Multi-layered narratives?

Wednesday January 14th

There’s a nasty, dark gale blowing outside. It’s making it very difficult to write. The howling wind is distracting and jarring. The fire keeps going out, which doesn’t help. Oh yeah- and the Internet is slow as treacle.

We shot the teaser last night. I forgot to take pics. We threw a black backdrop up, stuck Amelia in front of the camera and shot it. I had written a script, but David decided to just “busk it”. I’m really enjoying working with David. It’s the best writer/director collaboration I’ve ever had. I write it. He reads it and shoots something I hadn’t thought of which is better than my first draft, but which still contains all the important bits. He’s also really fast. It was shot, edited and up in a few hours. Another shiny gold star. Actually three shiny gold stars: one for Amelia, one for David and one for me.

It’s on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl9GC-KERPc

I now have to get a dedicated channel up and throw some seeds out with the teaser. I’ve been quite picky so far in seeding this thing. I’ve mainly concentrated on “industry sites” ie online drama and filmmakers in Ireland. I don’t want to go overboard until we actually have an episode up that people can vote for.

Back to writing Internet drama:

A single-layered narrative has a beginning, a middle and an ending. This gives you a timeline. It goes from Act 1àAct 2àAct 3. You can jumble them up, like Pulp Fiction, but it still has a timeline, a definite direction.

A multi-layered narrative has other narratives that run parallel to (and are linked to) the main narrative. They can go backwards, or forwards, or sideways. Much as you have a main character in a story and minor characters (whose parallel stories you get to know a bit about), you have a main narrative from which sprout other narratives. The fundamental shape and direction of an Internet narrative is different from any other writing.

David Mitchell has written multi-layered narratives in his novels Ghostwritten and Cloud Atlas. I think that David’s work (I can call him that because he is a fellow West Cork blow-in, which frankly blows me away) could only be properly brought to the screen on the Internet. When you read Ghostwritten http://www.amazon.com/Ghostwritten-David-Mitchell/dp/0375724508 , for example, you immediately want to go back and reread a bit that came before because you realise that there’s a character that was in an earlier story. If it the book was adapted as a webcast you would click on the link and go directly to the other story.

An internet drama should have a main narrative along with a bunch of parallel narratives that you can explore. Which brings us back to the second person narrative. YOU don’t just read, or watch the narrative- you explore it.

OK enough pontificating for now. I’ve got a long list of things to do for this pitch on Friday, including laundry.