The Adventures of Hawk Funn

When Fiction Meets Facebook

What if you could talk to the characters in your favorite novel and get a reply? Imagine if you could “like” their photos on Facebook, follow them on Instagram, or watch their lives play out on Snapchat. Hawk Funn, a children’s story published exclusively online, was an early attempt at experimenting with this idea.

The creation of Nickelodeon illustrator Steve Lowtwait and Facebook employee Michael Smith, Hawk Funn is (was) a man crippled by a phobia of the indoors, living on a campground wedged in the middle of suburbia. His story was told through a chain of interlocking Facebook and Twitter profiles for each character, and even a website for Hawk’s fictional business.

Here’s what made the idea fun, though: the online project offered readers the chance to insert themselves into Hawk’s world, and directly interact with the characters by “liking” his photos, replying to his tweets, or commenting on his status updates.

You could think of this social fiction approach as the next (techno)logical progression in writing, where a story is told through the characters’ actions on a number of separate media platforms. It might seem like an unusual method, but with the internet such a prominent part of modern life, it’s only natural that storytelling evolves with technological trends and developments.

So what does Hawk Funn mean for storytelling?

We’re starting to see that stories no longer need to be packaged up as books to gain an audience. The heretofore centralized flow of publishing is being flipped on it’s head — the world is embracing creative projects distributed through social media. Case in point: the Tribeca Film Festival recently screened shorts created on Snapchat. Publishing houses will start sponsoring authors who write stories designed for news feeds. Social media is already opening doors for fledgling authors, allowing them to easily market and publish their work through online platforms.

And because the platforms are constrained and unique in their own ways, they dictate how the characters can act. What we’re seeing now are the platforms becoming a part of the the work.

This is where social fiction can shine; readers engaged not just by the story, but by active participation in it.

And just imagine: wouldn’t it be great fun to step into the life of a beloved literary character? Imagine having a conversation with the angsty Holden Caulfield, or discussing survival tactics with Katniss Everdeen.

Unfortunately, Hawk Funn failed to secure financial support through it’s crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. While this might make it easy to dismiss social fiction as a literary gimmick, it’s worth considering that Hawk Funn’s lack of success could be attributed to any number of reasons, including a poorly run crowdfunding campaign, a shortage of Kickstarter’s adult users willing to fund a children’s project, or a general lack of knowledge about this new literary format.

And though Hawk Funn never took off, an ambitious story with a multitude of characters could meld nicely with the flexibility of social media. Picture a comedy following the trials of modern teenagers unravelling through their tweets, Instagram posts, and Tumblr rants; it would offer the audience bite-sized pieces of entertainment running throughout the day, and give deeper insight into the character. Alternatively, an emergency room drama featuring 911 calls and play-by-play patient updates could translate to a chilling and riveting reader experience.

These kinds of stories would thrive as social fiction. The book or movie medium can’t do a real-time drama justice; it would work best as a living, breathing experience, with the reader right there tagging along for the ride.

So want an idea for the next big thing? Write a story that lives only on social media. It’s uncharted territory, so you’ll be a pioneer. And, social media could be just the medium that allows for new types of fictional works.

Of course, anything new seems shiny and interesting at first. Although both readers and writers might worry that social fiction cheapens literature by limiting storytelling to media platforms, it’s important to keep an open-mind; as technology consumes every aspect of daily life, writing — once a solitary pursuit — is increasingly becoming a social endeavor.

And any literary development with the capacity to bring together readers, writers, and bystanders — especially millennials — is worth keeping an eye on.

Have you read any social fiction, or interacted with fictional characters? What kind of ideas do you think would be perfect for the medium? Let us know in the responses section; we’d love to hear from you!

Enjoy!

Woven is supported by LongShorts, a social media-based storytelling app. Check it out here for iOS.