The Twilight of the Gods
Conservative storytellers risk mistaking what they want (i.e., to be allowed to continue churning out 100,000-word texts on their word processors) with what their readers want (i.e., to be entertained and enlightened in whatever ways we can summon to do this most effectively). I share the concerns of Brendan Sherar, CEO of Biblio.com, an online rare-books shopΦ:
"[L]ately, I’ve been getting nervous when I hear people dismissively say, 'Oh, people will always want the printed book. They’ll never want to read books on computers.' I’m not going to debate herein the truth/untruth of such a statement, but the sentiment really bothers me... Seriously, folks, the future of books is being decided now, much like it was being decided for newspapers 5-7 years ago."
Bingo.
Admittedly, one of the truly impressive things about great writers is their godlike ability to conjure up so much using words alone. But that doesn't reduce the allure of multimedia storytelling any more than a virtuoso solo musican precludes the rich delights of listening to an orchestra. Also, none of this is to say that plain text is not sometimes the best medium to covey an idea or emotion, nor that the addition of other media or interactivity cannot sometimes distract rather than engage. Just because we can do multimedia doesn't mean that we always should (think of Smell-O-VisionΦ or the feelies of Brave New WorldΦ). It is not enough for multimedia to be merely different from print book, for any given purpose it must be better. But I believe that in many cases it can and it will.
In fact I hope this essay itself serves as an example, though crude, of some of the ways in which different media can be marshalled to more effectively convey a point – and even non-fiction is a kind of storytellingΦ. (Indeed, my critics might dismiss this essay itself as a work of fiction, which, perversely, might only strengthen my case.) Perhaps its most significant weakness is that my examples have all been taken from existing stories in other media. The best works will eventually come from narratives created specifically for this new medium.
As a result, successful publishers of the future will be ones who identify and nurture artists capable of capturing readers' imaginations using these new forms. For those are the people who will eventually eclipse and outsell the pantheon of great contemporary writers.
If you look hard enough, people with the right mindset do exist. Kate Pullinger has given us The Breathing WallΦ, Chris Meade has created Songs of Imagination and DigitisationΦ, and Chris Klimas made gim crack'dΦ. For me, none of these works yet succeeds triumphantly. But if they have not yet reached that major milestone then at least they are heading in the right direction.
It will take time for us to learn how to effectively mix different media in a way that feels completely natural to readers, minimising the inevitable cognitive switching costs and making the story flow naturally. It will also take time to conceive of stories that suit this medium especially well. But we will learn how to do these things, as we have already done for films and games.
On top of this, readers' tastes will evolve. They may not yet be ready for extreme implementations of this vision, but habits can change surprisingly quickly when provided with a compelling reason. (Ten years ago texting was only starting to take off; now it feels as if it has been around forever.) Mass adoption of this new narrative medium and artform will in the end be driven by the creation of great (or at least popular) works. In short, phiction is looking for its own Pride and Prejudice, Citizen Kane or Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. How might such a definitive work be enabled and encouraged?