Absurd Tuna

To all of those who read: This is just me talking about a type of fiction that I’ve been recently introduced too.

Have you ever been on the internet and found an interesting story? One of which you weren’t sure how real it actually was? Have these stories ever been accompanied by pictures, actual place names, newspaper articles? Still have the lingering doubt that even though it feels possible that it might not be?

Welcome to hyperfiction. I’ve been aware of hyperfiction for several years now, but it’s just recently that I learned it had an actual name. There are many forms of hyperfiction. The one I mention above, which will tell a story that gives proof and sometimes tries to convince you how real it is and the other is a kind of ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ thing, where you choose what happens next. These stories can be linear or nonlinear and take place in more than once place (for example, multiple websites, e-mails, text messages, all reportedly written by “multiple people”).

The reason why I write this entry at all is because today I read a hyperfiction piece.

Normally, whenever I’m bored, I like to read things about the Paranormal. It’s just a hobby of mine and I’m not going to say that I don’t find that stuff alluring. I like to read about other’s experiences with the Paranormal and such. I don’t normally read books based off of ghost stories and such, I’m more a fan of Urban Fantasy and the like, but every now and then I do like to read a piece of Hyperfiction based off the paranormal. Today was the case with The Dionaea House.

It was a relatively fast read, I managed to get through it all in one sitting and such. It’s a story that basically chronicles the e-mails and text messages that the site creator passed along with a friend about the murder/suicide committed by a mutual friend that they used to hang out with. It later goes from texts to e-mails or texts to journal updates and the like.

Without giving spoilers beyond the few that I have, there were a few inconsistencies about the story itself. It was very interesting, but some of the plot movers weren’t brought in until really late in the game, but that’s understandable and forgivable given the format of the story.

Once I finished it, reminded me of another story that I had read a few years ago. This one is more linear and less all over the place, this one taking place only from the narrator’s website, which is made up of transposed text from a caving journal. This website? Ted’s Caving Page. It’s a Lovecraftien tale of a man’s adventures in a cave. I haven’t finished it as it is much longer than the first one mentioned, but it is pretty good.

Anyway, that’s all for this entry. I just thought I’d put out there what I’ve been reading lately. I wish I were creative enough to do something like this and plan it out, but I write sporadically and would probably lose interest in the project. Bully for me.

Do you ever read books published online?
Have you ever read a Hyperfiction story?
How do you feel about alternative types of story-telling like this?