Silent History: A novel, an app and an interactive literary experience

A digital novel in the form of a popular app mixes geotagging and storytelling to not only tell tales but also allow readers to add their own.

IMAGINE a book that you could only read if you sat at the desk where the writer created it.

That's the idea behind The Silent History, a global project that its creator Eli Horowitz describes as "a novel that takes the form of an app".

The San Francisco-based Horowitz, who has a background in book publishing, teamed up with authors Kevin Moffett and Matthew Derby and digital creator Russell Quinn to create the app that takes the concept of geotagging and brings it to the world of story telling.

The Silent History has what Horowitz calls the "central narrative backbone", a tale of a generation of children who have lost the ability to develop language.

On top of that, readers of the story are invited to write a tale that extends that in a field report by going to a particular location of their choosing and describing what they see in terms of the story.

"When they're written well, it only makes sense when you're there," Horowitz says

"It reference details of that specific location. It becomes like a walking tour in a fictional world using the artefacts, the alleys and everything, of the physical world.

"That's something that's a little hard to communicate."

Since the iOS app was launched, more than 300 readers have contributed field reports, including 28 in Australia - 12 in Brisbane, 6 in Sydney and 10 in Melbourne.

To read those field reports, you have to navigate using the map in The Silent App to go to that specific location. You can only unlock the field report if you stand on that spot, give or take 10m.

"It's a unique story telling experience that's made possible by the technology and wouldn't be possible without it," Horowitz says.

"That's when you start getting away from gimmicks and into something of value.

"It was more about the way all the parts work together than one single innovation.

"Every detail about it you can probably find somewhere else but hopefully all the parts support each other in a way that makes it practical."

Horowitz says the idea came out of a frustration with the growth of e-books which were what he calls "weak, grey imitations".

"If we are doing the shift, it should be opening up new possibilities rather than lesser versions of the old things," he says.

Horowitz edits the submitted field reports before they are added to the app.

He says he doesn't know anything about the writers except for what they have in their story.

"I like not knowing or caring. We've put it out there and whatever happens happens," he says.

The $1.99 app includes the first volume of the story, with the remaining five volumes sold for $1.99.

Horowitz says field report contributors are rewarded with "feeling of participation and inclusion in this universe.

"I don't think anyone has contributed to the project before first getting emotionally invested in the fictional world of the project."

Eli Horowitz and his publishing partner Chris Ying will be talking about the future of digital storytelling at the Sydney Apple store on May 28. They will also be at various sessions of the Sydney Writer's Festival May 24 to 26.