Wow is right ... what an amazing exchange. I'm sort of a lurker on
this list, so hello, my background is some digital writing for games.
While doing that, I soon realized that the idea of pattern flows and
an awareness of them is critical. In a game, narrative can be a
traditional pipeline of information or series of events, but feels
more exciting as an exploration of modes and/or fields of persuasion.
On some level, the nature of a given pattern flow, how it updates
itself, the feel of its evolution, how it alters its methods, can
become the meaning of the story, a model of experience, even a form of
cognition. For me, the question is how can these modes be combined in
ways that first, feel responsive thereby creating expectation and
second, create dynamic meanings? Writing can't be separated out from
pattern flow acquisition or a multi-modal pattern production because
in a fundamental sense the writing that needs to be done in these
narratives is the creation of those arrangements or the construction
of environments that lead to the creation of those arrangements. That
way we should be able to encourage meaning that is emergent due to the
interplay of fields or modes and their response to
audiences/readers/players/etc . . .
-- Angela
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