Web 2.0 has changed the way we do so many things.
So I wonder if it is possible to sustain a piece of fiction using only Web 2.0 tools…a story told through blogs, wikis and other tools. Not your usual piece of digital storytelling – I’m thinking major pieces of fiction, possibly serialised, that follow the thoughts and events of characters across a range of formats. The ‘un-novel’ might use a combination of materials such as youtube clips, blog entries, Nings, podcasts, twitter and the like, to track characters and expose their inner thoughts.
I believe this type of fiction has a lot of potential. I see teachers of the future introducing Web 2 ‘Story Quests’ or ‘un-novels’ to launch students on a narrative journey with a real difference. I see students learning to piece together the elements of a narrative from visual, audio and written cues.
I like it.
It could be like a treasure hunt (The ‘treasure’ being the story itself!)
It might even be fun.
There is already a lot of fiction online. However, it tends to be the same traditional format as offline fiction… youtube instead of movies, and ebooks and ezines instead of books and magazines. The ‘un-novel’ is different, it crosses several mediums, and with so much happening online these days stories should be different.
Some of the online work that ‘almost’ qualifies as the ‘un-novel’ is listed below but I would love to hear of any others:
• Inanimate Alice
• We Tell Stories
However, I decided to experiment with this idea on my own. My ‘un-novel’ begins with a blog post and a central character with no idea what she has just revealed about herself and her family…let me know what you think. Can you guess what happens? Can you guess this girl’s name? Are you intrigued…or just bored by the whole idea?
Check out the Shakespeare’s Girl 
blog:
