Already known for their digital innovation, the UK publishing arm of Penguin are exploring new territory where literature, gaming and the web intersect. We Tell Stories is a digital writing project where Penguin challenged some of its top authors to create new forms of story – designed specially for the internet.
The first story is ‘The 21 Steps’ by Charles Cumming has been published and uses Google Maps technology.
The press release tells us more - plus, news of a hidden story:
Over six weeks writers including Booker-shortlisted Mohsin Hamid, popular teen fiction author Kevin Brooks, prize-winning Naomi Alderman and bestselling thriller author Nicci French will be pushing the envelope and creating tales that take full advantage of the immediacy, connectivity and interactivity that is now possible. These stories could not have been written 200, 20 or even 2 years ago. We Tell Stories begins with Charles Cumming’s Google Maps adventure. ‘He was the wrong man, in the wrong place, at the wrong time’. Now you can follow his adventures across the nation and across the world, step by step.
But somewhere on the internet is a seventh story, a mysterious tale involving a vaguely familiar girl called Alice. Readers who follow this story will discover clues that will shape Alice’s journey and help her on her way. These clues will appear online and in the real world and will drive readers to the other six stories where they will have the chance to win some wonderful prizes, including The Penguin Complete Classics Library, over £13,000 worth of the greatest books ever written.
Expectation is already high – the gaming community has been awaiting the first project from SixtoStart and the next digital publishing initiative from Penguin whose last project, the wikinovel (http://amillionpenguins.com) generated 85,000 unique visitors in five weeks, arriving at a rate of 10 per second at one point. We Tell Stories will be widely promoted, through traditional and new media channels and will be a significant event in publishing, gaming and new media communities.
The project has been created with the help of PSFK friend Dan Hon at his new company SixToStart (who first met the Penguin team at the PSFK Conference London!!)
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This is a wonderful way to engage people into different cultures as well. I can see multiple scavenger hunt type games coming out of this, but I also see ways that companies can bring another level to day in the life stories of what it’s like to work for them.
The google mashup is great and I can imagine integrating the latest youtube api into this for even more depth.
March 19th, 2008 at 7:23 am
Thanks for the writeup, Piers - glad you’re enjoying it! Look out for the second story next Tuesday…
Dan
March 20th, 2008 at 11:01 am