The story before you is what is called non-narrative fiction. That is, the story
itself takes place over a specified time (one evening) and events occur along that
timeline, just like real human life. But you, the reader, will not read the story in
that order, but rather as a series of snippets back and forth through the course of
the evening.

What 'hyperfiction' means in the case of this story is that you are in charge of
reading it in whatever order you wish...up to a point. You will notice on each page a
series of words or phrases that are colored. These are called 'hyperlinks' and
clicking on one will take you to another snippet of the story. It might be a snippet
from a much earlier part of the evening than you were just reading; it might jump
you to something that happens late in the evening; it could even be a different
character's point of view than the one you were just reading. Since there are
usually five to ten different hyperlinks on each page and you are free to continue
the story by clicking on any of them, this is what's meant by you controlling the
story. 'Up to a point,' of course, because ultimately I was the one who decided
which choices you'd have available on any given page.

I'm not good at variation mathematics, so I can't tell you exactly how many
different ways you could read this story -- but I do know that it's well into the
millions. The interior of this story is a surprise so I won't go into it, but I can tell
you that Creamed Corn starts with six beginnings and ends with six
conclusions. YOU WILL NOT READ THE ENTIRE CONTENTS BY READING THROUGH THE
STORY ONCE. Links will turn gray once you've seen the page it links to, so as you
progress you will be able to specifically see which parts of the story you've
already read. The story, however, takes a long and winding road to get from
beginning to ending, and this road is the one you construct as you read.

Hyperfiction can be an extremely disorienting experience the first time you read
it, or if you are stubbornly trying to fit the story into a 'narrative' mold in your
head. To really appreciate Creamed Corn, the first thing to do is throw out
the idea that the entire point of reading a story is to find out 'what happens at the
end.' You may very well find out the 'end' of the story very quickly, and it may take
you the entire length of the story to find out what happened at the 'beginning' of
the night...or the middle. The entire idea of non-narrative fiction is to escape the
obsessive importance of traditional "set-up, conflict, climax" storylines. The
story before you attempts to present an evening in much more of a way that we
humans live life -- that even as we are experiencing an event in the present tense,
we are remembering events from our past that influence how we act, and also
looking forward to possible future outcomes, which makes us change our behavior
in the hopes of guiding the evening to that 'optimal' future of which we daydream.
If read in the right frame of mind, hyperfiction should correspond with your
natural thought patterns more than traditional narrative fiction.

A small note: Although unenforceable, it's considered improper etiquette to use
the 'Back' button on your browser at any time in the story. Creamed Corn is
designed to be read through multiple times, each time taking a different but
singular path from beginning to ending. By 'backing up' at a certain point to follow
a different line, you are violating the spirit of the story's structure. Remember, at
the end you can always go back and start reading from the beginning again. For the
sake of the story, I ask that you pretend that your 'Back' button doesnıt exist.

Okay, thatıs it. Click here to start the story.