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Web Novels Let Readers Drive the Plot
Weekly installments end with a choice
By Matt Cantor
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Posted Jan 5, 09 3:03 PM CST
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(Newser)
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Fantasy fans who’d like a role in the action can turn to literature’s latest incarnation: the online Web-novel, or wovel, NPR reports. Readers can click and read a chapter each week. Then, “at the end of every installment, there's a binary plot branch point with a vote button,” says the founder of online and traditional publisher Underland Press.
Voting is open the first half of the week; the second half, the writer pens a new chapter. It’s like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, says a programmer, “allowing the readers to decide on integral changes in the plot.” The form combines “the technical functionality of Web 2.0, the creativity of fiction, and the pace of print journalism,” says the company’s founder.