The Flickerman: Re-creating narrative as augmented reality. Lance Dann Abstract This paper will discuss the use of both social media tool and diverse media platforms in the construction of a narrative that inhabits the hybridised space that has grown out of cyberspace and into the ‘real’ world. It will concern an ongoing creative research project, The Flickerman, that began as an attempt to explore the possibilities offered to writers by working outside conventional broadcasting networks, and has grown into a piece of open-source story telling. The project is discussed in terms of its methodology being one that breaks through the ‘fourth wall’ of the computer screen and works with cyberspace as a form of augmented reality. The Flickerman is a multi-platform sci-fi thriller that was written and produced as part of a PhD in Creative Writing based at University Bath Spa and funded by the Society of Authors. By combining real world events, audience interaction, live writing, found online objects and uploaded ephemera The Flickerman’s narrative recreates traditional story telling as a digital audio bricollage, one in which the distinction between real space and virtual space is not made and the real and imagined are seamlessly blurred. The series was launched in 2009 across Facebook, Vimeo, SoundCloud, twitter, Facebook and iTunes, with the audio elements being broadcast on radio international (it is currently being serialised on ABC Radio National in Australia). The project is a fully functioning experiment in new forms of story-telling, one which aims to go beyond possibilities offered by Alternative Reality Games by creating a narrative based experience that is both engaging and inviting to even the most casual of audiences. Key Words Narrative, alternate reality games, radio drama, user-generated content, The Flickerman ***** Facebook Instant Messenger – 15 th February 2010 Laura MS: Hey Cornelius you can crash at mine if you need a place. Cornelius Zane-Grey: You do know I’ve got a girlfriend?