How Storytelling Will Evolve in The Future

December 31, 2019 | By Katrina Hatchett | 1 Reply More

The art of storytelling is always evolving. There may be essential ingredients that are non-negotiable, such as having a start, beginning and end, and usually a cast of characters, but within that structure are a myriad number of possibilities to frame the story. And then the way stories are delivered is changing all the time too. Classic channels such as books and theatre may still exist, but every now and again we see new mediums emerge which change the face of how we consume stories.

Unsurprisingly, the craft and delivery will continue to evolve in the future, leading to slightly different kinds of stories played out across evolving mediums for us to enjoy. Here’s what to expect.

The breaking of the fourth wall

The fourth wall is a concept that states there is an invisible wall between the performers of a play or TV show, for example, and the audience on the other hand. The vast majority of stories respect that convention, although you do have examples of participatory theatre and characters within TV shows who directly address the audience.

In the future, we can expect the fourth wall to be further eradicated, with audience participation in the story something that will grow to greater levels. This will be true across mediums as people seek out higher levels of interactivity with the stories that they consume.

Even books – rather more limited in the way they can break down this barrier – will include elements of reader participation, such as selecting the direction in which the story takes. This, of course, is facilitated to a much greater extent when e-readers are used.

“TV services such as Netflix are already dabbling in shows in which the audience can select the direction that they want the story to take, thus influencing the outcome depending on the choice of the viewer,” says Mark Carlisle, a blogger at WritemyX and NextCoursework.

We can expect greater levels of this kind of participation and interactivity in stories across all media platforms, most of which will be driven by advances in…

The role of technology

AI, machine leaning, virtual reality. It is impossible that these technological advancements will not have an impact on the way in which we craft and deliver stories. Interactivity in TV shows is already being facilitated by technological progress, whereas storytelling video games propelled by these developments are becoming increasingly popular. With audiences demanding more immersion in the stories they consume, providers will seek out ever-more technical solutions to get the individual into the story.

Fully-immersive stories

Which will eventually lead to the kinds of stories in which we are the main protagonist. Instead of watching a character become faced with any number of extreme circumstances, faced with key decision making objectives, that character will become us. That will be the ultimate achievement in the craft of storytelling, to literally pitch us at the heart of the story.

“Of course, great stories have always pitched the reader or viewer at the very core of the action, but with the march of technology, we can now literally do that. That’s game-changing in terms of the way stories will be delivered, and the way they are written will have to change too to adapt to these considerations,” says Martine Scholes, a writer at BritStudent and Australia2write.

Multi-channel storytelling

Up till now, the channel by which the story has been delivered has been singular, but expect the rise of multi-media-delivered stories to come to the fore. We will see the evolution of stories which are played out across screens of varying kinds, and the way in which we can interact with the story will be driven by technology.

What can we expect to see specifically? Well, how about a cinema experience where a tablet in front of you can be utilized to influence developments within that story? That’s not science-fiction, but the reality of where we are at, and where we are going.

The backlash

And inevitably there will be many whose response to the march of technology to retreat into the warm embrace of familiar friends. Don’t expect books to go anywhere, because despite all of the technical advances and evolution of the craft, the book remains the one true standard of the from, allowing the human imagination to build the scenes with word prompts. Books will continue to thrive.

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Katrina Hatchett is a lifestyle blogger at AcademicBrits with a particular interesting in the art of communication. She is a regular writing contributor at Thesis Writing Service, as well as a blogger at PhDKingdom.