Not just a novel -- a transmedia experience
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Writers J.C. Hutchins and Jordan Weisman venture beyond the novel into interactive digital storytelling with the new novel Personal Effects: Dark Art.
The psychological thriller tells the story of Zach Taylor, an art therapist who must determine whether Martin Grace, a blind audio engineer suspected of a dozen murders, is competent to stand trial.
Included with the novel -- tucked inside the book's front pocket -- are physical artifacts to engage the reader beyond the pages -- including character's birth certificates, ID cards and family photos. Readers have the opportunity to call character's phone numbers to listen to messages. The authors have created real Web sites for characters, and they look plenty real. And readers have the opportunity to hear a podcast-only "prequel" to the novel.
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Including physical items with the "story" was done almost 30 years ago at Infocom, who created interactive stories. The "Flathead" calendar with Zork Zero, the matchbook clue in "Deadline, the diary of the main character in Planetfall -- all were used to help the player get into the story, and provide "copy protection" -- without clues from the added material, you couldn't get very far into the game.
When I saw the title, I thought someone was trying to bring interactive fiction to the mainstream.
Tom Arachtingi
Posted by
Tom Arachtingi |
July 14, 2009 2:07 PM
Anyone who wants to see the future of story telling should see TOC: A New-Media Novel. This novel (published on DVD) moves seamlessly between animations, reading, and visual art to tell a story about time (sort of a sci-fi, Italo Calvino story, but without time machines). Along the way it reimagines what the novel can be by being a hybrid of theater and the traditional book, or movie and text. Readers sometimes watch, sometimes they read, and the effect is something like the intimacy that a reader has with a book, but the story draws on the power of all the arts, as does theater or opera. Its music helps evoke a world where time is the real foundation for all the superficial events that happen through it. There's a description at: www.tocthenovel.com
Posted by
XactlySo |
July 23, 2009 1:34 PM
