Hey guys, I'm just curious if a community of writers and avid readers would know anything about visual/sound novels. Put simple, sound novels are 'modern' books or stories. You read them from a computer and what separates them from traditional books is that accompanied with the text is background music, sprites of the characters and a background image of where the particular scenes are set. This type of text mainly comes from Japan but over the years has crept into Western shores. They do provide a refreshing and different type of reading experience. The biggest thing I love about them is the use of music. Befitting background music can double the intensity of emotions depicted in a story. Now there are a lot of junk (mainly generic and erotic style) visual/sound novels, but two of my favourite series is the Higurashi; When They Cry and Umineko: When They Cry by the writer Ryukishi07, whom has quite a bit of post-modern influence and breaks away from traditional story-telling. Both stories have very deep themes running through the veins of the story itself. Higurashi explores the idea of community, fate and human bonds. Umineko, on the other hand, is a bit more mature than Higurashi, and it explores post-structural and -modern philosophies. Small Spoiler Alert: Umineko is in summary a murder-mystery that also challenges the integrity and truth of the narrator. Up to this day, people debate the who-, how- and why-dunnit and the author himself gives no signs of revealing the answers, saying that those persevere will reach the truth. Umm, so that's just a brief insight about visual/sound novels. Has anyone read any?
I tend to be put off by multimedia presentations. One of the things I enjoy about reading is the visualization involved; how my mind fills in the blanks for itself.
I like what my own imagination comes up with. The presentations like this, while neat, are limiting to a book's potential. If I want images and theme music, I will just toss in a movie. I have an ereader, but that doesn't overwhelm my senses like these things do. About two minutes of one, is enough to give me a migraine. With that in mind, would there be any reason to attempt finishing the 'book'? For me, no. I like my books to be simply words, allowing my imagination to do the work, not have someone else do it for me. - Darkkin
