Teaching Writers to Think Queerly: Twine, Interactive Narrative, and the Unlearning of Linear Storytelling
Proposal Type
Individual Talk
Location
Narratives & Worlds
Start Date
July 2026
End Date
July 2026
Abstract
This research argues that Twine, the open-source hypertext platform most often associated with indie game design, functions as a profoundly queer pedagogical encounter for creative writers. Where conventional narrative craft instruction reinforces linear story structures rooted in Western dramatic tradition, Twine's formal architecture demands something different: branching paths that refuse singular resolution, a second-person address that destabilizes authorial control, and a visible choice infrastructure that makes the politics of narrative perspective impossible to ignore. Drawing on Jack Halberstam’s (2005) In a Queer Time and Place, this study contends that working in Twine compels them to interrogate the assumptions embedded in the forms they have been trained to reproduce. Employing close formal analysis of Twine's platform architecture alongside critical autoethnography, this research contributes to emerging conversations in queer game studies, digital humanities, and creative writing pedagogy by arguing that Twine offers writers not just a platform but a practice: one that trains them to imagine narrative as a structure of queer possibility.
Teaching Writers to Think Queerly: Twine, Interactive Narrative, and the Unlearning of Linear Storytelling
Narratives & Worlds
This research argues that Twine, the open-source hypertext platform most often associated with indie game design, functions as a profoundly queer pedagogical encounter for creative writers. Where conventional narrative craft instruction reinforces linear story structures rooted in Western dramatic tradition, Twine's formal architecture demands something different: branching paths that refuse singular resolution, a second-person address that destabilizes authorial control, and a visible choice infrastructure that makes the politics of narrative perspective impossible to ignore. Drawing on Jack Halberstam’s (2005) In a Queer Time and Place, this study contends that working in Twine compels them to interrogate the assumptions embedded in the forms they have been trained to reproduce. Employing close formal analysis of Twine's platform architecture alongside critical autoethnography, this research contributes to emerging conversations in queer game studies, digital humanities, and creative writing pedagogy by arguing that Twine offers writers not just a platform but a practice: one that trains them to imagine narrative as a structure of queer possibility.
Bio
LJ Connolly (they/them) is a PhD student at the University of Central Florida in the Texts and Technology program and a researcher in the Center for Humanities and Digital Research. Their research brings feminist and queer theories to digital rhetoric, examining how data visualizations construct arguments, with a focus on the rhetorical choices that determine who information systems serve and who they exclude. LJ is also exploring the design and creation of a community-based app, investigating how feminist principles can inform more inclusive and equity-centered approaches to platform and interface design.