Output details

Alice in Storyland

Alice in Storyland was commissioned as part of Penguin's We Tell Stories project, and was published on the internet in 2008.It can be found at: http://treacleandink.wordpress.com/ It took the form of a blog where Alice Klein, a blocked writer, told of her discovery of a magical mirror - perhaps once belonging to Doctor Dee, Elizabeth I's court magician - and the strange adventure this discovery initiated. The blog was a creative answer to a series of questions. How does a process of piecing a story together with others over several weeks affect and change the reader’s relationship to that story and its characters? How can this new medium - a blog plus interactive elements - be used to engage a new readership? How might a narrative be melded into a culminating live-online event? Players (numbering around 10,000 around the world), answered phone calls from mysterious strangers, uncovered physical trails of clues, even baked cakes and sang songs to an actor playing a character from the story to get critical information. The end of the tale was a 3-hour live-online event in which players actively participated, helping Alice solve the final mystery. The real-world engagement our players evinced was substantial - many restructured their lives to participate in the story, and lasting friendships have formed. My personal contribution was to write the blog, devise various puzzles which my players followed to uncover hidden parts of the tale, and to write and run the live-online event. The project won Best of Show at the South By Southwest Interactive Awards.