Apparently something called a Wovel (Web + Novel, get it? Get it?) is the new incarnation of online storytelling. It’s like Choose Your Own Adventure books: at the end of each section, readers get to vote which direction the story takes.
Check out the Underland Press website for an example in progress. Maybe even cast your vote for:
- “You have friends in unexpected places”
- “I can always sell Shinobi your destination coordinates.”
It seems serialization has fallen out of favor in the last thirty years, but it should come back. Whether audience members get to choose the direction of the story or not, serialization is such a great way to hook readers — look at television, people. Since the internet needs readers to return again and again, and online readers skim in chunks and bits, serialized stories should be ideal for the medium.
But just on an ending note, the coiner of the word “Wovel” probably wasn’t aware that it’s the term for a nifty snow shovel (The World’s Safest Snow Shovel!)
