Changing the Future of Reading as We Know It: How Immersive Books are Striking the Perfect Technology-Reading Experience

(PRWEB) July 14, 2014

Imagine being pulled into a novel and becoming part of it, right down to receiving texts and calls from a serial killer. Author and film-maker Oldrich Stibor has created the very transmedia fiction that does just that.

During the 1990s developers had high hopes that virtual reality gaming would become the next big thing. But the cumbersome nature of the technology, coupled with how time-consuming gamesmanship could be and its cost, found many of the ideas being shelved. But now, in the age of social media and smart phones, immersion technology is fast becoming a hot topic once again, with operational platforms being literally, in everyone’s back pocket. And that increased accessibility has horror author Oldrich Stibor excited for the future of story-telling and reading as we know it.

Transmedia fiction—multi-platform storytelling where extra content is provided via digital platforms—by its very nature, is not well-suited for every genre. But for Stibor, who is also a film-maker, there is little question that horror and suspense stories are rife for a transmedia approach. The entire reason we read scary novels, is to fulfill a deep-seeded psychological need for the emotional reaction fear provides. What stands out from Stibor’s approach to immersive fiction, however, is that his product isn’t designed to replace books, but to enhance the experience of reading them.

“I think the mistake other writers and developers—like those creating iPad-only projects—have made is in creating something that demands real-time commitment, making it into a game and requires too much work of the readers to participate in the journey. All those bells and whistles unfortunately often come at the expense of the writing,” Oldrich explains.

It’s why for their first project, Red Right Hand Productions made sure that they prioritized quality story-telling before approaching the companion app development. The result is the stand-alone The Black Chronicle, which details the manhunt for a notorious serial killer known as “Mister.” Stibor then enlisted the talents of horror veterans, actors Melantha Blackthorne and Emmy winner, Bill Oberst Jr., and acclaimed director Tricia Lee to create the extra content that readers will then have access to.

“In order for immersive fiction to be effective, you can’t skimp on the details—the elements you include simply have to be as close to real-life experiences as possible. To accomplish this Red Right Hand's companion app rolls out content to the reader as they progress through the story, such as videos created by the killer, crime scene photos, police reports and even phone calls directly from Mister himself. Eventually pulling the reader into the story until they themselves become another character in it.”

Oldrich Stibor and his company are currently testing the application in Android form and are seeking a publisher to bring the concept to the market.

To test the application and learn more about Red Right Hand Co. visit http://theblackchronicleema.wix.com/blackchronicle#!creative/c1on7.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblackchronicle

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