Get your writing out there!

The New Digital Storytelling project is to set up support for writers: we can set up a website for you to develop your story, show you how to establish a namethrough the use of social networking websites, reach your readers through blogs and twitter, broaden your following through videos, animations and podcasts. However, you want to make money and while Web 2.0 storytelling can bring you digital readers there is a limit to the amount of money to be made through advertisting, so even as a new digital author you will have to write for the traditional media. So you will need to write, write, write. There are many opportunities to be found on the internet, here are a few I have found (but by the time you read this blog these may have past so look for what interests you).

Ten Minute Playwright
Deadline: 31 December 08 - The Panoply Arts Festival in Alabama are looking for ten-minute plays.

The Westminster Prize
Deadline: 12 January 09 - Soho Theatre are looking for short plays from people who work, live, or study in the borough of Westminster.

FeatureLab
Deadline: 16 January 09 - B3 are looking for writers, directors, or writer/director teams, and are particularly interested in people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Page One
Deadline: 29 January 09 - Screen Yorkshire want to help residents of Yorkshire and Humber develop projects for Rollem Productions and Warp X

Red Writers
Deadline: 31 January 09 - Red Ladder are looking for new writing talent. Three writers will be paid to write treatments, one of which will be commissioned for £1,500

Telling a good story in a blog

Zoe Margolis started a blog over 4 years ago: girl with a one track mind. It is a hugely popular blog and was picked up by Ebury Press to be published as a book. My blog isn't to write about the success of this digital storytelling, my blog is to look at what makes her popular.

Topic: Girl with a one track mind is a kiss and tell tale of the sexual activities of Abby Lee. I have a wonderful book on my shelf called: Diary of a Seducer. It is a story about a man deliberatly arousing the passions of a young society girl written by Soren Kierkegaard (1813 to 1855). My point is the topic is not new to storytelling.

Length: Girl with a one track mind has diary entries which are quite short and easy to read. I have read lots of blogs and no matter how dedicated I am to the blog I have a limit to the length of story I can read onscreen. As long as digital stories are being read on computers and laptops authors will have to work with short concentration spans. Blogs are good for delivering short pieces of information, Twitters are better (for those who can write stories in 3 lines). The difficulty with a blog is there is no real way of bookmarking the story you are reading and digital readers who miss a few blogs when they take their summer holiday may not return to your story.

Style of Writing: Zoe Margolis writes in a humerous and interesting way. There are many styles of writing that work in new digital storytelling, read good books to refine your own style.

Plot: Girl with a one track mind has a simple plot following Abby Lee's life and the characters in her life. A simple plot works better with a blogging format for storytelling as digital readers are likely to miss blogs.

Character Development: The main character Abby Lee develops through the story as do the minor characters. The way these characters develop is key to the story as it allows the digital reader to empathise with the characters. Again, this is a standard storytelling technique - it is not knew to digital storytelling.

Oh, look. The things a new digital author needs to think about are pretty much the same as the things authors have been thinking about since stories began. If you want to write good digital fiction, read good fiction and learn from the masters of story telling.

One last thing: Jakob Nielsen's site: useit.com is aimed at internet professionals working with commercial sites, but is worth a wander through as he has very useful information about what people do on websites: what is the best font, how many clicks visitors will do, what is the best styles of writing, how many words digital readers read, etc.

Accessibility is key to digital storytelling

Penguin books invested in digital storytelling earlier this year, I would like to reflect on one of their stories: 21 steps by Charles Cummings. This is a good digital story primarily because this is a good story. It is a thriller based on the 39 steps told in energetic bursts of writing that keep the reader interested. Now for the bit that interests me: What makes this good DIGITAL storytelling?

Charles Cummings has used a digital device in everyday use to tell the story: Google maps. The story is told through notes attached to Google maps and the journey the protaganist takes in the story is shown on the map.

Why is this good digital writing?
I find this an exciting and interesting use of digital writing as the digital reader is familiar with maps thus giving them a familiarity with the story. Charles Cummings has already hooked the reader when the first screen opens thus allowing all the short concentration span of the digital reader to be given to the storytelling and not to build up.

Accessibility is more than just a technology buzz word

A key to ditigal storytelling is for the digital reader to be reassured that they will be able to access the story and should invest their time in reading the story.

About Jules Artvan

(about myself)
In 1996 I started an ezine publishing poetry and short stories under the name NAIL's Lunch Break using the name NAIL Ideas & Icons. Now the ezine only exists on a hard drive I have in my cupboard. Since then I have carried my interest in publishing literature online though the jobs that I have held in publishing and education. I have been tracking and watching what is happening online and feel that Web 2.0 is ready for a new genre of storytelling but no-one is being innovative enough to develop the exciting opportunities.

I am now back as an online publisher with the new name: Jules Artvan. This blog is my record of developments of the New Digital Storytelling project and a record of resources and online developments in storytelling for Web 2.0. I will be posting a new blog once a week summing up the weeks developments and interests.

When I am not an online publisher I am an artist and a house dad.