Clinging too much to the traditional forms of narrative
justingibbs — Fri, 2008-04-18 10:45
Transitioning traditional forms of storytelling to the Web is a daunting task. However easy it might look, it only takes a few moments of trying to create one of these hybrids to realizes the difficulties. I've been banging my head against the wall trying to tackle interactive story for years now. Penguin Books is also trying through experimental sites like, We Tell Stories. Six online stories released over six weeks, the first one by Charles Cumming, "The 21 Steps", utilizes Google maps. Instead of flipping through the pages of a book you follow a plotter on Google maps and get the story through little comment balloons.
Penguin worked with ARG firm Six to Start to develop the stories. Given the level of involvement in ARGs it is a little disappointing to see how little there is in, "The 21 Steps" and the other stories released so far. I'm hoping the yet to be released stories will go further, however I worry that the authors (who are already established writers) might be clinging too much to the traditional forms of narrative. An indication of that might be the addition of a seventh story.
And, in fact, We Tell Stories includes a seventh, hidden story that works more like a digital scavenger hunt than an experiment in interactive storytelling.
