Have you seen Bandersnatch? I liked it–not so different from a story-driven video game, but somehow so different to see a real human playing the part and not a computer-generated one.  I came away feeling Ooh go go go let's work on the Twine game!  I heard it wasn't great, but I loved it. I loved the agony of making the “right” choice and then the dawning realization that I too have limited choice, if any. I loved the moment where you accidentally confront the literal set and crew of the Netflix show. I love all the weirdnesses, and the sort of circular fiction, the question of who actually controls the situation, what authorship is, what are we actually doing to these poor characters of ours. And, perversely, it lit a fire under me to get working on my game/IF/whatever it is.  Despite the very very very dark results of Bandersnatch, seeing something like what I want to do getting produced in this loving and convincing way?  Yes, of course it was inspiring. 

Have you ever wanted to make something because the idea of it just…made your brain itch? I think that's the closest thing I can come to. Playing a boardgame? Meh. No brain itch. Fun to play. Playing a case of Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective? Brain itch. Drag queens? Brain itch. Romance novels? Mild brain itch, easily scratched. Twitter threads where you respond to legendary books/films/etc? Brain itch. I want to dismantle them, see what happens in the middle of it all, see where the branches go or don't.

Poems usually live in a book; I want to jail break them. Let them get out and roam the world, let them scratch the minds of everyone the way they scratch mine.  There's some world out there of poems, naturalism, escape rooms, puzzle games, Myst, Sherlock Holmes, and Pokemon Go that I want to make. I don't know why. I don't know what I will do with it when it exists and I frequently get exhausted by how much more there is for me to learn out in the world in order to get this done. I want to make something that will help people interact with the world in a new way. I value: the world, words, life, delight, observation, bodies.

I think maybe it's time to set a deadline for the first iteration here. Get it moving, keep it moving and see if there's any interest in the world.