Comments on: If this is the future of the novel, the novel is finished http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/if-this-is-the-future-of-the-novel-the-novel-is-finished/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Wed, 15 Feb 2012 08:05:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Daniel Quinn http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/if-this-is-the-future-of-the-novel-the-novel-is-finished/comment-page-1/#comment-1139469 Daniel Quinn Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:30:00 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/08/30/if-this-is-the-future-of-the-novel-the-novel-is-finished/#comment-1139469 Do you mean extraordinarily difficult or prohibitively expensive? The possibilities are limitless (with or without Flash), provided you have the cash to pay for development. I can understand that authors and publishers usually don't have the cash to put toward paying an agency to design something nice (I'm in the strange position of being a web developer in the publishing industry), but my real beef with the topic is that when these kinds of tech novels come up and are derided, we make declarations like "the future of the novel is doomed!" and yet it's usually because the tech novelist is just bad at web design. Do you mean extraordinarily difficult or prohibitively expensive? The possibilities are limitless (with or without Flash), provided you have the cash to pay for development. I can understand that authors and publishers usually don’t have the cash to put toward paying an agency to design something nice (I’m in the strange position of being a web developer in the publishing industry), but my real beef with the topic is that when these kinds of tech novels come up and are derided, we make declarations like “the future of the novel is doomed!” and yet it’s usually because the tech novelist is just bad at web design.

]]> By: Robert Nagle http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/if-this-is-the-future-of-the-novel-the-novel-is-finished/comment-page-1/#comment-1139458 Robert Nagle Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:21:02 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/08/30/if-this-is-the-future-of-the-novel-the-novel-is-finished/#comment-1139458 It is extraordinarily difficult to put together something that combines multimedia with text without it becoming laborious. Text-based stories are very efficient both to write and to read. By the way, let's not mock use of older technology in this project. It doesn't matter how new it is; what matters is what you do with it. That said, I would love to try a similar experiment (and await the negative feedback from people for not trying the latest/greatest Flash doohickey). See also It is extraordinarily difficult to put together something that combines multimedia with text without it becoming laborious.

Text-based stories are very efficient both to write and to read.

By the way, let’s not mock use of older technology in this project. It doesn’t matter how new it is; what matters is what you do with it.

That said, I would love to try a similar experiment (and await the negative feedback from people for not trying the latest/greatest Flash doohickey).

See also

]]> By: Daniel Quinn http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/if-this-is-the-future-of-the-novel-the-novel-is-finished/comment-page-1/#comment-1138774 Daniel Quinn Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:41:04 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/08/30/if-this-is-the-future-of-the-novel-the-novel-is-finished/#comment-1138774 The problem with this example is not that hypertext novels don't/can't work -- it's that this particular example is straight up abysmal. Nicola Furlong's website is using technology from the early 90s, so of course it's completely laughable. If authors really want to contemplate "the future of the novel" the first thing they need to do is make good websites! The problem with this example is not that hypertext novels don’t/can’t work — it’s that this particular example is straight up abysmal. Nicola Furlong’s website is using technology from the early 90s, so of course it’s completely laughable. If authors really want to contemplate “the future of the novel” the first thing they need to do is make good websites!

]]> By: David Lomax http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/if-this-is-the-future-of-the-novel-the-novel-is-finished/comment-page-1/#comment-1138761 David Lomax Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:55:51 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/08/30/if-this-is-the-future-of-the-novel-the-novel-is-finished/#comment-1138761 I think the really telling thing is that the technology to create hypertext and multimedia non-linear "novels" has been with us for (give or take) two decades. The audience (i.e. those who can connect to the Internet and might be interested) has been around for more than ten years. And in that time, despite a few efforts, I haven't seen one truly moving, interesting, captivating hyper-novel. Traditional narrative works. Novels work. Fiddling around with links, branches, and gimmicks? Not so much. I think the really telling thing is that the technology to create hypertext and multimedia non-linear “novels” has been with us for (give or take) two decades. The audience (i.e. those who can connect to the Internet and might be interested) has been around for more than ten years. And in that time, despite a few efforts, I haven’t seen one truly moving, interesting, captivating hyper-novel.

Traditional narrative works. Novels work. Fiddling around with links, branches, and gimmicks? Not so much.

]]> By: Bill McHale http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/if-this-is-the-future-of-the-novel-the-novel-is-finished/comment-page-1/#comment-1138758 Bill McHale Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:38:53 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/08/30/if-this-is-the-future-of-the-novel-the-novel-is-finished/#comment-1138758 I think the basic problem here is that everyone feels a need to reinvent things that are perfectly good as they are. Even if Ms. Furlong's project was entirely worthy of attention, that doesn't mean it is a novel, nor that it should be considered a novel. Rather it would be a new thing. In any case, lets consider, for a moment, that the nature of any art form is working within the limitations of that art form. There are rules that define what a novel is as opposed to a short story or a poem and though it is generally unnecessary to state them, that sets a novel apart from a move. The novel is about bringing an extended story to life with words; the occasional illustration might be allowed, but certainly those illustrations should serve as accents to the text and not replace it. If an art form ever does really develop that serves to mix video and text, I am not sure what it will be, but it won't be a novel. I think the basic problem here is that everyone feels a need to reinvent things that are perfectly good as they are. Even if Ms. Furlong’s project was entirely worthy of attention, that doesn’t mean it is a novel, nor that it should be considered a novel. Rather it would be a new thing.

In any case, lets consider, for a moment, that the nature of any art form is working within the limitations of that art form. There are rules that define what a novel is as opposed to a short story or a poem and though it is generally unnecessary to state them, that sets a novel apart from a move. The novel is about bringing an extended story to life with words; the occasional illustration might be allowed, but certainly those illustrations should serve as accents to the text and not replace it.

If an art form ever does really develop that serves to mix video and text, I am not sure what it will be, but it won’t be a novel.

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