In a multimodal media society that offers narratives in various forms such as novels, poems, movies, and fan fiction, stories are in constant circulation and have a great impact on people who can be seen as participants in a convergence culture (Jenkins 2006). In a convergence culture, narratives exist in parallel forms; novels, films, tv-series, poems, songs, fan film, computer games etc. A text universe centres around one particular story, a source text, and the parallel stories in various text and media forms that relate to it. This pilot study uses the text universe of The Walking Dead to explore the use of a teaching design that centres on TWD text universe, and the construction of a transmedial product, in order to study how text universes may contribute to the students’ creative thinking. Hence, this study focuses on applied teaching and learning perspectives among teacher students in English as it considers the teacher’s as well as the students’ experiences. Methodologically, the study relies on experiences in the shape of shared practice, analyses of the students’ productions, as well as on semi-structured interviews with the students.

Working with text universes allows the teacher to tap into the text- and media forms the students use in their recreational time. Working with text universes, moreover, might encourage students to recognize texts, patterns, structures, and to adopt an analytical and reflective approach to texts of various kinds. Furthermore, the students’ analyses of creative versions of a particular story that contribute not only to the source text, but also to the whole text universe, as well as their own constructions of transmedial products, can be seen to encourage creative thinking.