Now THAT'S Interactive

How interactive are most storytelling mediums?

Movies? No matter how many times I warn them, that character always goes in the room where the killer is hiding.

TV? Have a great idea for your favorite television show? Just write them and tell 'em about your great idea, right? Wrong! TV writers and producers try to avoid unsolicited ideas out of fear of lawyers. From Writer's Weekly:

Shows will not accept unsolicited scripts from anyone off the street. They don't want to be held liable for theft of ideas.

"Hey, I sent my script to that show and they stole my idea. I'll sue their asses, get a bad rep, and never work in Hollywood again. I'll show them."

It is never a good idea to send a spec script to that particular show that is hiring a staff. Why? The Producers know the show better than you. They know every nuance that you don't.

You won't be able to compete against a show that's written by eight disgruntled, funny, bitter writers that are stuck together fifteen hours a day. It's not a good idea and they will not accept it. (Lawsuits again.)

Radio? Well, if you show me a fictional show on radio, I'll show you a newspaper dated circa 1933.

Books? The story has been finished, printed, and published long before you shelled out 20 big ones to read it.

Magazines? If it's a magazine or newspaper that prints short serials, I suppose you have a chance of giving feedback to the author. Although, chances are he completed the series long before he convinced anyone to publish it.

Live Theatre? I seriously doubt that a cast is going to change their well rehearsed performance based on a suggestion a drunken audience member shouts out.

One of the things that differentiates blog fiction from all other story telling is the huge potential for reader interaction. A blog, through comments and linking, is almost inherently interactive. A reader can leave comments, or link to and ping a post. This gives the author almost instant feedback. The author can choose to change the story based on feedback. Also, the author can decide to respond to comments in character.

So far, that's pretty much been the extent of blog fiction. But Now, look out! Make way for Space Haggis. A weekly installment about "renowned space scientist Alfie Haggis" who

has unfortunately been trapped in space ever since he had a near fatal accident when piloting the first manned mission to Mars.

Here's the cool part:

Alfie however needs your help!

After each of his blog entries the reader will need to help Alfie come to a decision for whatever predicament he finds himself in! Community driven blog fiction at its finest.

Readers will have chance to vote in a poll on the homepage and the decision that wins the majority vote will be the decision made by Alfie in the next episode of spacehaggis.com.

As I said in the title, now THAT'S! interactive. It'll be fun to see what other forms of interaction blog fiction takes on.