Writing for Voice First Devices
As a writer, it's probably time to start
paying attention to "voice first" devices. I’m talking about the
Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant line of smart speakers. Ignoring the
odd-looking cylinders and muffin tops that are popping up in more households
every day could end up costing you an untapped source of avid new fans.
You probably already know that people are
consuming fiction in many new ways. While most still engage with stories by
reading or listening to audiobooks, a growing audience listens to stories on
podcasts, reads bite-sized episodes in mobile apps, or lives the story via a chat app
or game. Especially younger fans of fiction are seeking stories via these
“alternative” channels.
You can now add voice assistants living in
smart speakers to the list of alternative channels for the consumption of
fiction. But what types of fiction work best on devices that include Automatic
Speech Recognition (ASR) and Natural Language Understanding (NLU)? Here are
some possibilities:
●
Streaming Audio
○
Passive listening with no input
from the listener, such as listening to Alexa play an audiobook
○
Example: "Alexa, read my book
'Lincoln in the Bardo.'"
●
Branching Narratives (Non-linear,
Choose Your Own Path)
○
The listener hears a story and is
asked to choose between two or more paths to drive the story in a different
direction
○
Examples: "Alexa, open the
Magic Door," "Alexa, play Jurassic World"
●
Games
○
A story is used as a way to engage
the listener is a game
○
Examples: "Alexa, open
SpongeBob Squarepants," "Alexa, start Westworld," "Alexa,
play Tricky Genie"
●
Conversational Storytelling
○
Conversational elements, such as
questions, accompany a story in an attempt to engage the listener and
personalize the experience
○
Examples: "Alexa, open My Box
of Chocolates"
The challenge for writers of traditional
fiction is to discover new, but intuitive, ways to invite readers to interact
with a story. The current default model for interactive fiction seems to be the
branching narrative. Some of these
offerings have been very successful and have grown large followings, such as The Magic Door.
At Tellables, we find the idea of conversational
storytelling more interesting than branching narratives. Our first attempt at
designing a conversational experience is the My Box of Chocolates voice app
("skill") on Amazon Alexa. We've also created a way for independent
authors to submit original stories for publication in
each monthly box of chocolate stories. Our goal is to create a publishing
platform authors can use to publish voice first stories, as well as an audience
of avid listeners who enjoy engaging with these stories.
Whatever path you choose, it's not too late to
get in on the game. The world of voice first fiction is just starting to take
shape. Now is the time to begin exploring the opportunities.
Amy Stapleton is Founder of Tellables, a publisher of voice first conversational stories. Apart from designing voice apps, Stapleton is a writer and editor of content for the Tellables Amazon Alexa story experiences "Tricky Genie" and "My Box of Chocolates." Stapleton retired from an IT career at NASA to pursue her vision of transforming talking devices into a platform for engaging new story experiences.
