[13] Eastgate Systems, Inc. Storyspace. <http://www.eastgate.com/Storyspace.html> (tool)

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Discussed works in Storyspace

• Jackson, Shelley, Patchwork Girl [26], 1997. (website for order) (commentary)
• Joyce, Michael, afternoon, a story [27], 1990. (website for order) (commentary)
• Larsen, Deena. Samplers [37], 1998. (website for rder (commentary)
• McLaughlin, Tim. Notes Toward Absolute Zero [42]. (website for order) (commentary)
• Moulthrop, Stuart. Victory Garden [48], 1991. (website for order) (commentary)
• Strickland, Stephanie. True North [62], 1997. (website for order) (commentary)

While this paper focuses only the anchor choices authors make from the available writing tools in Storyspace, but it is important to understand Storyspace's unique features. In Storyspace, in effect, the nodes themselves function as anchors: in Windows and Storyspace Reader, readers can click on the node directly to access it.

Map view

Storyspace's default view is a map view with anchors that represent nodes. The map provides an infinite number of levels: nodes can be placed inside other nodes. Patchwork Girl [26] shows a carefully heirarchical structure, as this map is taken from a mid level, yet we cannot see the higher or lower levels from here:

Screenshot used by permission.

The maps do show link lines, as Samplers [37] shows a dense link structure:

Screenshot used by permission.

As the map shows links to other levels as a downward arrow from the node, it can be difficult to determine whether the page is densely or sparsely linked. Further, the maps show only two levels, soone cannot gain a sense of the entire hierarchical structure.

Note that Patchwork Girl, Victory Garden, Notes Toward Absolute Zero, and Samplers all create an additional series of maps over the default Storyspace maps to mirror connotative and denotative nodal themes. In addition, works use colored nodes of the default Storyspace maps as keys and arrange the Storyspace nodes and default maps for various purposes:

• Samplers uses the structure of nodes to reflect the spatial relationships of plot.
  
• True North uses the maps to reflect color and spatial themes that resonate throughout the poetry.
  
• Patchwork Girl uses color and maps to show an overall broom structure, which evokes the feminine creative/witch submotifs.
  
• Notes Toward Absolute Zero uses an introductory collage of thumbnail stamps to show all of the chapters. Each chapter opens with a corresponding larger stamp image.

Selective embedded anchors

Storyspace provides a shortcut to show anchors by pressing the apple+option key on a Mac and the Alt +Shift key on Windows. This can be circumvented, as afternoon does not allow this shortcut to find words that yield. We can see this function in Victory Garden:

Screenshot used by permission.

Pressing the alt+ option keys reveals the two anchors on the node:

Screenshot used by permission.

Link names

Storyspace [13] also provides the ability to name links, which can be used taxonomically but is most often in artistic works used to either denote paths or add connotations or other layers of meaning. Samplers [37] tells an overlaying story in the link names.

Screenshot used by permission.

Readers
Storyspace [13] provides three outputs for Macintoshes with a different set of default icon anchors:

The Storyspace [13] reader icon is a navigation compass to go to the "up" "down" "left" and "right" nodes:

The page reader icons provide a way to go back, check links, go home, or print:

The easy reader does not use icons. Note that the Windows version and Macintosh version of the readers are very different.