a WordPress
site, I have yet to finish interactive stories beyond a two-room demo, so it is
a huge ask to set up web hosting and not have anything to put on there.
Chicken and egg.
I commit to writing daily, so blog and journal posts must
keep coming to maintain that habit. My FreeWrite is an incredible machine;
nothing does the job of providing a fun and distraction-free experience that
lets me ramble and focus on my words.
Starting a WordPress site means building an audience, and
you must commit to one with the other. I will rely on that audience to read my
work, give feedback, and enjoy the interactive experiences - and someday fill
that promise to support me in doing what I love. But again, just writing a book
is far more accessible and straightforward, and interactive fiction is a genre
that has moved on to the visual novel and away from the synthesis of text-based
puzzles and interaction challenges.
With limited time, books are far more accessible and reach
wider.
It isn't simple to "host HTML" these days,
especially in the subdirectory format some interpreters use. You would need a WordPress
site and HTML to do it right. Distributing ZIPs with HTML files on DeviantArt
is one way to go, but that is a huge ask to ask people to download, find the
files, unzip, and run via browser. Diehard fans only, but for those casual or
curious, clicking on a link and trying it without jumping through those hoops takes
it from a vanity project to a sustainable delivery and demo model.
So towards books, I lean, but with dreams of delivering
experiences, my mind wanders.
Comments
Post a Comment