Comments on: Writing As Performance Art

By: JanOda

JanOda — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:41:45 +0000

Gaiman has been very active on twitter for a while, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing per se that a popular author uses indie ideas to gain momentum. If anything it might close the gap a bit of people that are wary to writing things happening online.

I do agree on the innovator part a bit, but that’s a thing of all times. Only the already famous get noticed. At the other hand, maybe an article somewhere about exactly that, could use the momentum to spread awareness that he isn’t the first.

I’m totally with you on the second point. Too many people is never good for things like this, unless you have a random crawler like MCM’s, to keep the story going in one direction.

By: Dan Holloway

Dan Holloway — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:51:42 +0000

I saw this yesterday and I think two things, Jan;

1. sadly this is another case of a “star” jumping on a bandwagon that many indie people hav long since set in motion but because he’s a star it’ll get attention and he’ll be called an innovator

2. It’ll be totally out of control – too mnay people will be involved, and as aresult Gaiman will end up just writnig what he was going to write anyway and paying lipservice to the crowdsourcing element

By: JanOda

JanOda — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:04:02 +0000

On the subject. Neil Gaiman and his twitter followers are going to write a novel…
http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/comments/with-twitter-you-can-write-a-book-with-neil-gaiman/

I’m not sure about this one. I think the lack of control will diminish the possibilities of the medium. With MCM it was all very interactive, but the interaction couldn’t ‘destroy’ the story (Except maybe for the Stop of Go one). With this one I fear it might get out of hand.

Any thoughts?

By: Dan Holloway

Dan Holloway — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:54:46 +0000

Sorry – the nostalgia remark was meant to refer to why we DON’T embrace the ephemeral – because we’re frightened of throwing away – because we yearn for permanence, because there’s an unbearbaility about losing something. But we must remember thatnostalgia can be a very dangerous thing. The yearning for the past, for permanence, for clinging onto myths and stories gave us Romanticism, but it’s also the sentiment at the heart of Fascism – so we need to tread carefully around it (Mahler yes, Goering no, as it were!). I think the idea that someTHING is absolute indispensible scares the bejesus out of me. People are indispensible, along with their hopes and fears and insecurities – everything else is well, just things (nostalgia goes with pantheism very nicely as well, and that – be it the nature-stuff or just imbuing the everyday with a value it just doesn’t have – is where things get hairy).

On the other hand, I’m a fan of archives, and of preserving lost culture – to keep it alive and enrich us as people. IT doesn’t actually matter one jot. It’s what it means fro and says about us that matters.

By: Eli James

Eli James — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:22:44 +0000

Okay, not so related thought, this: I’m not so sure I want the art of the ephemeral returning over the certain, the static … I mean, I can’t imagine Twitterfic overtaking blogs, say, or proper, longer-form fiction. Granted, we’re on the Internet, itself an inherently ephemeral, ever-changing thing. But there is some comfort in the certainty of books and solid things.

Nostalgia for the ephemeral? Not really, I think. Despite all my work here at Novelr, I occasionally find myself pining for the good ol’ book. ;-)

My point is that things are quite the opposite (if we ignore the cycle, that is …) – right now the ephemeral is new and likely to takeover, and so nostalgia dictates that we love books. Would you agree?

By: Dan Holloway

Dan Holloway — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:17:34 +0000

It depends on your audience but also on you – it’s a cmpliicated, iterative process. We were having a real longchinwag about tjis last night over at:
http://yearzerowriters.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/sitting-comfortably-round-the-virtual-campfire
Where we were discussing how liberation myths could turn into justifications for oppression when they became frozen, and stopped being refreshed. How to keeop a story alive is a vital question in culture

My feeling is that we’ve lost (patrly because of nostalgia, and partly because people cannot bear to see waste) the art of the ephemeral (there’s an artistic movement based on the throwaway I’m sure). Kierkegaard once wrote some great musical criticism arguing that the uniqueness of every performance was what helped music transcend time. I think he was right – and to that I’d be tempted to add the banquet. The question is how we as writers learn from other art forms.

By: Eli James

Eli James — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:58:27 +0000

It is, in fact, the age of the book, and the printed word that’s aberrant. Thoudads of years ago stories evolved and revised in just this way, and the revision and constant refreshing was part of the experience, creating the story anew each night. It is not the case that our age has discovered performative storytelling; rather that our ancestors lost it.

Well put, Dan. I’d forgotten book writing/reading evolved from a storytelling culture. Related thought: if I’m writing online, live, with instantaneous reader feedback, I’m not likely to make my story static, am I? How my story ends up depends largely on my audience: if it’s an audience of teenagers, I daresay my story will be angsty, and subtly tailored to just that group.

By: Dan Holloway

Dan Holloway — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:04:45 +0000

This is intriguing – I wish the tech had been around when I started The Man Who Painted Agnieszka’s Shoes, because it’s exactly what Iw as looking for.

Jan, I love the station idea – you may or may not be aware that one of the UK’s leading philosopher/writers, Alain de Botton, was recently invited into Heathrow’s Terminal 5 to be a writer in residence there.

I’ve been advocating writing as a perfomrance for a while to the derision of my writing colleagues. It’s good to find people like MCM who are willing to embrace and try – my philosophy has always been “if you don’t try how do you know?”

One point, that I was actually discussing at work today with a colleagure who works on orality and from criticism in ancient China, and about whcih I’ve blogged a few times. “unthought-of before the Internet” just isn’t true. It is, in fact, the age of the book, and the printed word that’s aberrant. Thoudads of years ago stories evolved and revised in just this way, and the revision and constant refreshing was part of the experience, creating the story anew each night. It is not the case that our age has discovered performative storytelling; rather that our ancestors lost it.

By: Eli James

Eli James — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:37:28 +0000

That sounds beautiful, Jan. And a really good idea. I won’t mind an excuse for sitting in the train station, watching people walking by as I write. Probably distracting, but still, should be really really fun.

PS: And what a remarkable marketing idea it is, too!

By: JanOda

JanOda — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:23:28 +0000

About writing as performance art.
(A little background information first, in Ductch we call the romance pulp novels Station novels, because they are the paperbacks you can buy at the trainstation and read on the train).

The train Station of Antwerp (Belgium), recently got renovated and to celebrate they asked 5 writers to be part of the first ‘real’ station novel. Each writer would write one chapter, and sat in the trainstation for 1 day, writing about the station, inspired by the people they saw passing by. Each author started where the previous one ended. Though you can’t read the book yet, they are publishing it the regular way, I think this fits perfectly as writing as a performance.

Pictures here: Descriptions only in Ducth unfortunately.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/famousbrussels/sets/72157622326719345/