Writing precariously: branching narratives, command, and fictive agency in risk society

ABSTRACT

Contemporary risk society has caused many creative practitioners to question the role, effect, and potential of their practice. In seeking to find a means by which creative writing can do something in the real world, this article examines the use of directive speech acts – such as commands, requests, and invitations – in print and digital branching narratives and choose-your-own-adventure texts. I focus on The Throne of Zeus, Depression Quest, and Queers in Love at the End of the World, investigating both standard directives and what I classify as ‘latent’ directives: commands ‘hidden’ within the text, taking forms such as styled hyperlinks and typographical notes and citations. Deploying Aarseth’s definitions of ergodic literature, DelConte’s concept of partially-coincident narration, and Juul’s ludological theory of the half-real, I find that the directives featured in these texts step beyond their fictional context, operating as true speech acts within our stretched-out present and collapsed temporal horizon, thereby strengthening the texts’ overall illocutionary goal. These texts speak to and of the precarity of our present time, embodying – and allowing a reader to embody – lived experiences of extended nows, and allowing us to take control in acting towards a present-to-be.

KEYWORDS:

• speech acts
• choice
• Choose Your Own Adventure
• Depression Quest
• Queers in Love at the End of the World

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The distinctions between ‘ergodic literature’ and ‘cybertext’ are not entirely clear; see Noah Wardrip-Fruin’s “Clarifying Ergodic and Cybertext” (2005) for further discussion. With regard to my overall argument, I stand by the understanding outlined in this article.

2. Consider how this note is acting as a latent directive: the number next to the word prompted you to look towards the end of the page or document. End and footnotes, tables of contents, and indices all have the potential to act as latent directives, following the form ‘If you want to learn more/see this, turn to … ’ Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves (2000) makes interesting and ergodic use of footnotes.

3. Twine is a free, open-source interactive story tool created by Chris Klimas.

4. If playing the browser version of the text, one can use the back button to pick a different directive. The downloadable version may be different; unfortunately, Depression Quest’s downloadable version is too old to run on my computer’s operating system – the file format is precarious in itself.

5. Breath and the right to breathe are inextricably linked to the Black Lives Matter movement. The phrase ‘I can’t breathe’ has become emblematic of police murders of Black/Blak people since Eric Garner’s death in 2014; after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, it once again became a rallying cry.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shastra Deo

Shastra Deo is a PhD candidate in Creative Writing at The University of Queensland. Her practice-led research focuses on nuclear semiotics, the poetics of warning, and linguistic pragmatics in video games. She holds a Bachelor of Creative Arts in Writing and English Literature, First Class Honours and a University Medal in Creative Writing, and a Master of Arts in Writing, Editing and Publishing. Shastra’s poetry collection, The Agonist (UQP 2017), won the 2016 Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize and the 2018 Australian Literature Society Gold Medal.