A Framework for Transmedia World-Building in Imaginative Fiction

• In Event: 34.097 - Sheraton Roundtable Session Four - Grand Centre
  In Roundtable Session: 34.097-3 - Critical Media Literacies: Transmedia, Gaming, and Video-Making

Abstract

Imaginative fiction is a literary genre focused on stories that take place in imaginary worlds; worldbuilding is the process of creating the worlds. Contemporary imaginative fiction writers must be prepared to create worlds that are comprehensive enough to facilitate a transmedia storytelling of their narrative. Our paper details a framework that educators can use in the classroom when engaging students in the process of worldbuilding. We argue that for readers to engage in the sensemaking process while immersed in a secondary world, the framework for worldbuilding in transmedia environments should be rooted in the real world. Our framework is based on the NCSS thematic strands, used by social studies educators to teach students how to understand the social world.

Authors

• Mindy Spearman, Clemson University

• Nafees Mohammad Khan, Clemson University