Source Database: 
ELD
Source Entry URL: 
Source Entry OAI-PMH Identifier: 
oai:directory.eliterature.org:2480
Author(s) of the Source Entry: 
Michelle Blackerby
Source Entry Language(s): 
English
Description(s): 

Ferris Wheel by Deena Larsen is a short fiction hypertext from a woman’s perspective about a trip to a fair with her boyfriend.

At entering the story, the reader is given a choice between “Turn the Wheel” and “Enter the Text.” Choosing “Turn the Wheel” sends the reader to an image of a Ferris wheel made out of the titles of each hypertext chapter. This is not an interactive image, but rather, an animated poem which accompanies the story.
When the reader chooses “Enter the Text,” they are taken to the starting chapter of the story, titled “Ferris Wheels.” There are hypertext links within the excerpt which are the titles of other chapters of the story. Clicking on the links will jump the reader to that chapter. At the end of each chapter is a choice of two links which take the reader to different chapters of the story. In this way, the reader jumps forwards and backwards through the story in a haphazard pattern, rather than reading the story in a linear direction. They skip ahead to a section of the story, and then may come back at a different link to catch the missed portions of the story.

There is a site map which is a graphic image in the shape of a Ferris wheel containing links to all of the chapters. The reader may at any point go back to site map and determine what chapters they have not yet read. The chapters they have read through show in purple text, and the chapters which have not been read yet show in blue. In this way, the reader may be sure they have experienced the whole story.