The Memory Store: A collaborative online fiction, which explores the opportunities for participatory narrative experiences afforded by the shared space of the Internet

Abstract

This practice-led thesis explores the opportunities digital technologies afford for writers to create online fictional spaces to share with readers. The research asks how might authors utilise the shared space of the Internet to offer collaborative narrative experiences? Part One of the thesis is a creative project, The Memory Store, http://thememorystore.org a hypertext, detective fiction, set in Liverpool in 2115, written with contributions from a hundred people. The work experiments with authorship as a collective experience in an online environment, considering ways in which we might collaboratively construct stories. This experimental project differs in its ambition from other collaborative online writing projects, such as MacGuffin (Comma Press and Manchester Metropolitan University, 2015) and Rainy City Stories (Openstories, 2008) by exploring methods to structure writing contributed by participants so that reading can flow from one writer to another with a narrative connection established by the site’s interface. Part Two of the thesis is a critical reflection that explores theories that have informed my creative practice. The research examines what Manovich described as ‘spatial wandering,’ (2001, p49) Nelson’s term ‘intertwingularity’ (1974, p29) and ‘the bricolage’ that Turkle (1995, p51) referred to in respect of the Internet, to approach conceptualisations of digital technology as spatial, creating environments through which readers navigate to interconnected experiences, facilitating exploration, encouraging participation, communication and sharing. The thesis also considers narrative space, detective fiction and the archiving of collective memory in online environments to support the development of the creative project.