It’s my website, and I’ll HTML if I want to

I made a decision recently, which is that I would like to write some interactive novels.

Or at least, I’d like to try.

There are a few reasons for this - number one, it might be fun. I last used HTML when I was about fifteen, to add glitter graphics and a music player to my MySpace page - and it strikes me as kind of sad that I no longer know how to do that basic kind of coding, especially in this web-heavy world we live in. So, learning to write an interactive novel might be a fun way of re-developing my knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

(Not that I was ever an expert as such…)

Number two, I like interactive fiction games already. And I mean, I’m using that as a wide umbrella here - I like choose your own adventure books. I like narrative video games like Gone Home, Fallen London, Citizen Sleeper, Paradise Killer and The Forgotten City (quite different games there, but I think they all tell really compelling stories). I can’t pretend I’m going to make anything quite as in-depth or beautiful as any of those games, but the game mechanics behind them are deeply interesting, so this is a small way of exploring that when it comes to writing fiction.

Also, like, part of the reason I like those games so much is because I just enjoy story. I don’t care how that story is expressed - I don’t really get along with audiobooks but I like fiction podcasts, radio plays, film and TV, graphic novels, as well as traditional novels - and I kind of see interactive fiction as a bit of a potential evolution of some of that.

Number three, the publishing industry is slow, and can be limiting - but I don’t want to give up on it. At this particular moment in time, I don’t have another contract for a 2nd book. My current publisher sort-of-a-little-bit ghosted me, so they’re clearly not interested in working with me again, and although I’ve written two other novels, neither are quite ready to go out more widely to other publishers just yet. When they are, it might take 6 months or a year for a traditional publisher to pick one of them up and offer me a contract, and from there it might take up to two more years before that book comes out in print. So, there could feasibly be another three years before I have another book out!

Now, I could (and still might) look into self-publishing in the interim. I’m not ruling that out, but it would probably be a different genre and therefore a different pen name, because as a YA author I still think most of the advantages are in traditional publishing structures. (I would also of course have to speak to my agent about all of this anyway, because we have a contract.)

But, given that this is the situation, why wouldn’t I take the opportunity to play around with a different way of using my creative brain? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not expecting interactive fiction to make me rich. Frankly, I’ll probably give away early games for free, because I’m learning a new skill. It’s not about money, it’s about professionalising who I am as a writer… and enjoying myself.

So… why am I telling you this?

Well, the first thing I need to do is re-learn how to code. I’ve found some brilliant online resources for this, which will probably require me to create practice pieces, and I’ll need somewhere to store and host these. And I have a website, so that’s probably going to be right here, on good ol’ jesspopplewell.com.

So don’t be surprised if you start seeing blog posts going up which look like portfolio pieces, or a diary of my interactive novel journey. It might not be quick, and especially early on they might not be good! But I enjoy learning, so I’m going to enjoy this process.