Beginning your Twine Story
- Create a story Premise for a non-linear, interactive story. Try to make the story short, simple, but meaningful. You may update a premise from a previous story, work on a part of that story, or begin a whole new story.
- Next, use the Seven Steps of Structure to rough out the main story elements to keep you focused.
- Using the online Twine editor, (I recommend using the Chrome browser for better security) begin a Twine story with 5-10 passages, based on the above story.
Your story is only saved in the browser until you publish it to a file–which saves a copy to your desktop (recommended each time you do significant updates). - See this Guide for specifics on Text & Links
Include the following:
- Choose story format: Chapbook
- Include a Story Title
- Begin with up to 5 passages, then if possible add up to 5 more.
- Use links to/from all passages, so there are no dead ends (unless deliberate outcomes of story choices). You can use a “back” button to go back to the beginning, for example.
- Add some text formatting like italic, bold, SMALLCAPS, lists, blockquote . We will set overall story colors, fonts, styes later using Backstage.
- Use at least one fork to create user choices, so the story is non-linear. A fork is a place in the story where two or more choices are presented together and each leads to a different passage. Add a screen shot of your story map to show the structure.
- Finally, adjust your story idea to take advantage of these new story options. Do you have multiple characters that each take a Twine path? Or does your story have two or more options that lead to different endings? Or do you have more than one point of view on story events that are needed to flesh out the full picture of what’s happening in a mystery?
We will publish twine stories later; for now, add the premise, seven steps and a screenshot of your Twine story map and of your opening passage in your class post. And have your story ready to show in class.
