James Smythe has been doing surveys for his PhD, and I did one for him over the past week. The questions were fascinating, and forced me to take my stand on issues on blooking I hadn’t really thought about. It’s mostly written in the context of Online Fiction (all of it, not just Blog Fiction), and it took me roughly three days or so. Here it is, in all it’s opinionated glory:

James: What do you think that the internet has to offer fiction that traditional print doesn’t?
Eli: Interaction. Traditional print media is a one-way affair – authors write a story that readers lap up, and then if they want to discuss it they’ve to look for mediums: a book club, a friend in a cafe … The Internet, on the other hand, is structured like a conversation. Reader-reader and reader-author interaction is inherently part of the medium, especially if it’s in blog format. If it isn’t a blog, then … well. An email to the author is just a click away.

The other thing about the Internet which I believe opens up vistas to fiction is that it is hyperlinked. Links allow the reader easy access to a wealth of information: notes, pop-culture references, things that may or may not have connections to the narrative. This is obviously something you can’t do with traditional print (which is essentially front to back) … though on the downside it can be frightfully distractive. But that’s the Internet for you.

James: What do you think that the internet – or, online fiction, more specifically, in all of its forms – has to offer print fiction?
Eli: Can’t really think of anything. I can say what it offers to authors – instant feedback, a chance at exposure and a long shot to a book deal … but to print fiction?! Forgive me, but I can’t see beyond closer author-reader relationship that the Internet offers. Which is really good, by the way. Much better than a boring, unupdated website, designed by zombies in 1997.

James: Have you ever read anything in print that you wished you had been able to read online? And vice versa?
Eli: No for the first, yes for the second. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve wished for a piece of online fiction to hop off the monitor and into my hands. The chair in front of the computer isn’t a very comfortable place to read fiction – if I’m on the laptop I might hop off and use Wifi to read, on the sofa, but honestly it’s too much of a hassle. And my laptop gets very, very hot. I’ve to face it: books are so much better.