超文字小說（）是使用超文本鏈接的一種體裁。可非線性的提供新的資訊。如同維基百科，可從文本的一個節點移動到下一個節點。其精神也可以在看到。

該術語甚至還可用於描述以非線性敘述和交互式敘述的傳統紙本書籍。例如詹姆斯·奧古斯汀·艾洛依休斯·喬伊斯的《尤利西斯》、豪爾赫·路易斯·博爾赫斯的《小徑分岔的花園》、弗拉基米爾·弗拉基米羅維奇·納博科夫的《微暗的火》、胡利奧·科塔薩爾的《跳房子》就是在「超文字小說」這個術語出現前的超文字小說例子。

定義 
超文本文學的定義幾乎沒有共識。類似的術語（，直譯：網絡文本）經常與超文本（）互換使用。

對而言，網絡文本本身並不是一種體裁。

歷史 
第一批超文本小說是在萬維網開發之前使用（直譯：故事空間，是第一個專門為創建、編輯和閱讀超文本小說而開發的軟件程序。）和HyperCard（首批超媒體系統之一）等軟件出版的。

該領域先驅者是和。

Douglas Cooper's Delirium (1994) was the first novel serialized on the World Wide Web; it permitted navigation between four parallel story strands. On June 21, 1996, Bobby Rabyd (aka Robert Arellano) published the World Wide Web's first interactive novel, Sunshine 69, with navigable maps of settings, a nonlinear calendar of scenes, and a character "suitcase" enabling readers to try on nine different points of view. Shortly thereafter, in 1997, Mark Amerika released GRAMMATRON, a multi-linear work that was eventually exhibited in art galleries.  In 2000, it was included in the Whitney Biennial of American Art.

In the 1990s, women and feminist artists took advantage of hypertext and produced dozens of works. Linda Dement’s Cyberflesh Girlmonster a hypertext CD-ROM that incorporates images of women’s body parts and remixes them to create new shapes. Dr. Caitlin Fisher’s  hypertext novella “‘These Waves of Girls“ is set in three time periods of the protagonist exploring polymorphous perversity enacted in her queer identity through memory. The story is written as a reflection diary of the interconnected memories of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. It consists of an associated multi-modal collection of nodes includes linked text, still and moving images, manipulable images, animations, and sound clips. It won the Electronic Literature Organization award.

Some other web examples of hypertext fiction include Adrienne Eisen's Six Sex Scenes (1995),
Stuart Moulthrop's Hegirascope (1995, 1997), The Unknown (which won the trAce(Alt X award in 1998), The Company Therapist (1996-1999) (which won Net Magazine's "Entertainment Site of the Year"), and Caitlin Fisher's These Waves of Girls (2001) (which won the ELO award for fiction in 2001). More recent works include Stephen Marche's "Lucy Hardin's Missing Period" (2010) and Paul La Farge’s * Luminous Airplanes  (2011).

The internationally oriented, but US based, Electronic Literature Organization (ELO) was founded in 1999 to promote the creation and enjoyment of electronic literature. Other organisations for the promotion of electronic literature include trAce Online Writing Community, a British organisation, started in 1995, that has fostered electronic literature in the UK, Dichtung Digital, a journal of criticism of electronic literature in English and German, and ELINOR, a network for electronic literature in the Nordic countries, which provides a directory of Nordic electronic literature. The Electronic Literature Directory lists many works of electronic literature in English and other languages.

特點 
超文本小說可包含圖像、表格、引用等等。 

超文本小說可以採用不同的形式。可以是軸向的、樹狀的、網絡的等等。軸向超文本小說有一個中心故事線，其中的鏈接會分支並返回到中心故事線。樹狀小說分支成相互排斥的故事情節。網絡小說有多個起點，並不總是有固定的結局。一部超文本小說可以混合各種形式。

超文本小說的特點是構成虛構故事的文本網絡節點。每個節點中通常有幾個選項可以指導讀者下一步可以去哪裡。與傳統小說不同，讀者不受時空及角度限制，只取決於讀者節點的選擇。類似於維基百科，讀者閱讀一個節點，然後選擇要遵循的鏈接。

批評 
2013年，《連線》發表了一篇關於為什麼超文本小說沒有流行起來的文章，聲稱非線性故事其實不易寫，因為作品的每個部分都需要介紹人物或概念。

參見 
SCP基金會
文字冒險
視覺小說
網路文學
網路作家
接龍小說
同人小說

參考

參考書目 
 
 
 "The hypertext Tristram Shandy page", David R. Hammontree's page
 The Non-linear Tradition in Literature  from  The Electronic Labyrinth by Christopher Keep, Tim McLaughlin and Robin Parmar
 Andersen, Alan Lance (1981). "Elfland catacombs",  Ames, Iowa: Winterhearth.
 
 Ensslin, Astrid (2007). Canonizing Hypertext: Explorations and Constructions. London: Continuum.

外部鏈接 
超文本敘事的塑造 （Sergio Cicconi 著）
Eastgate hyperfiction 目錄