Labyrinths, Redstones and a Chicken Called Ted: Bursary 2015, Diary 4

Victoria Bennett and Adam Clarke form one of two teams we are supporting through the 2015 Writing Platform Bursary Programme, in association with Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. 

Victoria’s and Adam’s project uses Minecraft to immerse the player in the experience of a poem and expand the idea of what literature and video games can be. They are documenting the evolution of their project and their collaboration through a series of video diaries recorded in Minecraft.

In this second video diary Victoria and Adam – and their chicken, Ted Hughes – take take us through the latest developments in their Minecraft poetry project, including: using command blocks to display text in different ways, using redstone repeaters to create a visual experience of how a poem might be heard, and using frames to trigger audio. They also delve deeper into the idea of the labyrinth, both as an established poetic form and as a way of creating an environmental experience or a poem within Minecraft, and share their vision of how they might pull it all together in order create an adventure for readers, players and listeners.

You can watch Victoria’s and Adam’s first video diary here, and read about the other bursary project, created by Kelly Jones and Linda Sandvik, here and here.