VOICES: AN INTERACTIVE DIGITAL FICTION FOR BODY IMAGE BIBLIOTHERAPY

VOICES: AN INTERACTIVE DIGITAL FICTION FOR BODY IMAGE BIBLIOTHERAPY, Christine Wilks

Voices is an interactive branching digital fiction for body image bibliotherapy, the practice of reading for mental health and well-being. Hayley, the main character, struggles with negative self-talk. She has body image issues relating to her size and shape. Her friends, a diverse cast of characters who have issues of their own, try to support her. Their interactions touch on how the wider cultural context contributes to body dissatisfaction and, through the branching narrative, suggest potential strategies for building body image resilience. Body dissatisfaction is so common in the Western world, that it has become the norm among women and girls. Voices is an outcome of Writing New Body Worlds, an interdisciplinary research project that collaborated with a group of 18-25 year-old women and non-binary individuals from diverse backgrounds to co-design the digital fiction.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Christine Wilks is a writer, artist, developer of interactive digital narratives, and practice-based researcher. She has a PhD in digital writing from Bath Spa University and is the digital fiction creator for the SSHRC-funded ‘Writing New Body Worlds’ research project. She specialises in character-driven interactive narratives that adapt to reader choice and have the potential to move and transform people. Her digital fiction, ‘Underbelly’, won the New Media Writing Prize 2010 and the MaMSIE Digital Media Competition 2011. Her creative work is published in online journals, exhibitions and anthologies, including the ‘Electronic Literature Collection, Volume 2’ and the ‘ELMCIP Anthology of European Electronic Literature’, and has been presented internationally at festivals, exhibitions and conferences.