Snowbound

One of the interactive narratives I looked at was Snowbound by Elizabeth Tornes. I really thought this narrative was very well put together. It seems to be based on the basic slide show form that we all have seen many times, but is more of an updated style. Instead of just watching pictures change on the screen, new text pops up as each slide changes. You are also required to click the slide once you are finished with the current one, so that really keeps you involved in the story. Also, the pictures that would pop up really help enhance the story as you read it, and actually bring it to life. There was even some animation occurring as you were reading which was a great touch. Definitely my favorite slide was, "I step onto the lake to test the ice, and my boot sinks into a foot of snow." As you are reading this, the texts takes the action of the boot and starts sinking into the lake, which is in the background. I would say this narrative definitely takes the form of a distributed narrative. There is definitely no set beginning, middle, and end to this story that Tornes is telling. Also, the story ventures out to multiple locations, and even multiple days. Programs used to create this interactive narrative could have definitely been flash for the animation, ad photoshop for the pictures.

http://www.bornmagazine.org/projects/snowbound/