Micro-drama has become one of the most distinctive screen forms of the mobile-first era. Built around short episodes, vertical viewing, serial hooks and emotionally intensified storytelling, it has moved rapidly from a niche format into a major area of popular screen culture.
The next iteration of Evolution of Story will focus on this emerging form.
Small Screens, Big Stories: Storytelling, Seriality and Mobile Screen Culture is the working title for Evolution of Story IV, which will bring together an online symposium and a proposed edited academic collection exploring micro-drama as an evolving narrative form.
The project is interested in what micro-drama is now, how stories are currently being written and structured for the form, and what the medium might become next. We welcome work that takes dominant micro-drama conventions seriously, including romance, melodrama, revenge plots, CEO narratives, emotional escalation, cliffhangers and formula-driven seriality. At the same time, we are also interested in alternative and emerging directions: genre diversification, experimental approaches, data-informed storytelling, AI, participatory forms, localisation, global circulation and the future of mobile screen culture.
The call is open to scholars, practitioners, creative researchers, postgraduate researchers and industry professionals. Contributions may take the form of academic chapters, critical essays, case studies, practice research, practitioner reflections, interviews, dialogues, video papers, provocations, workshops, panels or other suitable formats.
There are two routes for contributors.
The chapter track is for contributors who wish to have their work considered for inclusion in the proposed edited collection. This is an accelerated publication development route, with chapter abstracts due by 1 June 2026. Selected contributors will be invited to develop full draft chapters, participate in peer review and revision, and prepare a video presentation for the online symposium.
The symposium-only track is for contributors who wish to participate in the online symposium without entering the edited collection development process. This track will remain open until March 2027.
The edited collection will be proposed to an international academic publisher following the selection of chapter abstracts.
The online symposium is planned for June / July 2027, with the exact date to be confirmed.
You can download the full call here:
Submissions should include a 300-word abstract, 100-word biography, five keywords, author names, affiliations, contact details, and an indication of the preferred route: chapter track, symposium-only track, or either route.
Submissions and enquiries should be sent to:
roy.hanney@nottingham.edu.cn
Chapter track abstract deadline: 1 June 2026