Book Review: Immersive Storytelling for Real and Imagined Worlds by Margaret Kerrison
Aren't plays just another form of immersive storytelling? I think so!
Hello everyone! It’s that time again for a monthly book review.
This month, I’m reviewing Immersive Storytelling for Real and Imagined Worlds by Margaret Kerrison. I picked this up after a stint of obsessive researching about immersive theater (as I tend to do every once in a while), as it seemed to be one of the better-reviewed books regarding the writing of immersive stories. And boy am I glad I picked it up.
As a playwright, I feel that theater itself is a sort of immersive experience, even if the audience is sitting passively and watching. We are still taking that audience to another place, another world, perhaps another time. If you’re doing your job as a theatre artist, you are transporting your audience. This is even more important if the show includes audience participation, or is immersive in the way that the audience is walking around the set, interacting with things a la Sleep No More. That’s why I had the instinct that Immersive Storytelling… could be quite useful.
This book isn’t made specifically for any type of writer— honestly, I believe anybody could get something out of it. However, I think if you want to write for theater, video games, or immersive experiences, this book can be particularly helpful. The way that Kerrison discusses creating immersive experiences from the ground up can be easily extrapolated to the development of a game, a devised theater piece, or immersive art installation. In fact, Kerrison includes examples from ALL of these art forms in the book! It’s not difficult to take her advice and just mold it to fit your particular art form.
Kerrison provides charts, questions, and descriptions of deliverables that are extremely helpful to someone looking to write and/or create an immersive experience of some kind. This makes her advice actionable, which in my opinion is what makes for an actually helpful writing book.
Another thing I found enjoyable and/or helpful was Kerrison’s writing style and voice. She comes across as not only an expert in this field but a compassionate and kind mentor advocating for the success of more women, parents, people of color, and other oppressed groups in immersive writing. Most books on craft and/or writing aren’t going to make me emotional (at least, I don’t think so) but I teared up at LEAST twice reading this book. Especially when Kerrison wrote this:
“As a storyteller, you have the power and responsibility to bring hope, joy, and optimism to the world. You have the power to influence and inspire minds. Use the power of your words to represent an authentic, diverse, and inclusive world. You owe it to future generations.”
I LOVE this. As you get into the latter quarter of the book, you start to see Kerrison’s unbridled passion for stories, and that’s inspiring as hell (at least to me!). I love to read about artists’ love and adoration for their craft— it reminds me of my own. And sometimes, you need that little boost.
Alright folks, that’s it for this month’s book review. See you next time!
~Brynn