Digital Fiction is fiction that is written for and read from a computer and can be web- or app-based (for tablets and smartphones) or accessed via CD-ROMs. Digital fictions are different to e-books, however. Rather than existing as a digital version of a print novel, digital fictions are what are known as “born digital” – that is, they would lose something of their aesthetic and/or structural form and meaning if they were removed from the digital medium. For example, they may contain hyperlinks, moving images, mini-games or sound effects. Further, unlike e-books in which the reader moves from one page to another in a linear fashion, in many digital fictions, the reader has a role in constructing the narrative, either by selecting hyperlinks or by controlling a character’s journey through the storyworld. Digital fictions therefore require that the reader interacts with the narrative throughout the reading experience and include texts such as hypertext fictions, Flash fictions and some video games. You can find analyses of various different kinds of digital fictions in our most recent publication Analyzing Digital Fiction.

Here are some examples of the texts we will be using in the project:

• 10:01 by Lance Olsen and Tim Guthrie (2005)
• Flight Paths by Kate Pullinger and Chris Joseph (2007)
• Loss of Grasp by Serge Bouchardon and Vincent Volckaert (2010)
• Underbelly by Christine Wilks (2010)
• Nightingale’s Playground by Andy Campbell and Judi Alston (2010)