Blogging the Novel
##
[from the entry dated 26 February 2006]
The first question might be, who in his right mind would go and post the first draft of a novel, more or less raw and steaming as it pours out of his keyboard?
Well, that would be me, and the key phrase is "in his right mind". Which I'm not.
Unfortunately, while the web log format is fine for many things (in fact I'm amazed at all the different applications, some of which I previously cited) a full length serialized novel isn't necessarily one of them. The reverse chronological format doesn't help things, and in my case, I'm also blogging on so many other damn subjects (OK, so at least half are beer related, but still) there is a high noise-to-signal ratio. If all you wanted to do was, figuratively, settle in with my little characters and setting for a couple of hours, your current option is to browse one of the fiction categories, which pulls up the most recent post first-- fine most of the time, but not really ideal for someone who wants to start from the beginning or who has missed a few instalments and needs to catch up.
And then there's the fact that I'm posting not one story, but three. This gets messy fast. HTML is pretty flexible, though, so in this case I think I can get water to run uphill.
First, let's simplify the category tangle-- instead of a separate tag for each project ('cause with the way my mind wanders, you never know how many of these little stories I'll eventually come up with) I plan to just tag things as fiction from now on. (..if it's fiction. Sometimes bits of dialogue show up in other posts, but that's usually just me talking to myself.)
Next: the titles of each post. I had been using the titles to also designate which story was coming up, but (and this is a creative decision) if I'm constantly reminding you it's fiction fiction fiction that doesn't really help one submerge themselves in the story. And fiction is an ugly, awkward word. So screw that. I have no idea what sort of naming-system might develop to replace it, but I'm ditching the 'Fiction:' prefix right now.
And (what I hope is) the elegant solution to the novel/blog problem: a small, possibly colourful header at the top of each fiction post, identifying the project, and a then a few quick links to help you navigate just that book.
Click 'first' and start from the beginning. Page through by clicking 'previous' or 'next'. Should be intuitive.
Since I'll be linking entries directly, each will be the only thing on the page (other than the sidebar) without all that other noise on my blog. -- A virtual, stand-alone book that still fits in the blog format, and only requires me to add small links, not a new domain or css template or any of that crap. (I'm a little proud of myself for thinking of this) (and I'm glad I thought of this now, rather than 50 entries from now. Retrofitting the entries for categories was bad enough)
(...hey, wait a minute. All that 'other noise' on my blog is my life. Dude. That's harsh)
One last admin. thing about the web novel: to keep the pages clean, and to help the reader focus on just the novel, I'll be deactivating comments on most fiction posts-- if you want to complain about my writing, I'm sure you'll figure out a way.
Amphital: a fantasy novel project
-- the re-start -- the first thread --
(I'll tie those two plot lines up, soon enough)
Busted Seventh: a novel experiment
-- first --
The Lecture Series
-- first --
##
[from the entry dated 10 March 2006]
[cut]
So what's up next?
A lot more fiction. If you don't like it, sorry, it's my blog and I'll cry if I... wait, that's not right...
Let's just speak theoretically for a moment and say one of the (possible) reasons I've been stalled on the novel project is a fear of failure. A fear of rejection. The subconcious thought that I may not be good enough.
Well, I think public exposure and humiliation may be one way to work through that. So: blogging the first draft. Moving on from
"oh my god, what if no one likes it..."
to "I don't care"
to "fook this shite, hand me a beer, would ya?"
I'm trying to change writing the novel from an activity that is so important to my future that I must do it in secret, behind closed doors, etc. etc., to just one more thing I do.
Still important. Still vital. But not something that is so almighty important that a fear of failure keeps me from the attempt. And of course, if I do fall behind, there will be at least a couple of people out there willing to call me on it, bug me about it.
I write. you read. simple dynamic. If it fails, it fails, but it's going to fail at the rate of 10 pages a week.
[from the entry dated 26 February 2006]
The first question might be, who in his right mind would go and post the first draft of a novel, more or less raw and steaming as it pours out of his keyboard?
Well, that would be me, and the key phrase is "in his right mind". Which I'm not.
Unfortunately, while the web log format is fine for many things (in fact I'm amazed at all the different applications, some of which I previously cited) a full length serialized novel isn't necessarily one of them. The reverse chronological format doesn't help things, and in my case, I'm also blogging on so many other damn subjects (OK, so at least half are beer related, but still) there is a high noise-to-signal ratio. If all you wanted to do was, figuratively, settle in with my little characters and setting for a couple of hours, your current option is to browse one of the fiction categories, which pulls up the most recent post first-- fine most of the time, but not really ideal for someone who wants to start from the beginning or who has missed a few instalments and needs to catch up.
And then there's the fact that I'm posting not one story, but three. This gets messy fast. HTML is pretty flexible, though, so in this case I think I can get water to run uphill.
First, let's simplify the category tangle-- instead of a separate tag for each project ('cause with the way my mind wanders, you never know how many of these little stories I'll eventually come up with) I plan to just tag things as fiction from now on. (..if it's fiction. Sometimes bits of dialogue show up in other posts, but that's usually just me talking to myself.)
Next: the titles of each post. I had been using the titles to also designate which story was coming up, but (and this is a creative decision) if I'm constantly reminding you it's fiction fiction fiction that doesn't really help one submerge themselves in the story. And fiction is an ugly, awkward word. So screw that. I have no idea what sort of naming-system might develop to replace it, but I'm ditching the 'Fiction:' prefix right now.
And (what I hope is) the elegant solution to the novel/blog problem: a small, possibly colourful header at the top of each fiction post, identifying the project, and a then a few quick links to help you navigate just that book.
Click 'first' and start from the beginning. Page through by clicking 'previous' or 'next'. Should be intuitive.
Since I'll be linking entries directly, each will be the only thing on the page (other than the sidebar) without all that other noise on my blog. -- A virtual, stand-alone book that still fits in the blog format, and only requires me to add small links, not a new domain or css template or any of that crap. (I'm a little proud of myself for thinking of this) (and I'm glad I thought of this now, rather than 50 entries from now. Retrofitting the entries for categories was bad enough)
(...hey, wait a minute. All that 'other noise' on my blog is my life. Dude. That's harsh)
One last admin. thing about the web novel: to keep the pages clean, and to help the reader focus on just the novel, I'll be deactivating comments on most fiction posts-- if you want to complain about my writing, I'm sure you'll figure out a way.
Amphital: a fantasy novel project
-- the re-start -- the first thread --
(I'll tie those two plot lines up, soon enough)
Busted Seventh: a novel experiment
-- first --
The Lecture Series
-- first --
##
[from the entry dated 10 March 2006]
[cut]
So what's up next?
A lot more fiction. If you don't like it, sorry, it's my blog and I'll cry if I... wait, that's not right...
Let's just speak theoretically for a moment and say one of the (possible) reasons I've been stalled on the novel project is a fear of failure. A fear of rejection. The subconcious thought that I may not be good enough.
Well, I think public exposure and humiliation may be one way to work through that. So: blogging the first draft. Moving on from
"oh my god, what if no one likes it..."
to "I don't care"
to "fook this shite, hand me a beer, would ya?"
I'm trying to change writing the novel from an activity that is so important to my future that I must do it in secret, behind closed doors, etc. etc., to just one more thing I do.
Still important. Still vital. But not something that is so almighty important that a fear of failure keeps me from the attempt. And of course, if I do fall behind, there will be at least a couple of people out there willing to call me on it, bug me about it.
I write. you read. simple dynamic. If it fails, it fails, but it's going to fail at the rate of 10 pages a week.
Page created: February 26th 2006 10:40 AM
Page updated: May 21st 2006 04:50 PM