On the writing, reading and publishing of digital stories

Abstract

Purpose -This paper describes a study set up to investigate and map the landscape of digital writing today. A holistic perspective has been adopted involving writers, readers and publishers alike.Design/methodology/approach -The research uses a qualitative approach and combines interviews and direct observations. In in-depth interviews 13 participants (4 writers, 4 publishers, 3 readers and 2 on-line readers) were questioned for their opinions on issues related to writing, publishing and reading digital fiction. The 3 readers were also observed while interacting, for the first time, with three digital stories.Findings -Results show that the area is still unsettled though much excitement surrounds experimentations and freedom of publishing online. Readers seem uneasy with the role of co-creators that writers want to assign them and prefer linear stories to more deconstructed ones. Writers like to experiment and combine multiple media and readers like to interact with multimedia stories; this seems to open interesting perspectives over interactive narrative. Publishers are not yet involved in digital writing and this is seen simultaneously as a blessing (unfiltering of innovative ideas) and a curse (lack of economical support, lack of quality selection). Despite disagreement and ambiguity all interviewees agree that digital fiction will come, likely prompted by new reading technology.Originality/value -This paper is the first attempt to understand the phenomena of digital writing taking into consideration the perspectives of writers, readers and publishers simultaneously and comparing their different views.

Authoring digital interactive narratives

“…The approach of authoring interactive narratives is that nodes act as content and links between nodes as the means to give context (Marshall and Shipman, 1995). Context can be represented by more than just hyperlinks or textual assertions as introduced in the early systems (Petrelli and Wright, 2009). Tools now allow multimedia, graphics, gameplay or locations embedded in the stories to enhance narration, navigation, content presentation and…”

The complete information literacy? Unforgetting creation and organization of information

“…Traditions and learned conventions provide a partial explanation as well as the novelty of digital writing that, for instance, Petrelli and Wright (2009) have studied. Another reason is that running text and physical order of things is useful far beyond the extent hypermedia advocates and, for instance, Weinberger is ready to admit.…”

Twine as a Digital Tool in Writing Digital Fiction: A Creative Writing Instruction in Higher Education

“…Several scholars also believe that digital tool could be a trial space where students can challenge their creative multimodal ideas, language skills, and digital experience. Petrelli and Wright [10] found out there is much enthusiasm surrounding experimentation and the freedom to write in relation to writing stories online. However, readers seem uneasy about the position of co-creators that writers choose to allocate to them, preferring linear stories to more deconstructed ones.…”