IT'S pretty clear nowadays that the TV can't have all you all to itself, even during your favourite show.

The slew of 140-character commentators providing blow-by-blow accounts of sporting events, The Apprentice and The X Factor on Twitter suggests we’re more than used to coping with more than one shiny thing at a time.

In fact, a recent study by Nielsen said that 40% of tablet and smartphone users are using these devices daily while watching TV. Of these people, 60% say they check email, while 46% just surf, 42% visit social networking, 30% check sports scores and 29% use their devices to look at information relating to the show they’re watching.

But if people are soaking up information from more than one device anyway, how do you go about getting the devices to develop the story together?

The concept of “multi-layered fiction” is being explored by the Digital Fiction Factory, a creative partnership between the BBC and Conker Media. One prototype to emerge from the project is a motion graphic novel, delivered by Gospelware in Newcastle. The company won the contract after nine companies from the North were invited to a creative briefing in Salford over the summer. Gospelware was tasked with taking assets from Melvin Burgess’ The Well and creating a motion graphic novel for iPad and iPhone. The prototype was delivered last month.

Gospelware’s tech director Michael Dunn said: “They wanted an iPad and iPhone prototype, with a view to it becoming multi-platform.

“It extends what’s on offer on the TV and builds a lot more into it.”