What is a Transmedia Narrative? (Part 4 – Defining Fiction vs. Non-Fiction)

The term “fiction” has been used in a number of definitions of transmedia narratives (Dena, Transmedia Practice: Theorizing the Practice of Expressing a Fictional World Across Distinct Media and Environments, 2009; Fahle, 2011; Kinke, 2011).

Transmedia narratives, however, are not restricted to fiction; non-fictional narratives can also use transmedia techniques (Miller, 2008, p. 161). The issue of what constitutes fiction and non-fiction becomes even more blurred when a transmedia narrative integrates fictional settings, characters, and events with real-life locations, people, objects, and events. The term “panfictionality” has been proposed as a way to describe the merging of fiction and non-fiction (Ryan, 1997).

Because of these issues with the term “fiction”, I don’t restrict the definition of transmedia narratives to fictional narratives.

References

Dena, C. (2009). Transmedia Practice: Theorizing the Practice of Expressing a Fictional World Across Distinct Media and Environments. PhD disseration . Sydney, Australia: University of Sydney.
Fahle, R. (2011, July 11). Are You Ready for the Transmedia Revolution? Retrieved July 12, 2011, from Video-Commerce.org: http://video-commerce.org/2011/07/are-you-ready-for-the-transmedia-revolution/
Miller, C. H. (2008). Digital Storytelling: A Creator’s Guide to Interactive Entertainment (2nd Edition). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Ryan, M.-L. (1997). Postmodernism and the Doctrine of Panfictionality. Narrative , 5 (2), pp. 165-187.