Collaborative World Building in Networked Classrooms: Experiments in Electronic Writing and Digital Dissertations

This paper discusses my theory of incremental storytelling, a methodology for teaching fiction writing that combines gaming, collaborative writing, and digital storytelling. Most creative writing courses employ some variation of the traditional workshop format where students write and critique each other’s fiction, often using published work by established writers as models for emulation. While this approach has its merits, it typically presents traditional print culture as superior to other narrative forms and reinforces romantic notions of the lone artist toiling in isolation on a muse-inspired work of genius. Incremental storytelling works in opposition to these assumptions, recasting the creative writing classroom as an inherently collaborative space where modest contributions from each participant results in an exponentially richer fictional environment. (Source Author Abstract)