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Hypertext is a game-changer in the relationship between the author and the reader. Perhaps you could say it blends the line between the reader and the author, creating an author-reader out of the author and a reader-author our of the reader. Confusing, eh? Kind of. What we really need to affirm is the notion of narrative control and the linear arc of the narrative. In a sense, the reader writes their own story with the parts that are given to them. Each reading experience different to the next, it encourages deeper readings of the text, but at the same time pushes for open endedness as well as ambiguity. It’s up to the reader to create the relations between events, characters, places and items in the story. The linear pattern of the story still exists however, as George Landow states:

Linearity now becomes a quality of the individual reader and his or her experience in following a path

So it does not break away from the traditions of writing as such, rather it changes the way they interact and how they relate to the story. Not only this, but the relationship gets complicated with the addition of the machine itself, which can be programmed to guide the reader or control part of the hyper-textual reading experience. Of course some notions are entirely different from classical literature. And of course, no hypertext is the same, just as no reading of a specific hypertext is the same. Each hypertext can carry a different approach to writing and style, just like standard literature. Some hypertexts are more linear than others. Some have a defined beginning, and simply mould and morph to the readers interpretation during the middle of the text:

There is [in some writers] some obvious reluctance to disorientate readers upon their initial contact with the narrative.

So what do I like about Hypertext? From my short introduction to it (the subject requires more investigation), I can positively say that I enjoy the power that is given to the reader in terms of structuring the narrative and creating a story. What’s even better is the story’s powerful experience. It’s different every time you read it. I like that idea, it’s very ambiguous and open to interpretation. The draw backs? I think sometimes, ambiguity can be taken to extreme heights. Sometimes things are so open, that they just don’t have anything that is interesting at all. Perhaps it takes a more open mind. I guess it’s similar to some of those more artsy films. The kind that we spend semester one of cinema studies learning about. Sometimes, the boundaries are stretched to a point where it loses all art and skill. Although I guess there is a skill even, in trying to be as unskilled as possible. If that makes sense. What Ned says makes sense too.