I am a 58-year-old professor, child psychologist, storyteller, and community educator at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas (so “Greybear” is fitting).
I have two reasons for being drawn to ADRIFT (possibly even being adrift). My book Raising Courageous Kids: Eight Steps to Practical Heroism was just published by Sorin Books at Notre Dame. I created a website at http://www.raisingcourageouskids.com to support the book. Because I am a huge advocate of the power of storytelling to convey important ideas about courage and the meaning of true heroism to children, a section on the website focuses on stories.
I am hoping to start a series of short IF suitable for readers from 9 to 90 called “The Adventures of Phoebe McNee. I would also like to encourage older children to use ADRIFT in creating their own stories.
Second, as a storyteller, I’m always looking for new tools and similar-minded folks on the web. I enjoy putting together stories and have found the information here helpful in learning ADRIFT and benefiting from the kind work of others.
I have (had by now) considerable proficiency with SUDS, a great Windows program by Andy Eliott that is now sadly abandoneware. What I loved most about SUDS was a sophisticated conversation tree for any character met in the story and its ease of use (until the story became complex). I created a story arc called “Forces of Nature” and completed the first story titled “Snow Night.” You can read about it at:
http://www.ksu.edu/wwparent/story/index.htm
After SUDS, I began looking for a more sophisticated parser-based tool. I hung out for a while at the QUEST board and dug into its complexity. QUEST users are another wonderful and active group always willing to lend a hand. QUEST is a terrific tool that is underappreciated for its complexity, a conceit by the IF high priests that is often directed toward ADRIFT I think. It’s been quite a few months since I studied QUEST (working on a book tends to do that to authors).
I decided to give ADRIFT a shot at this point because its friendly interface is more approachable to young authors. Plus, I see a gradual movement toward greater sophistication in the program with Campbell’s updates. As I learn more about the program, I think I can assemble the story I want to create.
Thanks for reading. I hope the good folks (and the not so “good”) will post in this thread. I like the community you are building here and would like to know more about y’all. (I lived in Lubbock Texas for a while so I am permitted to say “y’all.”). I look forward to the time when I can repay your help by lending a hand to future newbies.
Chuck Smith
"Greybear"
