“Fairy Tales” is an interactive fiction piece of Children’s Literature designed by Kevin Brooks and influenced by the classic fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen. Brooks provides the framework of the story; however, it is a combinatorial piece in that there are many possibilities of what will happen depending on the choices the reader of the work makes. For example, the characters names, some of the characters involved, the type of qualities the characters have and the type of ending are all chosen by the reader and so the reader can be viewed as co-creator. The co-creator can also add their own epilogue to the story if they choose and share the stories with others through email. The combination of having a choice by using the predetermined options and being able to write part of the story make every story generated unique. This new media piece has a classic fairy tale story line. The daughter of a poor peasant goes on an adventure when threatened by an evil King. Along the way she comes across mystical characters that either help or deter her, depending on the co-creator.
Brooks has based the fairy tale fittingly using one of the most influential story makers in the Western world. The stories of Hans Christian Anderson have been “re-produced” many times “with themes from old works forming the basis for new ones” (Goldsmith). This re-producing has taken the ideas from the original works in many different directions; one can just compare all the different versions of “The Little Mermaid.” However, Brooks creates “Fairy Tales” differently than others who have borrowed from the same works. Firstly, Brooks has not borrowed from one story; he has framed this story around the elements classic fairy tales have. These elements include the struggle between good and evil, quest, meeting friends or foes, magic, animals and love. In addition to the conventional elements, “Fairy Tales” exemplifies a piece of electronic literature where “the medium lends itself to experimental practice especially to those that disrupt traditional notions” (Hayles 17). Brooks has created a story that can appeal to youth today through its interactivity and having multiple options for the user to decide the mood of the story. The story does not need to have the typical romanticized ending, in fact Brooks says, “I like to write about the darker side of things, and I’m not known for my happy endings” (Brooks). The user can choose the type of ending the story can have (almost happy, some happiness, very sad or just plain sad). The user can even choose to write their own epilogue to the story and have the print recorded and saved through an email message. This way the user can change their mind, go back and try a new option to see what paths the story may take them. Brooks has created a single place where the work can be re-purposed multiple times. Unlike previous fairy tales, one can now have a say in the type of story they want to read when they want as through the internet “now readers around the world can access the work” (Perloff).
Born in 1959, throughout his life Kevin Brooks has had many occupations, but he is known here as an author. Apart from “Fairy Tales,” he has written several other works his first published works was “Martyn Pig” in 2002. He has since written, “iBoy”, a novel about a boy who turns into an “App”. As an author his work is usually geared toward youth. He has won awards for his works including, the North East Book Award 2004 and the Branford Boase Award 2003. He currently lives in North Yorkshire, UK.
Works Cited:
Brooks, Kevin. Kevin Brooks Author. My Space, n.d. Web. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.
<http://www.myspace.com/kevinbrooksauthor>.
Goldsmith Kenneth, “It’s Not Plagiarism. In the Digital Age, It’s ‘Repurposing’” The
Chronicle Review. Sept 11, 2011. http://chronicle.com/article/UncreativeWriting/128908/
Hayles, N. Katherine. Electronic Literature: New Horizons for the Literary. Notre Dame:
UND Press, 2008.
Perloff, Margorie. “Screening the Page/ Paging the Screen:Digital Poetics and the
Differential Text”. From: New Media Poetics: Contexts, Technotexts, and
Theories, ed. Adelaide Morris and Thomas SwissI (Cambridge and London:
MIYT Press (2006): 143-64.