Thanks, I'll look for it (although handoff stories are a different concept than what I wanted a blognovel to be, since they are written by many different people). If you come across anything else I'd be interested as well.
It might be true that Kuro5hin.org is more appropriate for it, but I think a lot of interesting ideas where posted here, regardless of the flame or the complaints.
No offense taken! There are many things that have been mailed, commented or referenced since I started that are similar, either on- or offline. That doesn't mean they are easy to find, or that people are aware of them. As for the similar projects, if you post the links I will certainly link to them. I will certainly add a section to the FAQ with references to previous work, and I think this whole discussion has been great to unearth them.
I'll try to answer these the best I can in a short time. The questions are great though and I'll make sure I add them to the FAQ.
> So basically, you're creating a character who
> will then tell 'their story' through the blog?
not necessarily. It is told in first person because I thought it would be easier to adapt into the blog format (considering all the other unknowns).
> I didn't fully read all the entries, but is the > character supposed to be posting on the blog,
> or is the blog itself just the medium?
The blog is the medium, but I think that the medium is affecting the story. The character is not posting on the blog, it's just telling the story, but in self-consistent chunks.
> Also, I couldn't immediately ascertain this by
> reading the story, but does time for the
> character correspond to the time and date on
> the blog?
No. This is something that I've been grappling with, because it's confusing, but many people expect blogs to have timestamps. I might change it though.
> I think these would be important things for the
> audience to be able to figure out quickly, to
> help them get into the story and get to know
> the character.
I agree. After a few days I will try to find ways to fix these problems or at least "document them" enough so they are less confusing.
Two other replies make good points against this argument. Personally I can say that, although the entries are written without much preparation, that doesn't mean that I don't think about them at all. And the story is always there, whether you are thinking about it consciously or not.
Well, I try to be careful with that too.:) There is nothing more annoying than grammatical/syntactical mistakes that get in the way of fiction. Light editing doesn't necessarily mean crappy content, at least not to me, and the nature of the weblog allows corrections if necessary.
All that you say is true. However, I never said that it was "revolutionary" or anything remotely like that. The connection with serialized works is strong yes, but I sense the blog structure might have other things to add to it.
In any case, the idea is not to replace a novel. You can't replace a print novel with anything, not an ebook, not hypertext novels, not websites. Each has its category.
In blogs (as in webpages) the content mixes in part with the user interface, and this is probably where the most interesting things are to be found: how navigation changes content, and viceversa.
That sounds like a good idea! The question now is whether the topics should relate to plotlines or to the ideas behind them... something definitely interesting though.
Slashdot Mirror
Thanks, I'll look for it (although handoff stories are a different concept than what I wanted a blognovel to be, since they are written by many different people). If you come across anything else I'd be interested as well.
It might be true that Kuro5hin.org is more appropriate for it, but I think a lot of interesting ideas where posted here, regardless of the flame or the complaints.
No offense taken! There are many things that have been mailed, commented or referenced since I started that are similar, either on- or offline. That doesn't mean they are easy to find, or that people are aware of them. As for the similar projects, if you post the links I will certainly link to them. I will certainly add a section to the FAQ with references to previous work, and I think this whole discussion has been great to unearth them.
I said *plot-oriented* as in Tom Clancy's books for example, as opposed for example to Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow.
I'll try to answer these the best I can in a short time. The questions are great though and I'll make sure I add them to the FAQ. > So basically, you're creating a character who > will then tell 'their story' through the blog? not necessarily. It is told in first person because I thought it would be easier to adapt into the blog format (considering all the other unknowns). > I didn't fully read all the entries, but is the > character supposed to be posting on the blog, > or is the blog itself just the medium? The blog is the medium, but I think that the medium is affecting the story. The character is not posting on the blog, it's just telling the story, but in self-consistent chunks. > Also, I couldn't immediately ascertain this by > reading the story, but does time for the > character correspond to the time and date on > the blog? No. This is something that I've been grappling with, because it's confusing, but many people expect blogs to have timestamps. I might change it though. > I think these would be important things for the > audience to be able to figure out quickly, to > help them get into the story and get to know > the character. I agree. After a few days I will try to find ways to fix these problems or at least "document them" enough so they are less confusing.
Two other replies make good points against this argument. Personally I can say that, although the entries are written without much preparation, that doesn't mean that I don't think about them at all. And the story is always there, whether you are thinking about it consciously or not.
Well, I try to be careful with that too. :) There is nothing more annoying than grammatical/syntactical mistakes that get in the way of fiction. Light editing doesn't necessarily mean crappy content, at least not to me, and the nature of the weblog allows corrections if necessary.
All that you say is true. However, I never said that it was "revolutionary" or anything remotely like that. The connection with serialized works is strong yes, but I sense the blog structure might have other things to add to it. In any case, the idea is not to replace a novel. You can't replace a print novel with anything, not an ebook, not hypertext novels, not websites. Each has its category. In blogs (as in webpages) the content mixes in part with the user interface, and this is probably where the most interesting things are to be found: how navigation changes content, and viceversa.
That sounds like a good idea! The question now is whether the topics should relate to plotlines or to the ideas behind them... something definitely interesting though.