MULTIMODALITY AND THE BREAKOUT OF THE VISUAL, ORIGIN AND NATURE OF THE

HYPERTEXT, POST 3, POSTS (ASSIGNMENT 1)

STORYTELLING
NOVEMBER 11, 2014 CATHY FOWLER
It is clear that what has changed since the discussion of Plato to present time is how
people have told their stories. Storytelling has always been the way our culture
disseminated itself, stories passed on through generations. First orally, then through
the written word, and though at each stage we lost something we gained something
too. When stories were told orally, it was not only an aural presentation but a visual
one as well. Storytellers used their whole bodies to depict the nature of the story
through song, chants, poems and narratives; some may have drawn maps in the
ground or used local artifacts. We have gone from hearing and seeing a story told to
reading peoples stories both aloud and silently to a newer version of storytelling
that is multimodal involving multimedia that is multi-sensory. Movies are shown in
4-D involving all the senses through sensations in the seats and even scents. We
rely on movies and television to tell stories to our children. Fairy tales and legends
have become a very popular genre with new versions of these old stories being
retold for not only children but for the adult audience as well.
In this late age of print storytelling has become more prevalent than ever before.
Everyone is an author, everyone can share their story and everyone feels they have
a story to tell. Social media is full of the stories of our generation, of our present
culture, our recent history. Some of these stories are hyperlinked to other peoples
stories through LIKEs and comments making their story community wide and
sometimes in the case of tragedies, global. Where once stories told were selected
by an elder, a priest, a bard and perhaps changed through the generations, now the
stories are selected by the individual and passed on immediately to be changed,
adapted, altered and most importantly shared.
[N]ew modal uses and new media are having equally profound effects on writing
and on the notion of author and of authority. The screen offers the facility in ways
that the book did not do overtly or concretely offer for the reader to become author,
even in the process of reading. (Kress, 2005) New authors are taking advantage of
social media to tell their story one chapter at a time. Anna Todd, author of After,
started writing her stories using the Wattpad site/app. She very quickly acquired
thousands of fans and wrote her, now published book one chapter at a time
depending on what her fans wanted. In this way Todd has written a communal story.
Collaborating with her fan base to build the story they want to hear, and buy into.
Todd has recently sold the rights to her stories to be made into a movie. (CBC News,
Nov. 9, 2014)
In chapter 7 of Writing Space, Bolter discusses hyperfiction, fiction written online
that can be approached from any entry point, doesnt need to be read in a specific

order and can be linked to other texts. This new genre changes the idea of
storytelling yet again. Traditionally storytelling was linear, a beginning, middle and
end. Hyperfiction affords a new experience for every reader. Authors may control
the storyline or allow multi-storylines, sharing the control with the reader. Some
may be familiar with the, Choose your own adventure stories, hyperfiction takes
that idea and runs away with it, making it impossible to contain in a traditional
book. Hyperfiction is found in video games as well as to narrative fiction. Video
games rely on a back-story to engage the player; each new episode or adventure in
the game continues the storyline. Video game makers produce graphic novels,
traditional books, movies and multiple versions of their storyline to engage their
audience. (Bolter, 2001 Ch.7)
Web 2.0 and the burgeoning 3.0 tools and technologies afford a new narrative. The
author now has to consider not only their audience but also how their audience will
access, view, interact with, hear, relate to, share, and overall experience their story.
The new media make it possible to use the mode that seems most apt for the
purposes of representation and communication These choices become as much a
part of the story as the story itself. Aptness of mode and what is represented is not
the only issue: Equally significant now is the aptness of fit between mode and
audience. The author has to allow their authority to wane and allow the reader to
become a part of the narrative creating a situation where, there is no stability to
authorship or readership that has to be produced each time for this audience, on
this occasion. So, whether in choice of genre, in choice of medium or in choice of
mode subjectivity is at issue. (Kress, 2005)
Traditional views of literature and authorship have been underminedby the uses
to which both popular culture and the academic community are putting new
electronic technologies of communication. (Bolter, Chap.8) We have let go of the
traditional authority in writing, to a version of authority based on viewership, the
number of LIKEs, critiques and ratings. This provides the storyteller with immediate
feedback and the ability to change the story. [E]lectronic writing reforms print by
replacing the qualities of authority and fixity with flexibility and responsiveness.
(Bolter, Chap.8)
Storytelling in the 21st Century involves the author and reader to become as one.
Where the audience was once a passive receiver of the story now they may become
a part of not only the story but how, where and when it is told. For the author, they
may lose some of the control of how their story is shared but they gain the rapid
dissemination of their story and isnt that what all storytellers want, to share their
story to broad audience?
References:
Bolter, J. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print.
Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Kress, Gunter. (2005). Gains and losses: New forms of texts, knowledgeand
learning. Computers and Composition. 22(1), 5-22.Retrieved, November 10, 2014,
from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2004.12.004