Results of Another Web Publishing Experiment

Dienyddio writes "Shadowmarch, an ambitious web publishing project launched by Tad Williams last year (previously mentioned on slashdot) is to cease the bi-monthly story format after one year. The sad news was broken by Tad on the site. It seems that there were just too few subscribers to make the format pay, this combined with the heavy load placed on Tad by writing two episodes a month and a paper book to pay the bills has proved too much. All is not lost, DAW books has purchased the rights to three books based on the Shadowmarch story. It is hoped that these books will maintain the community side of the site. Tad will also be increasing the number of background stories and details relating to the Shadowmarch world on the site in order to promote fan interaction."

Comments

present tense

[ZINGYWINGY]

This novel is written in the present tense. If I were this author, I wouldn't do this -- it's gimmicky and will not make the novel any better. Dune's just written in plain old past tense, yet this is one of the greatest works of Sci-Fi/Fantasy ever created. By writing in the present tense, you are not starting a revolution in literature. It's been thought of before. You're not the first.

Just write it in the past tense like everybody else. Instead, put in the time and effort to research medieval civilization and folklore, and if you have already done this research, do more. How much do you really know about Feudalism? Ever read about the Greek legend of the Erinyes? Only hard work, not gimmicks, makes for good writing. Not to mention a good amount of time just spent sitting and thinking -- without that, your thoughts (and writing) will just end up a jumble.

And finally: if you write a truly good novel, it won't matter whether it's on a website, in a book, or engraved on stone tablets. People will flock to read it. Though will they pay? I've often wondered why no one ever thought to implement an "unselectable" tag. Put it around your text

<UNSELECTABLE>
This is my intellectual property
</UNSELECTABLE>

And the browser doesn't let you select that text for a copy-and-paste operation. I guess they could always take a series of screenshots, but the idea is to make it harder, since you can't make it impossible.