Ah, fantastic. I managed to paste the wrong link from the clipboard. If the edit to the post hasn't reached you, the correct link should be: (removed)
Edit: the link has expired now.

Collaborative #interactionfiction editing test take 2. If you're interested in the idea of collaborative editing of #ink scripts or you have 30 seconds to spare, could you try following the link below, editing the file there and then reply here to say you have done so? Thank you!

(The file will be valid for a few hours, I'll edit this post when it goes offline)

Edit: the link has expired now.

Also, if you want to try out this next version of collaborative #visualnovel writing yourself you can go to visualink.mavnn.eu/script/demo, click the 'Copy edit invite' button and then paste the address you get into a message to send to the person you'd like to collaborate with. The session will end when the initiator closes their tab

Edit: Thank you, experiment over and link removed for now. I'll be doing this again soon.

Random request moment! For a limited amount of time, it would do me a huge favour if you could follow this link, make some changes in the text editor you see, and then reply here to let me know you've done so.

I'll edit and update this post when the link becomes inactive, everything you type will be temporary but will also be visible to anybody else who follows the link.

Thank you! (link now removed)

So, as is traditional for developers we've just spent a while sorting out the blog. But now that it is updated again, we have plans for a series of blog posts on how to make your narrative interactive, and what that changes compared to normal prose.

If you think you'd be interested in that kind of thing, we'll annouce all the #creativewriting and #interactivefiction related blog posts on this account - some of the other posts on the blog are much more technical and development focused, but you're welcome to read those too!

New blog: VisualInk Tutorial Videos

blog.mavnn.eu/2026/03/13/vis...

Basically what it says on the tin, but if you have videos you'd like to see, or comments on what is there, this is a good place to leave them.

#visualnovels #interactivefiction #ink

We'll be posting more videos, and at higher quality, as we go along but we wanted to get these out as soon as possible after some members of our live course yesterday weren't able to join in due to technical issues. And at that point, it seemed mean not to share them with the rest of you!

VisualInk allows you to build #visualnovels quickly and easily, but like any tool you do need to know how to use it.

To make getting started easier, we've started releasing short videos (all under 10 minutes) on how to use #ink to build your own #interactivefiction .

youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...

So, courtesy of Zoom's technical issues this afternoon, over the next few days y'all can look forward to some short videos on conditional and non-linear #interactivefiction content in #ink , because I'm not letting people down on the course content just because video chat decided not to work.

Some days, the internet is a wonder of technology giving access to opportunities and contacts that would be impossible otherwise.

Other days, the internet is watching two members or your group of five unable to access the video chat that worked fine last week, and two others able to join but not hear anything.

So excited! After just one session with Ink, one of our under 11 students has started producing multiple #visualnovels. Bearing in mind he's not been shown anything but 'diverts' and 'knots' (ways to jump to named parts of your script) they are pretty solid. I'm going to be sharing more of them later, but I was excited enough I wanted to share at least one straight away 😁

visualink.mavnn.eu/published...

Even great stories start from humble beginnings. In the first session of a new round of Coding Games with a Story, some of our authors (9-11 year olds) successfully got a story up and running with a scene, background music, images of the person speaking... and a decision point.

#writing #interactivefiction

You can play through the exercise that's shown in the screen shot here: visualink.mavnn.eu/published... . Use the menu at the top to switch between the two types of view.

VisualInk now lets you swap seemlessly between cinematic and our new illustrated screenplay format while you're playing your #visualnovels . This allows readers to quickly check the history of the story so far, and authors to view parts of the story with context. And it just looks pretty snazzy (in our opinion).

Starting next week, we'll be hosting a writing club for under 18s doing something a bit different: writing interactive fiction. This is a space for people who want to actually write a piece of interactive fiction, so it does assume you'll be putting in time between sessions so that we can all share our progress each week.

More details at thinkersmeetup.com/service-p...

#writing #fiction #interactivefiction

Prototyping a new view for allowing readers to view their history, and authors to quickly got an overview of the script.

It's not quite ready for release yet, but it is starting to get there. Just needs a bit more love to get it formatted more like an actual movie script, and to include scene change markers for when the background changes.

#visualnovels #interactivefiction

Know someone 9-18 who loves stories? Week starting 23rd February is the next round of "Coding Games with a Story", a five week introduction to creating #visualnovels using our very own VisualInk. We're also hoping to host a writing club for under 18s who have decided to build a full game now that two cohorts have already gone through and enjoyed the course (writers using other #interactivefiction tools are also welcome to join the writing club).

Read more about the person leading the courses and their content at thinkersmeetup.com/scholars/...

Now that's the kind of content it's heart warming to see as a developer!

I’ve become sidetracked by the Visualink system. It’s very promising for students to edit and offers just enough asset options to give choice without overwhelming.

One more session to go on the current round of #interactivefiction writing courses, and the older teens have asked for the final session to be a deep dive into expanding a conversation because they felt it didn't have enough narrative depth.

So that's pretty awesome. And now I get to have a play with dialogue rather than the very different process which is #writing examples of functionality which are interesting but small enough to not obscure the thing being taught.

Hello people who enjoy #writing! I've had some interest in a 5 week online course for adult non-coders to try their hand at #interactivefiction - i.e. stories that include branching narrative based on the readers' choices. The course would cover some of the mechanics, but also advice on structuring interactive plots with managable complexity, looking at emotional hooks that work better or worse when readers have active agency, using interactive fiction tools to capture options to show editors and beta-readers in non-interactive works, and some examples of expanding existing writing into an interactive experience.

If you like this idea, I'm putting together a mailing list of potential course members who are keen enough they'd like to have a voice in the scheduling of the course. Send me your email via DM or email me at [email protected] and I'll let you know when there are updates on the course and nothing else; this is not a general purpose "get spammed by Michael" email list. Costs will likely run at around 55 GBP per person.