Welcome to Zimmerman Studios!

Zimmerman Studios is a fictional artist cooperative in St. Paul, Minnesota. This website is my home for a collection of interactive fiction stories centered around current and past residents of Zimmerman Studios (ZS).

My hypertext fiction uses multimedia to create layered narratives exploring human connection. Each story can stand alone, but you'll find connections between stories if you read more than one.

What is Interactive Fiction (IF)?

Interactive fiction stories are meant to be read online and include a linking or branching structure as part of the reading experience. Right now, my ZS fiction falls under the IF category of "hypertext fiction." This means the reader does not make choices about what will "happen" in the story, but they do decide how deeply they want to engage with the characters. A reader who remains on the surface of a story will have a different experience from one who follows all of the links, and a reader who follows only some of the links will have a different experience yet.

I chose to tell these stories as hypertext fiction because it mimics the way experience and memory unfold and layer in real life in ways that are not always clean or linear. I have carried these stories and these characters in my heart for most of my life. When I discovered interactive fiction, I realized I'd finally found the tool I needed to tell these stories.

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