<h1>Scheherazade Williams’ “Staples” a hit with families, women</h1>\n\n<h3>By Febrina Jones, Associate Editor | May 21st, 2087</h3>\n\n“I’m sick. I’m Dying. And you’re the only one who knows it” - it’s an opener that no one could forget. And it bears out in the statistics. Williams’ latest digital film - a drama about family relationships and chronic disease - has been watched over 6 million times, as of Sunday. The hit is on track to surpass all media pieces for the month, with 92 billion international credits in sales. It’s also Holly bait. Williams is gunning for number 18 - she earned numbers 16 and 17.\n\nComing off of a season of slumps, her parent company Narrative Inc. is overjoyed by the response to “Staples.” “We’re thrilled to see the power of media, and always proud to have Scheherazade’s storytelling skills in our stable,” said Chad Lowell, director of audience development at Narrative, Inc.\n\n[[back to the beginning, I'm rewriting THIS story... |Start]]

<h1>Scheherazade Williams’ “Paper” a multi-media sensation</h1>\n\n<h3>By Febrina Jones, Associate Editor | May 21st, 2087</h3>\n\nPaper. It was once the primary way the world communicated. Long before trees were endangered species, people wrote letters, books, even the daily news on scraps of paper. That old sensation has become a new craze, based on Narrative Inc’s latest windfall, a brainchild of multiple-Holly award winning Scheherazade Williams.\n\nA pulpy 1960s spy novel, read as text and “felt” using “tac-tech,” people from around the world are experiencing a distinctly old-world sensation.\n\nNarrative Inc. has subsequently released its profits for the last quarter - 236 billion international credits in sales and ad sales have been reported for “Paper” alone. Williams commented publicly on the success in a press conference earlier today, noting, “It seems we had to look back, before we could look forwards.”\n\n[[back to the beginning, I'm rewriting THIS story... |Start]]

<em>A walk will do me some good. Maybe I’ll go listen to stranger’s conversations - always a wealth of material there.</em>\n\n“AI, hold my messages from everyone but mom, I’m going for a walk”\n\n\n[[Walk to Gardens |gardens 1]]\n\n[[Walk to skyline view |skyline 1]]\n

\n<em>God. I’ll never get over the view. The whole undercity, lit up like a Christmas tree. The upper city, all the art nouveau and fake sunsets and occasionally, actual sky. It’s gorgeous. I’ve made what, 20, 22 stories based on this view alone.</em>\n\n<em>Nothing’s really coming to me now, though. Other than how screwed I am if I don’t come up with something.</em>\n\n[[Walk further |skyline 2]]\n\n[[Go back to the office |back to office]]\n\n[[Go to garden |gardens 1]]\n

<em>52 new messages. Surely, there’s some grain of an idea here…</em>\n\n[[Check email from mom |mom email]]\n\n[[Check email from boss |boss email]]\n\n[[Get the hell out of this office |out of office]]

<h3>Subject: Re: Re: Last quarter losses</h3>\n\nFrom: Chad Lowell\n\nLook, whatever you’re working on right now, stop. If it’s not going to be a hit, it’s just not worth our time. 85-90, Williams. 85-90 is your new god. And if you can’t cut it, you’re done.\n\nTake a couple of hours this afternoon. Do whatever it is you did before you made Solomon. Then give me those results.\n\n- Chad\n\n\n\n<h3>Subject: Re: last quarter losses</h3>\n\nFrom Scherezade Williams\n\nChad, \n\nOk. I get it. It’s a hit business, and I need some hits. But 85-90 billion? The demo is changing. Look, I’m working on something now that I think will work. I can write the script and rig my digital actors today, do post tomorrow, and get this to marketing tomorrow night? What do you say?\n\n-Scherezade\n\n\n<h3>Subject: Last quarter losses</h3>\n\nFrom: Chad Lowell\n\nWilliams, \n\nLook, the company appreciates the value you’ve generated. New pieces weekly - even more than once a week - that’s output we can get behind. 17 Hollies. The publicity alone for that one would be enough to float on for a few weeks. \n\nBut you haven’t had a real hit in months. And the way the business is going, “hits” need to be much bigger. You’re officially in the red.\n\nLook, you’ve always been able to write your touchy-feely shit because you made your hits. We don’t mind that. It’s good for business come award season. Underground critics love you. But that really won’t cut it anymore.\n\nIf you can’t make something that generates 85-90 billion international credits in the next week or two, you’re going to get cut out. It’s nothing personal. Maybe take some time for your family. Your mom is sick, right?\n\n- Chad\n\n\n<em>Asshole.</em>\n\n[[Check email from Mom |mom email]]\n\n[[Get the hell out of this office |out of office]]\n

\n<em>Protestors. Pretty much a garden mainstay, this is one of the places where they can’t get kicked out under the new laws. </em>\n\n“Hi, would you like to learn about how the city’s housing laws are unfairly discriminating against long-standing citizens?”\n\n“um, sure, sure.”\n\n“Ok, just hold up your AI”\n\n“information. Recieved.” \n\n“Thanks for talking to me. It means a lot, ma’am.”\n\n“Right, of course, good luck.”\n\n<em>Housing discrimination. Another way to fuck over the people in the undercity. I’m sure I’ll be among them soon. Once I lose this job, I’ll be out there, protesting how much my family takes it up the rear. </em>\n\n<em>I hope they make some kind of difference. I’ll donate a few credits to their cause if I don’t lose my job. </em>\n\n[[Go back to the office |back to office]]\n\n[[Go to skyline view |skyline 1]]

<h3>Subject: health insurance again</h3>\n\nFrom: Farina Williams\n\nHi sweetheart. I was on a call with medico-sure again for a few hours today, it looks like they need your video signature as the employee. I’m really sorry to bother you, sweetie, but they won’t release the credits for my new medication without that. Will you have a minute today to record that and send it over?\n\nI appreciate it - and everything you do for us. Love you.\n\n-Mom\n\n<em>Fucking medico-sure. Ok, put that on the to-do list.</em>\n\n[[Check email from boss |boss email]]\n\n[[Get the hell out of this office |out of office]]\n

<h1>Scheherazade Williams out at Narrative, Inc.</h1>\n\n<h3>By Febrina Jones, Associate Editor | May 21st, 2087</h3>\n\nScheherazade Williams, author of more than 500 mixed media films and winner of 17 Holly awards, is out at Narrative, Inc. according to a statement put out by the conglomerate.\n\n"I've decided to step down voluntarily, in order to focus on family matters." Williams said, in the statement. "I will be consulting and don't worry - I'll still be crafting stories."\n\nWilliams noted in her personal blog that she'd be moving her family to more affordable housing in the undercity, and mentioned an interest in political activism.\n\n[[back to the beginning, I'm rewriting THIS story... |Start]]

<em>Ok. Now's the time. Getting my production suite out. Digital actors ready to go. Scripting software fired up. Here goes...</em>\n\n[[I got nothing |nothing ending]]\n\n<<if $visited_gardens eq "yes">>\n[[The family drama. Going to write from the heart. |mom ending]]<<endif>>\n\n<<if $visited_skyline eq "yes">>\n[[Paper. A tactile novella. Spies, the 1960s. Retro future. There's something there... |paper ending]]<<endif>>\n\nOr... well, maybe I could go back out...\n\n[[I'm not done with the gardens |gardens 1]]\n\n[[I'm not done with the skyline |skyline 1]]

<<set $visited_gardens = "yes">>\n\n<em>Hey, that’s nice. Looks like a mother and daughter, taking lunch together in the park. Mom and I used to do that. God, she always had story ideas for me. Hundreds of them! Not to mention jokes. Good ones, bad ones, I didn’t give a shit. She’s just a funny lady.</em>\n\n<em>Now the story is an endless succession of medical bills, fights with insurance, what she can eat and what she can’t… </em>\n\n<em>I really can’t lose this job. </em>\n\n<em>Fuck.</em>\n\n<em>Maybe there’s a story here? I mean, I know there’s a story, but something marketable? Chad will be pissed if he smells art house, but maybe there’s an angle here… some Holly-bait?</em>\n\n\n[[Walk further |gardens 4]]\n\n[[Go back to the office |back to office]]\n\n[[Go to skyline view |skyline 1]]

<<silently>>\n\n<<set $visited_gardens = "no">>\n\n<<set $visited_skyline = "no">>\n\n<<endsilently>>\n\n<h1>Scheherazade Williams wins 17th Holly, tells up-and-comers to “make stories that matter”</h1>\n\n<h3>By Febrina Jones, Associate Editor | January 21st, 2087</h3>\n\n38-year old Scheherazade Williams has done it again. At last night’s Holly awards, Williams netted the statues for writing and producing the best drama-American for Nightshade and the best interactive adventure-American for Solomon. The awards are the 16th and 17th Holly for the acclaimed solo media maker, officially making her the most decorated media artist since the inception of the Hollies in 2036. ActionPress had an opportunity to interview her last night, you can watch the highlight reel here, or the full clip here.\n\nThe most interesting part comes at 6:48, where ActionPress reporter Glenn Phillips asks her “What do you do for inspiration? You’ve made more than 500 pieces for public consumption.” She responds with “I go for walks. Stories are everywhere, you just need to know where to look.” He followed up with “what do you tell the younger folks out there, who are almost certainly gunning for a job like yours?” Without missing a beat, Williams replied, “I tell them to make the stories that matter.” She gestured towards the Holly statues in her hands. “These prove that there’s still an audience for heartfelt, not traditionally ‘commercial’ pieces in our landscape.”\n\nHer parent corporation, Narrative Inc. may not have been happy with that last quip, but Williams’ work has always found the tricky space where commercial and critical success lies harmoniously. Nightshade, for example, grossed over 62 billion international credits worldwide, and Solomon - a decidedly introspective adventure - grossed just under 80 billion. \n\nWilliams has been writing and producing solo multimedia since her early twenties, and she arrived on the international scene with the critically acclaimed “Stars of Hercules,” a modern-day rendition of the classic myth, in 2065. \n\n\n<em>Yeah. That’s me alright. They picked the worst picture of me, too. I hated that dress. That dress made me look like I lost a bet or something. It’s red and gold and unflattering in all the wrong places. Course, I didn’t care that much. This was my 17th. Award ceremonies get to be more of a nuisance than they’re worth after awhile.</em>\n\n<em>And that sniveling asshole Phillips. Life expectancy is 105. But women are “over the hill” at 35. In this business, at least. The digital actresses stay young forever, but media makers? We’ve got to please that almighty male 20-35 100k international credit-and-over income demo bracket. That gets harder and harder to do, the less tolerance you have for their bullshit.</em>\n\n<em>I suppose none of it matters. Well, all of it matters. I’ve never had writer’s block before. Not until now.</em>\n\n[[Check your inbox |inbox 1]]\n

\n<em>Trees, most of them species that are extinct in the wild. Flowers everywhere. It’s a pretty quiet afternoon, but there are a few folks milling about. </em>\n\n[[Walk further |gardens 2]]\n\n[[Go back to the office |back to office]]\n\n[[Go to skyline view |skyline 1]]\n

<em>I love the way this place smells. It’s always fresh and kind of… wet? That’s one way of thinking about it, I guess. Earthy, warm…</em>\n\n<em>Am I horny? I must be horny.</em>\n\n<em>Hmmm, maybe I should go into porn after I fail at mainstream media production. I’m sure there’s a distributor who specializes in weird, garden-based porn. Flower sex. Is that a thing?</em>\n\n<em>I have to think about our demographic - let’s see, a hot, but not too-hot young man, 25ish, meets the nubile young starlet in the garden, they talk, get ice cream, have sex…</em>\n\n<em>I wonder if anyone sells ice cream out here at this time of day?</em>\n\n<em>AI, add note - “sexually charged romance in the garden, potential fetish theme if that’s trending”</em>\n\n[[Walk further |gardens 3]]\n\n[[Go back to the office |back to office]]\n\n[[Go to skyline view |skyline 1]]\n

Scheherazade 3.0\n

<em>Something about the upper city and undercity, maybe? Ok, that’s worn territory for me, and Chad hates it, but it doesn’t seem to be getting any damn better. The haves, the have-nots. Fertile ground.</em>\n\n<em>I wonder how many people fall to their death up here? It can’t be that hard to slip over the security barrier. </em>\n\n<em>That’s grim. A horror story, maybe? Someone who causes people to fall to their death - an AI that makes people want to take a long dive.</em>\n\n<em>Ah, if only that hadn’t been done to death a hundred times. Maybe with a unique spin… the AI is - haunted - no, the AI was programmed by a monster… god, I’m really scraping here.</em>\n\n[[Walk further |skyline 3]]\n\n[[Go back to the office |back to office]]\n\n[[Go to garden |gardens 1]]\n

Danielle Riendeau

<<set $visited_skyline = "yes">>\n<em>An older guy on the bench. That’s nice. Just enjoying the view. God, I bet you could see the sky from here when he was young. Maybe I’ll ask him about it. He looks friendly.</em>\n\n<em>Man, that is an old hat. I bet that hat is older than he is.</em>\n\n“Nice day, eh?”\n\n“Yeah, yeah. Course, I used to be able to see quite a bit more. When I was younger. Long, long time ago.”\n\n“What was that like?”\n\n“The view? Or a long time ago?”\n\n“Both, I guess. You miss anything?”\n\n<em>Ha, that was a look.</em>\n\n“The view wasn’t better, just different. Cars looked different. The world was shorter, then.”\n\n“yeah?”\n\n“But you know what I miss? What I really miss? I miss paper. I miss holding a story right in my hands, flipping pages with my fingers. I miss the smell of it. I miss the feel. That might sound crazy to you…”\n\n<em>Oh my god. That’s - I can use that. Tactile experiences. Chad never shuts up about them. Old tech is IN right now. Paper. Paperbacks. Paperback writers. Pulp novels. The 1960s. This - this could be the hit I need.</em>\n\n“But I’ve never quite gotten used to using screens and HUDs. Call me an old man - I guess I am an old man. But I miss that.”\n\n“You’ve just made my day, mister. Thank you!”\n\n<em>Now he thinks I’m crazy. I guess it’s ok. If he watches any popular media, he might get his wish.</em>\n\n[[Go back to the office |back to office]]\n\n[[Go to garden |gardens 1]]\n\n

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