The two stories I read
and reread were Slender Man and The Dionaea House. Slender Man is about this girl that wakes up
in the middle of the night and is unnerved. She decides that she is not going
to be able to go back to sleep so she goes to make coffee. She can’t shake the
feeling that something is outside her front door, “…she decided that a quick
glance out the peep hole would help clam her restless mind.” She is wrong and sees a black silhouette of a
creepy silhouette which is described as an inhuman man with, ” The limbs were
long and inhumanly awkward….” She tried
to get away from the door and spills and burns herself with her coffee. The
Slender Man begins to come into the house in black tendrils through the cracks
in her door and then she hears the door unlock. She tries to hide, and we are
sent to darkness only coming back when her sister is at the hospital to see
her. The doctors think that she gouged out her own eyes and ears, which I don’t
blame her for. If I was in her situation, and in the middle of that conflict I
would have done the same to escape him.
The Dionaea House is about a guy named Mark that has gone missing. The
friends and family use a website to share his and other communications in hopes
of locating him. The Dionaea House is an entity that takes the shape of a house.
The house either replicates itself or is constructed repeatedly exactly the
same because there are more than one that people stay at while traveling. Once
you enter the house it either consumes you are uses mind control on you. If
anyone escapes the house, they are hunted down by the people the house is
controlling to keep its identity a secret, “But if you walk away knowing too
much about it, the house will get to you.” MrParanoia also sends communications
about the house and says,” ……. those who have figured out what this “flytrap”
house is, risk becoming its next victim.” It is crazy but this story makes you feel like
maybe your house is out to get you as well. It does an excellent job of
creating suspense through these communications and showing the conflict the
characters are going through with this weird house. Andrew is being controlled
by the house and goes across the country always staying in the same house doing
whatever the house wants him to do. He
was following a couple that had stayed in the house and figured out there was
something wrong with it. He eventually finds and kills them and himself to keep
the houses identity a secret. It seems to just repeatedly find people to eat
and people to control, once that happens it begins again. The literary
technique that both stories use to hook readers is conflict. Conflict is the
battle that is going on between the person in the story and the outside force
that is against them whether it be a person, nature, or forces within
themselves. The conflict in both stories
brings about a lot of suspense and keeps you reading to find out the
ending. I think conflict is one of the
most important literary elements because it keeps you interested and wanting to
know what is going to happen. That element draws you into the story and makes
you feel like it is happening to you. I know after I read Slender Man, I was
making sure to turn on lights before I walked into a room. The conflict is
between her and the Slenderman and trying to get away from him like when it
says, “The girl was trapped between the instinct to flee and the gut feeling to
not turn her back on the door.” She is conflicted within herself as well
because she is not sure how to get away from him and remain safe or at least
aware of where he is. In Dionaea House
the conflict is between the house and the inhabitants. This story lets you know
that this house is the main antagonist in this story when it states, “Andrew
was scared to death of that house.” I really think that the way the conflict in
this story is told through several stories about the house and the people that
was in it. It does a really good job of drawing you in to each story and
telling you all the weird things that goes on in the house and quirks about the
house. I think when you are reading a story about a struggle it helps put yourself
in their shoes because we all know that fight or flight feeling when we are scared.
What makes a good digital
story? I think there are a few elements that go into making a good story. It is
kind of like making the perfect stew because it is the mix of ingredients that
make it good. I think one of the most important parts is the conflict. I have
written a couple of blogs about why I think conflict is important. Conflict is
what is happening between the person in the story and the outside forces
against them. For me one reason conflict is important is it makes the
story more interesting and gets the reader more invested in the story. In
Slenderman you feel the conflict between the girl in the story and the
Slenderman. You can feel the tension and fear in the story, and it keeps you
reading to find out what happens. Here she is face to face with the Slenderman,
“The girl was trapped between the instinct to flee and the gut feeling to not
turn her back on the door” You can feel her fear in this sentence, and it helps
you be able to put yourself in her shoes. In the cave adventure interactive
story, you have conflict between you, the adventurer, and the cave itself but
also with the gnomes and pirates who are out to get you. When you have a good conflict,
you feel like you are a part of the story and that is why you continue
reading. I think conflict and plot go hand in hand and that is why my
next point is the plot of a story. The plot is very important in making a good
digital story. The plot is what the story is about, what is going on in the
story, what is the point of it, where is the story going? In Slenderman we are
running from a freakishly scary man, in cave adventure we are exploring caves
and getting robbed by pirates, in [Text] A Summer Story we are talking to a ghost through text messages, and in all we are
fully immersed in the story because the plot grabs your attention and demands
that you finish reading. Some plots are interactive and that can be exciting. I hadn't experienced many interactive digital
stories until recently, but I think they are fun and entertaining. It's always stimulating to feel like you
are a part of the story. When you feel invested in the story you are more
likely to finish it and maybe reread it later. When a story doesn’t have a good
plot line or a conflict that grabs your attention you are less likely to be
entertained or even continue reading. 
