Interactive Digital Narrative: The Genealogy of a Field

A gifted young storyteller, orphaned at birth, has traced their origins to the city of knowledge. Fascinated by the youth’s potential, the scholars each lay claim. The cinematographer maps their filmic features, a vocabulary of edits and frames; the actor cites their own history of interactivity and dynamic audiences; the author notes the storyteller’s obvious place in the illustrious family of narrative convention; the computer scientist, present at the birth, is keen to ensure their place is recognised; the ludographer, youngest of the scholars, denies such reliance on any family history, instead seeing them as the start of a new, illustrious line—and encouraging the storyteller to define a new way of thinking. This chapter charts the intertwining, dynamic and interdisciplinary history of interactive digital narrative. Drawing on the breadth of scholarship, it provides a convenient primer for the convoluted, often-contradictory genealogy of the field and its complex relationship with authorship, along with open questions to consider.