Course Description
From Choose Your Own Adventure books to video games, from interactive web comics to hypertext novels and experiments in electronic literature, interactive narratives are an integral part of our experiences of stories. In Interactive Narrative, we’ll consider and practice the use of a range of playable and interactive media for telling stories. We’ll work on creative writing across forms and build a range of projects. The course is divided into four major topics: Text/Hypertext, Image, Game, and Worlds. Throughout the semester, we will:
- Analyze and respond to creative interactive works
- Design and write stories using a range of platforms
- Practice the creative writing process
- Construct models for interactive narratives
- Examine the relationship of technology and storytelling
This is a reading and writing intensive course. Each week, there will be two topics to respond to in the class discussion forum: a creative writing prompt and a critical discussion of an assigned text.
Required Texts
- Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Knopf, 1995.
- Queneau, Raymond. Exercises in Style. New York: New Directions, 1947.
- Smith, Keri. This is Not a Book. New York: Perigee, 2009.
- Ware, Chris. Building Stories. New York: Pantheon, 2012.
Grading and Assignments
- Creative Mini-Projects (30%): For each unit, we will work with an interactive narrative tool (Twine, Scratch, and Inform 7) to create an interactive narrative. Guidelines will be assigned at the beginning of the unit.
- Not a Journal (10%): Creative exercises from This is Not a Book
- Final Project (25%): A cumulative multimedia interactive narrative
- Online Participation (15%): Responses to peer works and reading prompts
- In-Class Participation (20%): Reading quizzes, in-class creative writing exercises, and reflective play
Late Work
Late work will be deducted a letter grade immediately, and an additional letter grade for every week of additional lateness.
Late Arrivals and Absence
If you miss a scheduled class, you will still be held responsible for the online prompts. One day’s worth of in-class participation will be excused: additional absences will receive a zero for the day’s work. Each week lists required texts to bring for the day. Failure to bring the required books will result in lost participation grades for related in-class activities.
Incomplete Grades
It is your responsibility to apply for administrative withdrawal or incomplete. If you stop showing up for class you will be graded accordingly: it is your responsibility to keep me informed in the event of an emergency so we can work out accommodations.
Academic Integrity
By enrolling in this course, each student assumes the responsibilities of an active participant in UB’s scholarly community in which everyone’s academic work and behavior are held to the highest standards of honesty. Cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, and helping others to commit these acts are all forms of academic dishonesty, and they are wrong. Academic misconduct could result in disciplinary action that may include, but is not limited to, suspension or dismissal.
