Comments on: The Future of Storytelling

By: Derek Bell

Derek Bell — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:21:57 +0000

I would tolerate ads if they done in a non-intrusive way. If they didn’t obstruct my search for the content and I could glance over them…I wouldn’t mind them. If they were like glancing at a magazine ad but being able to turn past that page I’d be OK.

By: KC

KC — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:11:38 +0000

I hate ads, but I put up with them when I really have to. Pretty much, I’m going high tech while kicking and screaming.

By: John

John — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 06:36:43 +0000

I think this has a lot of potential for graphic novels and the like. Imagine MAUS or WATCHMEN or The Goon being translated like this. I remember seeing a version of watchmen that was like this, only it had a bad narrator and no reading.
However, call me old fashioned, I think there are a lot of readers out there who will be annoyed by stuff like this. Chances are, those people will die….. eventually
But then again I am one of those people who never found comic books interesting, not because of their stories or content, but the pictures and bubbles. My imagination was always better than the cartoonish graphics. So for people like me, who thrive with NO PICTURES and no FLASHY MEDIA, I shudder to imagine the Great Gatsby or Jane Eyre being translated into flashy pictures with cinematic sound effects. But some people, I guess, enjoy this and need it to help their imaginations along. Although I do realize there will be great artists who will use this technology for great art, I have no doubt of that. I think it still has a lot of experimenting, fumbling, and failing to do before it gains momentum in genres and formats outside of magazines and graphic novels.

By: Josh Olds

Josh Olds — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:07:26 +0000

Have you seen that David Baldacci’s newest novel Deliver Us from Evil is going to be “enhanced” in the iPad format?

I see this trend as good and bad. Good in that it’s flashiness and innovation will allow us to experience novels in new and enhanced ways. People that don’t read but watch TV or movies (which is a majority of people) might read a book if they add other stimuli to go along with the reading experience.

But the negative is that the reader loses imagination in setting the scene in his head. It leads to a superficiality that might make a great story seem only good because the reader couldn’t connect with the characters.

Personally, as a reader, give me text, give me the story, let me imagine the world. I would just be distracted from the reading experience, even by occasional sequences like the one above. It breaks my reading rhythm. But I’m unique, I know.

As far as ads, I don’t think I’d like them in the middle of my novel. Beginning or end, yes, especially if they’re relevant.

I’m interested in seeing how an enhanced format changes education. Say you get your biology textbook as an ebook (or iBook, as I am sure Apple will call them) have for iPad. Instead of drawings, there could be animations. Instead of photos, there could be videos.

In any case, I think it’s an interesting development, I just hope that it doesn’t lead to a further loss of critical thinking in our society. Reading is an active process that requires critical thought to seriously understand a book. I don’t want this development to remove that aspect.