Participatory Narrative

Form of storytelling that actively involves the audience in the creation or progression of the narrative, often facilitated by digital platforms that enable collaboration and interaction
Kerstin Kurz 2026-05-27

Explication

Participatory narratives and participatory storytelling go hand in hand and are often used interchangeably. According to Elstermann, storytelling is usually unidirectional: from author to audience (79). She further states that there are ways for the audience to interact with the narrative or the author, but this is limited to bidirectional interaction with the narrative, especially in print media (79). She adds that the maximum level of this interaction with print media would be the author publishing a follow-up work referencing a comment from the audience, thus lacking permeability and further participation (79). Other ways to make a printed narrative participatory are Choose Your Own Adventure or Choose Your Own Story books. In these types of narratives, a reader can decide which direction they should take by continuing to read at a specific page in the book; however, the reader is still limited to the options the author provides. 

One way that narratives can be made participatory is by people interacting with them after an author has published the original version, for example through the means of fanfiction. A narrative can also become participatory from the beginning, for instance by hosting a narrative in a digital space as had been the case with Mutable Cinema, “an interactive installation that allows a player to perform live editing of a movie in front of an audience” (Lartigue et al. 181), thus including the audience in the process of creation. 

Closely connected to participatory narratives is ergodic literature. Ergodic literature can include participatory narratives, as is the case with the role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons, which is highly interactive, as Hilton argues and actively encourages players to shape the narrative by making aesthetic and gameplay impacting decisions (82). Depending on the mode of playing Dungeons & Dragons, it can be a non-digital or a digital narrative. 

Before the universal availability of the internet, participatory narratives were confined to audience interaction in theatre and fanmail. The emergence of a shared digital space has democratized digital narratives and made audience participation easier. However, in the modern age, especially due to copyright laws, the amount of interaction with a present narrative can be restricted and, if infringements of copyright laws occur, even be forbidden (Farmaki 55).  

Participatory narratives aim to expand the interaction with a narrative by the audience, like interactive fiction, through maximizing the permeability of the line between who is part of the audience and who is the author; thus, the narrative becomes more fluid and changeable. 

There are several different ways in which a born-digital narrative can become participatory. For online texts and blogposts, the most obvious option is enabling comments (Elstermann 80). An audience member can then remark on what was written, and the entire audience can see the remark and even add to it. 

Video games also create space for more participatory narratives by allowing User Generated Content (UGC). This can be limited to visuals and character skins; however, in many cases this also stretches to changes in text and narrative of the original game. With the emergence of generative artificial intelligence, this form of participation has become even easier with tools such as StarCharM for the game Stardew Valley, which allows users to create their own characters (Zand Miralvand et al.). 

Participatory narratives are consistently evolving, as is the rest of the digital space, and they will likely continue to do so in the coming years.

See Also

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) - Simulation of human intelligence processes by computer systems, to create or interpret content in innovative and sometimes literary ways
• Ergodic Literature - Texts that require significant effort from the reader to traverse, often involving non-linear navigation and interaction that contribute to the narrative's meaning
• Fanfiction - Genre of writing, often published and shared in online communities, where fans create new stories based on characters, settings, or plots from existing works
• Interactive Fiction - Born-digital electronic literature where users navigate narrative and ludic elements by inputting textual commands or making choices
• Netprov - Genre that combines online performance, storytelling, and collaborative writing, utilizing digital communication platforms to create dynamic, participatory narratives
• Player Agency - Degree to which users or players can influence the direction or outcome of a story or game, highlighting the interactive aspect of digital media

Works Referenced

Elstermann, Annika. “Participatory Storytelling.” Digital Literature and Critical Theory, 1st ed., Routledge, 2022, pp. 79–128.  

Farmaki, Despoina. “User-Generated Content in Gaming: Legal Challenges and Narrative Frameworks.” Law, Technology and Humans, vol. 7, no. 2, Jul. 2025, pp. 53–62. https://doi.org/10.5204/lthj.3857 

Hilton, Mackenzie. “A Winding Path: Exploring Ergodic Literature with Dungeons and Dragons.” The iJournal, vol. 9, no. 1, Fall 2023, pp. 78-88. 

Lartigue, Mario Márquez, et al. “Mutable Cinema, a Participatory Narrative Engine.” Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Digital Interactive Media in Entertainment and Arts, 2007, pp. 181–82. https://doi.org/10.1145/1306813.1306857 

Zand Miralvand, Hamid, et al. “Democratizing Game Modding with GenAI: A Case Study of StarCharM, a Stardew Valley Character Maker.” Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, vol. 9, no. 6, Oct. 2025, pp. 475–509. https://doi.org/10.1145/3748612

Further Reading

Chambers, Amy C., and R. Lyle Skains. “Scott Pilgrim vs. the Multimodal Mash-Up: Film as Participatory Narrative.”  Participations: Journal of Audience Reception Studies, vol. 12, no. 1, 2015, pp. 102-116. 

Haynes, Sarah.  The Memory Store: A Collaborative Online Fiction, which Explores the Opportunities for Participatory Narrative Experiences Afforded by the Shared Space of the Internet. Liverpool John Moores University, 2019. 

Schäfer, Mirko Tobias.  Bastard Culture! How User Participation Transforms Cultural Production. Amsterdam University Press, 2011. 

Jenkins, Henry.  Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture. NYU Press, 2006.

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