Not a blog for the ages.

So this blog is definitely not one to go down in history. (Wow, I had to spell definitely five times before spell check could even register it, that is sad and pathetic.) I have been struggling in terms of content for my blogs this week but I said I would pump out two of these babies tonight and by God, I will do it.

Here goes, I was doing reading for my creative journalism class and a very dim light bulb flickered in the distant reaches of my mind that it might be something I could blog about so that's what I'm gonna do. The book I was reading is Robert's Rules of Writing, authored by my professor Robert Masello. Despite being a clever attempt to boost book sales by making it required reading, the book is an attempt to give the reader "101 unconventional lessons that every writer needs to know." Rule #47 Lay Down the Law, warns readers that "when you're writing, you're creating your own world on the page,and in that world you are God. So act it." The rule cited the short-lived popularity of make your own adventure books. My professor argued that these stories failed to become a staple in publishing circles because readers don't want to have to choose their own ending. He said if readers wanted to choose what happened in a narrative they would write the book themselves.

"Open-endedness is fine, in small doses...But when we sit down to read a whole book, watch an entire, or plow through a substantial piece, we want to feel that the hand guiding us by the elbow is a firm one." This got me thinking about our recent readings and class discussions on narrative in new media. It seems to me that a fundamental part of the success of these new media narratives such as the Sims, World War Craft, etc. is the idea of reader control. They are popular because the participant is a deciding factor in how the narrative plays out and eventually ends and thus embodies the reader with a sense of importance and closeness with the narrative.

I found it interesting to consider how different the role of the reader is in new media versus the more traditional narratives of literature. This isn't groundbreaking blog material I know, but that's the way I'm rolling tonight. Deal with it.