What are the responsibilities and job description for the Narrative Designer (Contractor) position at Crazy Maple Studio?
Company Overview:
Crazy Maple Studio is a fast-growing company based in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, focusing on mobile gaming, reading, and streaming. We are proud to have a global team that drives our innovation and success across diverse markets.
Our flagship platform, ReelShort, is the #1 vertical streaming app in the U.S., with over 5 million DAU, delivering bite-sized episodic content that keeps viewers hooked. Other standout products include Chapters, where users shape immersive stories across drama, fantasy, and romance, and My Fiction, a platform for consuming and creating serialized romance.
We’re proud to be recognized as one of the Global Most Loved Workplaces 2025, reflecting our commitment to innovation, creativity, and an employee-first culture.
Position Overview:
The Narrative Designer is responsible for creating compelling and innovative storylines that enhance user engagement and satisfaction. This role involves adapting books into interactive formats, collaborating across departments to ensure high-quality outputs, and contributing to the overall goal of improving our book grades and app performance. The successful candidate will have a strong creative vision, excellent writing and editing skills, and the ability to work collaboratively in a fast-paced environment.
Responsibilities:
- Adapt stories for interactive formats: Read and analyze source material, then reimagine it as an engaging, interactive experience.
- Outline and structure: Build beat sheets and chapter outlines that give each story a strong, satisfying arc.
- Write and edit: Draft and polish chapters with a distinctive voice, clean prose, and a sharp eye for pacing and detail.
- Collaborate cross-functionally: Partner with art and production teams to coordinate visual assets and keep projects on track.
- Refine with data: Monitor how stories perform after release and make thoughtful edits to strengthen reader engagement.
- Contribute to the team: Take part in workshops and peer reviews, give and receive constructive feedback, and help raise the creative bar across the studio.
- Manage your work: Balance multiple projects, hit deadlines consistently, and adapt quickly to creative direction.
- Proven experience in narrative design, creative writing, screenwriting, or a related field.
- A talent for developing original, engaging storylines that keep audiences hooked.
- Strong writing and editing skills with excellent attention to detail.
- Ability to incorporate feedback gracefully and iterate quickly.
- Reliable time management and the ability to meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
- Comfort working with collaboration and production tools.
Preferred Requirements:
- Experience with interactive fiction, games, serialized content, or mobile storytelling apps.
- Familiarity with adapting existing IP or long-form fiction.
Crazy Maple Studio, Inc. provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.