A Saskatoon woman is writing a novel in an unconventional way.
Instead of flipping through pages of paragraphs, readers scroll through characters’ dialogue in a text message-like format on their phone.
Readers can choose their own adventure by picking the protagonist’s response.
“So you play as June, the main character. Maybe somebody says something snarky to you and you can respond politely or respond snarky back,” Tonia Laird said.
June is Chinese and Scottish.
“I’m Metis, and my son is part Filipino. There’s not a lot of representation for mixed heritage, so I wanted to give that representation,” Laird told CTV News.
Poster Girl takes place 300 years in the future. Early in the book, Earth’s resources are limited and the population is scarce. But once it grows, the former population creates propaganda to get people off earth and into space.
Laird writes the story and works with a California-based app developer, FableLabs, to digitally create it.
The author said using the app is useful as a writer because she can track where and when people stop reading.
Poster Girl’s first three chapters are available for download through FableLab’s Tales app.
Laird said she plans to release additional chapters monthly.
