Comments on: Reinventing the Novel

By: Novelr

Novelr — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 01:45:24 +0000

[...] Reinventing the Novel, by Pamela Redmond Satran: Why would a New York Times bestseller move to the internet to publish? And let me tell you, she’s good at it! I’m loving How Not to Act Old. I highly recommend it, if only for the header pic. [...]

By: The Wire of novels « Promiscuous Intelligence

The Wire of novels « Promiscuous Intelligence — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:49:33 +0000

[...] Fitzgerald Leave a comment Go to comments In my endless cascade of open browser tabs I found this post by author Pamela Redmond Satran on Novelr. It’s called “Reinventing the Novel” and I think I didn’t bother reading it [...]

By: Eli James

Eli James — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:07:44 +0000

Hrmm. The idea keeps coming back to haunt me. I’m beginning to seriously consider going out to do this, just for the heck of it.

By: Eros

Eros — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 08:55:27 +0000

@Eli
It is quite possible. It is just a question of building a CMS that is web-lit oriented. I’m probably going to never get anywhere with it in a reasonable time period, unfortunately. I’m just not a skilled enough writer to make that particular project a priority. I’ll build something into SMF for my site when I finally get to putting up my weblit but that’s as far as I’ll go. ;)

By: Eli James

Eli James — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:48:19 +0000

@Pam: I believe there’s a way around that. I’m a technical person, and I’ve been throwing some ideas around, behind the scenes, with a couple of friends. We think it’s possible to abstract away all the technical bits for writers. And it’s probably also necessary, especially since writers aren’t particularly interested in learning HTML/CSS/PHP.

Current publishers have digital arms, but they’re doing the equivalent of dipping their toes into a hot tub – commendable, but not at all efficient. And they’re not interested in enabling writers.

Let’s see if we can get somewhere with this …

By: Pamela Satran

Pamela Satran — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:37:31 +0000

I think you’re right, Eli. Writing novels is difficult and time-consuming, and most people who can do it expertly want to be paid for it — or at least try — and don’t have the time or energy or desire left over to learn the technical side. It’s likewise unusual to find a web designer or a software engineer who’s a serious and talented writer. The engineer who built nameberry, Hugh Hunter, has a math degree from Yale and an MFA in screenwriting from USC, but that kind of dual talent is one-in-a-million.

I only know the technical side because I was dragged into it. My name book partner and I by accident own all the digital rights to our ten books and finally built our site because it was too foolish not to.

Corporations, not individuals, will take the lead in creating great web novels, I think, because it’s so complicated and expensive, but will they be able to make money? Perhaps the iPad will make the sale of really great online novels possible, but I’m guessing those will be produced by HarperStudio or Dreamworks, not individual writers.

By: Eli James

Eli James — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:15:28 +0000

What I find most curious is this line:

A novelist creating a work for the web is not, then, just a writer, but a designer, a logician, a manager, a tech guy, a producer.

Could it be that so little good works exist on the web not because of writing ability as a limiting factor, but because there’s a lack of technical ability?

By: Derek

Derek — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:53:38 +0000

This exactly the kind of thing I had envisioned when we were dreaming up our site. http://secretloft.ca Glad to know others (particularly ones with credentials to back them up) share in our delusion. I fully agree that this kind of fiction is about to become way more popular! Thanks for indirectly confirming our belief that were on the right track! Can’t wait to get caught up on the hosprings.com story!