An Introduction to LostG!rl: Literally

For my semester project, I chose to write in the fictional blog genre. Flogs may be used for several purposes and may come in different forms. My flog is used to express my individuality, engage online readers, and it comes in the form of a pretend diary. The diary is that of a fifteen year old girl’s named Rebecca Bloom. At first, the diary comes off as a science fiction work, but as the reader follows her entries, there is a twist. Along with the bodies of text within each of the six entries, there are some forms of multimedia which include photographs, a video, and an interactive poll at the right of the blog. The poll is open to anyone who chooses to vote on it. This genre has allowed me to make my fictional story a reality to its readers because it turns out to be pseudo-realism rather than science fiction.
Creating the flog was an interesting process. During the course of my writing, I became more like my fictional character. Once I immersed myself into Rebecca, I edited my previous entries making them more realistic to her persona. I added pictures to describe the main idea or thoughts that were encompassed in each of her entries. In her last entry, I included a video. The pictures used in the flog: “LostG!rl” were found using Google Image Search, or from my personal collection of pictures from my PC. The video was found through Good Search as well. LostG!rl differs from other flogs because it is not a parody nor an advertisement. Many popular flogs today use them for marketing or entertainment. My flog is entertaining, but in a different sense because it is intimate. On the other hand, my flog coincides with its genre because it uses a blog interface, specifically www.Blogger.com.
As I stated previously, my blog uses media in order to contribute to its reality. In the first entry, Rebecca posted a picture of her and wrote about her whereabouts, in hopes of being found. In the second entry, Rebecca posted a photograph which she felt matched her description of the room she found herself in. In the entry about her nightmare, she posted a picture of some of her friends whom were in her bad dream. Finally, her last entry features a video from YouTube, which I found contributed to the meaning of the text. Overall, the multimedia aspect helps readers immerse themselves more than plain text would. On the other hand, I feel the story told through this flog is immersive in itself. The narrative stirs interest through science fiction, yet keeps the reader engaged through a twist in the middle of its entries.
The flog is also interactive in certain ways. Followers may comment on individual entries and vote on a poll on its main page. This may be limited as far as interactivity, but it does not take away from the literary aspect of “LostG!rl: Literally.” Flogs, unlike interactive fiction games, hypertexts, MOO’s, or fiction wiki’s, do not have many options for interactivity. On the other hand, a flog may have more than some digital poems. Overall, my interactivity includes a poll and the ability for anyone, including those who do not have a blog, to comment on the flog’s entries. Without much interactivity, my flog includes immersion as I claimed before. As our class blog notes state, “Using multiple forms of media (multimedia) can actually be a distraction [for some people].” I agree, and therefore, used the blog interface to publish my fictional story. “[Immersion] is a sense of being mentally planted in a virtual space [by] using an engaging narrative and characters that the reader can easily identify with.” I believe the best way for readers to focus on my narrative, is by reading it in blog-form.
My fictional blog, like others in its genre uses the same interface and has similar database capability. There are various ways of accessing the information in my flog. One way is by searching the blog through the search box at the top left corner of the webpage. Another way of navigating is through the blog archive, which I chose to be organized in ascending order, or from least to most recent entries. Unlike many digital authors, I made sure my piece of digital literature was user-friendly and organized. My work also functions as an archive because it varies its types of media and focuses on the narrative. Although the reader may access my work’s features randomly, it is logically structured like other blogs. Again, my work is somewhat interactive due to its search, comment, and poll features. The reader may read the narrative how they desire to, whether it is backwards, forwards, or randomly. All of these contribute to the database of my flog, which allows its readers to immerse themselves in the narrative.
Overall, my flog entitled “LostG!rl: Literally,” successfully incorporates the main characteristics of the digital, which are multimedia, the interactive, immersive, and database. Like a print novel, my work relies mainly on the narrative to create an immersive experience for the reader. The fictional character, Rebecca Bloom is a relatable character who reveals intimate details about her life in this flog. Hopefully, you will enjoy it. Welcome to my fictional blog.