Hmmm... OK...

Here's a bit of Boo:

import System.IO
import System.Xml
import System.Xml.Serialization

using w = XmlWriter.Create(Console.Out):

        w.WriteStartDocument()
        w.WriteWhitespace("\n")
        w.WriteStartElement("scene")
        w.WriteAttributeString("name", "intro")
        w.WriteAttributeString("desc", "in which out hero...")
        w.WriteAttributeString("default", "waking_up")
        w.WriteWhitespace("\n ")
        w.WriteStartElement("narrative")
        w.WriteAttributeString("name", "waking_up")
        w.WriteAttributeString("desc", "how much did I have to drink last night?")
        w.WriteEndElement()
        w.WriteWhitespace("\n")
        w.WriteEndElement()
        w.WriteWhitespace("\n")

Which outputs this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?>
<scene name="intro" desc="in which out hero..." default="waking_up">
 <narrative name="waking_up" desc="how much did I have to drink last night?" />
</scene>

I think I can work with that. Let's add some snippets to the mix:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?>
<scene name="intro" desc="in which out hero..." default="waking_up">
 <narrative name="waking_up" desc="how much did I have to drink last night?">
  <snippet>I'm cold.</snippet>
  <snippet>Cold and wet and ... naked?</snippet>
  <snippet>Oh man.</snippet>
  <snippet>How much did I have to drink last night, anyway?</snippet>
 </narrative>
</scene>

 That's the level of control I need. Now to redo the save and load funcs.

Hmm... that's a point. Let's make sure I can read this stuff