Lyra : Story Seekers is a transmedia narrative that extends beyond multiple integrated media forms, both online and offline. This narrative is built around several short stories that add meaning and depth to its characters and that you'll be able to find here and there, on and off screen.

 

Professor Henry Jenkins defines transmedia storytelling as "a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience". (Jenkins, 2007) In line with his conception of transmedia, this is precisely what Lyra : Story Seekers sets out to do: create a fictional narrative that allows you to experience its universe in a deeper, more engaging and interactive way, that simultaneously challenges traditional languages and mediums for storytelling.

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Lyra : Story Seeker's pivotal platforms are: Instagram, Wattpad, Google Maps, its offline elements (cards, stickers...) and, of course, this website. Secondary platforms that also sustain the project are Gmail, Mailchimp and Linktree. Its online elements are short stories, character illustrations, social media posts, social media shares, website content and, last but not least, Lyra : Story Seekers soon-to-be interactive experience, conceived with Google Maps Platform API. Its offline elements are, as noted above, its cards and stickers.  

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The Instagram profile allows users to keep track of the narrative as it progresses and unfolds, on a regular and frequently updated basis. It is intended to function as a permanent library and illustrated album where the project's target audience can, at any time, access and interact with the content generated for and by users within the project's scope as various pieces of the story are released, even if not contacting with those "pieces of narrative" directly. Furthermore, the social media site has a structure that is built to be fundamentally interactive, whilst encouraging the creation of user-generated content - both desirable aspects for any transmedia project.

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Wattpad, on its hand, is the platform chosen to share the first part of each of the short stories that integrate this narrative. For whoever isn't familiar with it yet, Wattpad is an online platform that allows users to create and share their own original stories, and also read and comment stories by other users in the community. It is free, easy to use, it lodges as many genres as one can imagine (romance, fantasy, adventure, teen fiction, fanfiction and everything in between) and it is home to millions of aspiring writers from all over the world.

 

On Wattpad, they all find a place where they can share their creative work without the strains of the publishing industry, connect with other fellow writers and also (this is one of my favorite features) receive constructive feedback on their stories: on Wattpad, writers are encouraged to read and review each other's pieces, which pretty much works as a free collective "board review", where writer(s) and reviewer(s) can cooperate to potentialize a story, thereby removing barriers between the two of them. Thus, one can say that Wattpad can function as a "writing lab" for authors searching to share, get feedback, test their stories and, eventually, create a social community around them. 

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Since the beginnings of Lyra : Story Seekers, such as noted above, it was intended that its fictional narrative resulted in an entertainment experience that allowed its audience to experience its universe in a deeper, more engaging and interactive way: and that's how Lyra : Story Seekers - The Experience was born as an idea, and then built with data from Google Maps API Platform. The Experience will soon take you on a route through some of Lisbon's most interesting bookshops...and you'll have to go to each one of them to find the full short stories and, of course...discover how they end.

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Regarding the offline elements of the project, both the cards and the stickers are meant to be found in those moments when we switch off from our screens and simply walk around town, observing our surroundings a bit, involved by our environment, more attentive to the little things. Nonetheless, they direct its "discoverers" to different "places" in the narrative.

 

In an initial stage, the cards were spread throughout multiple bookshops and reading corners in Lisbon - inside books, over shelves, on coffee tables, in receptions or near entrance doors. If they didn't fly away again meanwhile, they can likely be found in: Distopia - Livros, Música, Papelaria; Ferin; Fnac (Chiado and Vasco da Gama); Kingpin Books; Ler Devagar; Livraria Barata; Livraria-Bar Menina e Moça; Livraria Bertrand Chiado; Livraria Britânica; Photo Book Corner; Tantos Livros, Livreiros; The Coffee Library; and Tigre de Papel - Livraria. Essentially, the cards direct you to the project's Instagram profile and to its newsletter...but they were never meant to be too obvious about it. Just allusive enough to make you curious enough to go and check out what this odd Lyra : Story Seekers thing was all about. If you did get curious...mission accomplished.

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In a mid-to-late stage, the stickers were spread throughout Lisbon, sticked here and there, near the bookshops and reading corners referred above, with a QR Code. If you found a sticker with a QR Code, scan it: it is one of the entrance doors to Lyra : Story Seekers - The Experience. That QR Code will allow you to enter the journey and seek for the short stories.

 

In a world so overloaded with screens and online content, offline elements do make a difference in a transmedia project. And it is still possible to find magic off the screen.

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The website you're navigating right now, on its hand, is the project's mothership. Here is the place where you can really dive into Lyra : Story Seekers' universe. Here you can find everything you want to learn regarding the project. Here you can connect to all its social media and platforms. Here you can have a full glimpse of its aesthetic. Here you can find another entrance door to The Experience. And, as an extra treat, here you can find the project's blog, where one can take a closer look at the making-of, behind-the-scenes, fun facts, ups-and-downs and the whole creative process behind Lyra : Story Seekers.

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As a complement to this, there's the newsletter. The project newsletter's main aim is to create an individual touch point with its email subscribers and establish a stronger connection with its readers, by letting them learn more about the topics that interest them in the project, by providing exclusive content before-hand and assuring that they stay up-to-date on the latest content from the website. 

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Last but not least, as all means lead to an end...in the end, this will all lead to Lyra...the book. The characters from the transmedia narrative will intertwine in the book's storyline as each of their stories connects to a bigger story yet to come, filled with fantasy, symbolic events and important lessons.

Until then...

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Stay tuned and keep seeking for a story in every corner.