Putting Multimodal Writing on the Page

The challenges of representing multimodal and digital languages within fiction are multiple, varied, and, unavoidable if you are writing contemporary realist novels aimed at young readers. Young adult literature readers are more likely to be immersed in social technologies than other demographics. With this in mind it would seem that learning how to better represent the stories and languages of digital culture in our fiction should be a real concern for writers wishing to connect with those readers. In what follows I consider some of the ways I’ve approached this challenge in my PhD novel, drawing on ideas presented at the NAWE Conference in 2018. I also share some of the lessons that I’ve taken forward to writing classes with undergraduate film and media students, as well as the general public. These are formulated as guiding principles, and illustrated with writing practice examples from the classroom, which may hopefully be of interest to other writers looking for ways to incorporate the impact of digital culture into their writing practice, and/or, teaching.