Pause & Effect: The Art of Interactive Narrative

Amazon.com
This is an extremely literate and somewhat scholarly look at the past, present, and future of the emerging art form of interactive narrative, where storytelling, visual imagery, and reader interaction meet. With an abundance of illustrations, including a comic strip that runs timeline-style along the bottom of each page, and a corner flipbook, Pause & Effect looks at what defines visual narrative, how it has developed through the centuries (from the religious paintings of 13th-century artist Giotto to the first-person shooter games of today), and the principles involved.

The book has four parts. In the first, "Theory," readers learn about perspective (both emotional/inside-the-skull and dimensional/outside-the-skull), Aristotle's definition of dramatic structure, the Freytag triangle (complication, climax, denouement), the three interactive narrative structures (nodal, modulated, and open), and other fundamental issues. The second part covers the 2-D topics of image and icon, including several examples of narrative imagery from the history of art (e.g., Velázquez's Las Meninas and Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2) and basic principles for designing a narrative that facilitates the four steps of interaction (observation, exploration, modification, and reciprocal change). The third section looks at the 3-D areas of place and space (how architecture and dimensional imagery affect narrative), as well as case studies from theater, game design (Deus Ex 2), the Internet (the graphical MUD Ultima Online), and more. The last section discusses the practical issues involved in developing interactive narratives and emerging trends.

Pause & Effect is for anyone interested in a serious analysis that touches on new media, storytelling, visual art, and literature. It would also make an excellent textbook for a variety of college courses, from game design to semiotics. --Angelynn Grant


Book Description
Interactive narrative is the cornerstone for many forms of digital media: web sites, interface design, gaming environments, and even artificial intelligence. In Pause & Effect, Mark Stephen Meadows examines the intersection of storytelling, visual art, and interactivity. He takes the key principles from these areas and applies them to the design, architecture, and development of successful interactive narrative. This provocative book will appeal to designers with its edgy aesthetic and artistic sensibility. Striking graphic and typographic imagery complement unique design features that encourage interactivity through varying levels of information, different navigational possibilities, and even flip-book animations.


From the Publisher
Enough with the grand unified theory of narrative, right? Narrative surrounds us. We see it in television, movies, newspapers, video games, web sites, and books. These art forms are evolving and merging in new, exciting ways. With its roots in film and theater, the art of interactive narrative is visual, it includes character perspective and it follows dramatic patterns. It diverges from these roots, however, because it allows readers to change the plot. Pause & Effect examines the intersection of storytelling, visual art, and interactivity. It proposes working methods, theories, interviews, and examples for authors of this art form. This means that the roles of the authors and readers are merging. It not only changes the ways we read and write, it changes the way we see. When I first read the galleys of Mark's book, I felt like children sometimes do upon being let loose in a library: everywhere you turn, there are books, and every book you open shows you something new, or a twist on something you thought you already knew. Not to put too fine of a comparative point on it, but Pause & Effect also reminded me of my first exposure to James Burke's work (Connections, The Day the Universe Changed, KnowledgeWeb Project, etc). Here's this amazing mind, eclecticly-inspired yet marvelously focused: but you don't necessarily realize that as you follow his lead. Wonderful writing. You may find yourself thinking "And then?" or "Where are you headed with this, dear one?" And sooner or later the Joycean moment of epiphany hits you and the arc of the writer's narrative becomes clear. There. (see page 49) Unlike Burke, Mark Meadows is doing much more than cap-and-gown historical journalism (expressed with deepest respect to Burke); as Lev Manovich, author of The Language of New Media, told us after his review of Pause & Effect, "Interactive narrative remains to be a holy grail of new media. Meadows' gem of a book makes a unique contribution to our understanding of how interactive narratives work and how they can develop in the future. By bringing together the ideas from a number of different fields which usually do not intersect--graphic design, interaction design, linear narrative writing, architecture, and visual art--he yields new insights and perspectives. Think of this book as your READ.ME file--an essential reading before you start working on your new media project." Or, simply indulge your inner library rat. This book is a wondrous learning experience for anyone. Thanks, Mark. Steve Weiss, executive editor, New Riders. steve.weiss@newriders.com


From the Author
At some point I decided that there had to be better methods of integrating stories, imagery, and interactivity. I was surprised to find that these three tools - literature, art, and interactivity - were able to "zoom information" in their own ways. In other words these three tools had the ability to present complimentary information simultaneously. This surprised me. Do foreshadowing, foreshortening and desktop icons have the same function? As I started digging through some older examples of painting and literature, things got even stranger: All stories and artwork seem to hinge on perspective. The question became: What relationship does the perspective of a story have with the information being presented? This is a question writers have been familiar with for a long time, but in terms of words. And it's a question painters have been familiar with, but in terms of pictures. This book is a stab at finding! the relationship between literature, art, and interaction and what role perspective plays in it. I tracked this through both 2D and 3D work in western culture and tried to outline how we can use these three tools to build a new narrative art - a narrative that is more visual, interesting, and meaningful to both the reader and the writer. But I like to think of myself as a practical guy, despite all this. So I've also included my own interactive narrative in the book, a flipbook/comic with a branched and looping storystructure. It's a minimal example of a kind of print-based interactive narrative, but I couldn't let the book go without a few pictures. Finally, I see interactive narrative as simply narrative. But there's something new about narrative art because interactivity allows authors to present multiple perspectives at the same time. It's a kind of crystal ball we can use to see each other and our views of the world. In the end, that's all that stories are; a way to change perspectives.


About the Author

Mark Stephen Meadows is an artist and writer, currently living in Paris. He was most recently Creative Director for a venture of Stanford Research Institute and prior to that held the post of Artist-In-Residence at Xerox-PARC where he conducted research in reading and interactivity. He has been a professional designer in the realm of Interactive Media since 1993, creating works that defy traditional distinctions of "technology", "narrative" and "visual art."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Narrative surrounds us. We see it in television, movies, newspapers, video games, web sites, and books. These art forms are evolving and merging in new, exciting ways. With its roots in film and theater, the art of interactive narrative is visual, it includes character perspective and it follows dramatic patterns. It diverges from these roots, however, because it allows readers to change the plot. This book examines the intersection of storytelling, visual art, and interactivity. It proposes working methods, theories, interviews, and examples for authors of this art form. This means that the roles of the authors and readers are merging. It not only changes the ways we read and write, it changes the way we see.

ACCREDITATION