Tech Tip: Starting Twine, Saving, and Backing Up Stories

Hello and welcome to a very basic Twine introduction. I learned a lot about Twine from Keegan Wheeler when Dr. Gibbs connected us to talk about Twine. I've also learned a lot from Twine's Wiki and the YouTube series listed in a blog post Keegan made that you can read here! I wanted to write up my own tech tip from the perspective of someone who has only recently begun using Twine!

1. Getting Started

Twinery.org is the official website for starting your own twine story. On the front page, there is different information about patch updates, downloads, and more. Something I really like about Twine is there is the option to use it online. This means you don't have to download any sort of program to create your stories. 

Something very important to note about this is that the information is saved to your browser. This means that there is no login username and password that you use to access your stories. It is just saved to whatever internet browser you're using, such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc. This can sometimes cause a problem with working on projects from multiple computers. 

For example, if I save my work in Google Chrome on my work computer (where I get a lot of my school work done), I won't be able to just open my project on my personal laptop later, even if I am using Google Chrome. There is a solution, though! Which leads me to...

2. Saving and Backing Up Stories

Backing up Twine stories is very very important. Since everything is only saved in your browser, one cookie/cache clear will wipe out everything saved in Twine. This is why "publishing to file" is your best friend. Here is where you can find it when you're editing your story:

Publish to file will download an HTML file to your computer. This HTML file will allow you to always have your work backed up, as well as allow you to edit your story in multiple browsers. 

Going back to my earlier scenario, if I am working on my project on my work computer, but want to work on my story on my laptop, I can use publish to file. Once I have the file, I can email it to myself. Then, on my laptop, I download the file from my email. Then, I go to twinery.org, click "use it online" and I will click "import from file" on my homepage: 

You will be able to upload the file you downloaded from your email and pick up editing where you left off! 

These are just a couple of things that I thought would make a good Twine Tech Tip post, since they are important and things I find myself using most often. I hope they helped you understand Twine a bit! 

Reading Notes: More Celtic Fairy Tales, Part B

"The Legend of Knockgrafton"

This story was about two different men with humps on their back. The first, Lusmore, was a kind man. One night he heard fairies singing and sang along with them. The fairies liked this so much that they removed his hump, gave him fine clothes, and improved his life. The second man, Jack Madden, was more mischievous and rude. When we heard about Lusmore, his family brought him to the fairies. When the fairies started singing, he interrupted their song instead of singing along. For this, the fairies punished him by giving him Lusmore's old hump, so that Jack would have two humps.

To me this story was a tale about being kind in life. Those who are kind in life are rewarded, while those who are not are punished.

(Fairy Bridge from Wikimedia)

Bibliography: "The Legend of Knockgrafton" from More Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs

Reading Notes: More Celtic Fairy Tales, Part A

My two favorite stories from this reading were "The Fate of the Children of Lir" and "Dream of Owen O'Mulready." The first story was a bit longer and told the story of the four children of King Lir who were turned into swans because his second wife was jealous of them. The children were to remain as swans for 90 years until two specific people were married. This story sort of reminded me of Swan Lake, because, you know, swans. I think it could be an interesting story to retell. Maybe with an ending where the children don't have to wait 90 years to turn human, just to die immediately.

(The Four Swans, Waltham Cross, Hertforshire by Christine Matthews on geograph.org.uk)

The second story was about a man who had never had a dream. His master gave him instructions on how to have a dream, which Owen O'Mulready followed. He did have a dream, but it was the sort where you sleep walk...or sleep climb? And he ended up dropping his shoe on his wife's face, waking her up. She woke him up and Owen decided he didn't want to have any more dreams. As someone who used to sleepwalk, I would always go to bed afraid I would get up in the night and get myself hurt. Maybe I could re-tell this story with a difference circumstance to O'Mulready's dreaming/sleepwalking. 

Bibliography: "The Fate of the Children of Lir" and "Dream of Owen O'Mulready" from More Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1895).