Electronic Art: Modern Short Fiction Transmedia Storytelling in Japan

Abstract

Digital modern fiction in Japan is a relatively new concept in literary waters, having its roots firmly placed in the 21st century. In the course over the last two decades, this branch of literary fiction has developed into a widespread sensation. The trendy “mobile phone novels” or keitai shousetsu differ from the traditional printed literary fiction because of several factors. Among these, we can take into account the writers, the audience, the form, the structure and the particular syntax, as well as the means and place of distribution. The writers are young authors whose mobile phone novels often lure to readers of the same age. Their uploaded novels into virtual platforms confirms the shapeshifting ways in which messages are sent from the addresser to the addressee in this virtual and technological era. These novels are created in such a way that they be intriguing due to the fact that creators and recipients are involved. It is interesting to point out that there is a certain phenomenon of mirror imagery between addressers and addressees since the keitai shousetsu readers tend to the same age and gender as the writers. Statistically speaking, the 86% of high schoolers, the 75% of middle schoolers and the 23% of grade schoolers, read mobile phone novels. This paper argues that keitai shousetsu can be seen as transmedia structures because they can involve a larger complex storyland which is shared and distributed on different media platforms.