Hip to be square

I spent yesterday afternoon with students studying Creative Writing and New Media at de Monfort University. I was there to talk about a secret project we're planning for next year (!) and we spent quite a bit of time talking about the role of fiction in the modern hyperlinked digital world. Penguin editor Jon and I were roundly accused of taking a far too 'linear' approach to fiction, meaning that we should be thinking about how we use the technology available to create new forms of literature. Lines of text printed in ink on paper (or even downloaded as an ebook) miss the opportunity to create new and immersive forms of narrative which might stimulate  readers trained in the non-linear  world of myspace, youtube and del.ico.us.

We explained that our role as publishers was to serve our authors and package, promote and distribute their work as well as we possibly can and that to date very few of our authors (meaning zero) have approached us with a desire to publish anything other than a pretty conventional linear work with a beginning, a middle and sometimes even an ending.

But on the train back Jon and I were wondering whether our approach is hopelessly, well, square. Is non-linear the way forward? Is the world ready for interactive, multi-dimensional fiction? Are 21st century readers crying out for 'notbooks' that dispense with traditional narrative form and structure? Should we give up publishing books and start publishing and distributing computer games instead? Is this the future of creative writing?

So, readers of this blog, what do you think? Your thoughts and comments greatly appreciated.

Jeremy Ettinghausen, Digital Publisher

Comments

[Matthew Tiffany]

I think that's 100% bullshit. The future of literature is in the same place it has always been - those lines of text. New, immersive, interactive - all fine and good, but don't call it literature, and don't call it reading. And don't try to sell me an "interactive novel" - I grew up with Macs and cyberspace and all that "you are there" dogma, and it has its place, but I like books as books.

Watching a film and playing a video game are not the same thing; why do we need to buy into the "new is better" theory?

[Penguin Blog]

I think the point that many of the students were making is that the technology that now exists enables us to tell stories in new and exciting ways, just as the printing press, radio and television brought opportunities for new cultural forms to evolve. Are you saying that we should ignore these developments and keep on doing what we've done for 70 years - using the digital world only to market our books?

jeremy

[Matthew Tiffany]

Essentially, yes. You try to improve on something, you change it. If kids are brought up to think that "reading" is more about clicking than it is letting the book itself determine the pace by which the story unfolds, then the market for actual "books" will decline.

Leave the interactive hooey to the video game developers. Penguin is about publishing books. If there's a better way to use the internet to get more people reading, fine, but don't confuse the two.

[John Gooley]

I'll look forward to hearing about your "secret project". The new technology and how it's being used now and may be used in the future is all very exciting.

However, experimenting with narrative forms is nothing new, especially among creative writing students. It is in fact their duty to advocate non-linear narrative. But it rarely makes the bestseller lists.

[ballet blue]

Style, content and presentation have changed dramatically since Pride & Prejudice (but ironically is still a best seller, holding as it does ‘enduring values’ despite its middle-class obsession - due in part to her only understanding this class); not that it was considered so highly when first published; Austin struggled with the thought it might sell for £150 (finally £120); not that it was even accepted by publisher's Cadells; so dear reader: there exist four types of novel: a classic and 'enduring novel' which strikes a cord with humanity (P&P); a best seller that captures the 'fashionable moment' (Becks & Posh); a poorly conceived and soulless novel that 'dies' at the outset (one of mine); an 'ok' book that limps its way to Room 101 (most novels). Historically books never had competition from radio, TV, music, games, etc.; in this respect books have indeed been knocked off their perch, our ‘communicative leisure’ now becomes one of receiving entertainment rather than creating it e.g. cinema, computer games etc., - and the more realism attached to it the more popular it becomes - so; enter 3d 'Total Recall' brain satisfaction (this satisfaction can range from the orgasmic-fashionable quickie to the ‘enduring values’ of humanity – our brain totally absorbed in this high technology of receiving information - the job of communicating realism is now complete - books, the previous master of communication is now relegated to 'has-been' wheelie-bin for purists only as we modernists purchase ‘total fantasy downloads’ directly into our brains. Call it progress? Don’t ask me - I don’t even know why I’m here – but don’t rule out a modernist classic fantasy download – we humans are bad – but we still cling to the notion that someone, somewhere has good values, and we want to hear, see and touch them… and deep, deep down we think we have the right to do so…to be a part of that fantasy world… to be a hero.. a hero for one day, absorbed in that wonderful medium of creativity.

Ballet-blue

[Sue Thomas]

(This comment is rather long - feel free to edit it.)

Matthew writes: 'The future of literature is in the same place it has always been - those lines of text.' His sense of history needs some adjustment. In fact, literature probably began in grunting orality and gesticulations which eventually became words ('Did you see that? A sabre-tooth tiger nearly got me.' etc) then songs ('Did you see that? La la la' etc) and pictures scratched in the earth. Somewhere along the way grammars were developed which enabled more formalised memory-driven tellings of news and stories, and after a considerable stretch of time came handwriting followed by hand-copying to provide an alternative means of sharing. Some time after that, Gutenberg's printing-press made it possible to create more numerous copies, and we know the rest from there.

There are many communication timelines such as this one http://www.worldhistorysite.com/culttech.html which easily demonstrate that there is more to life than linear text. My question is where, in that long saga of the distribution of news and stories first via memory and orality, then via various machines and multimedia processes, did 'literature' begin? Surely not with the first novel, said to be the 1740 Richardson's 'Pamela'? Let us remember, for example, that Socrates could not read or write and that Plato's hand-written records of their conversations were considered to be subversive and transgressive, not least because Plato was attempting to trap something which was too complex to capture in the fixed-ness of textuality.

Today most people in the western world are literate - they can read and write linear text. But an increasing number of us are also transliterate, which means that we can read, write, and interact across many kinds of media. I'm sure that most of you who are reading Jeremy's blog understand that (a) clicking a link will take you to another page but you can also get back to this one using the Back button, or History, or whatever, (b) the text you are reading now is a Comment and has a different quality from the main posts because it is a section open to public contributions. Just knowing how to navigate a website or blog and understanding the difference between various areas of content means that you are already transliterate. Contributing a comment, or sending the permalink to friends, or adding the blog to your RSS aggregator makes you even more transliterate. It goes without saying that Jeremy himself is a transliterate author because he knows the anatomy of his blog software and how to use it to best effect.

However, we have in fact always been transliterate - those pictures in the sand around the campfire are as potent a medium as any blog. But fixed-type print has taken us off-course and persuaded us that linear literacy is all we need. And there are good economic reasons for why that strategy has been successful - you can sell fixed-type but you can't so easily sell a campfire story. The web, with its homepages and blogs and discussion boards has brought us back to the social campfire but by doing so it has removed the economic model upon which publishing is based.

But it feels right that the process should be 'monetised' as they say in the US and that artists who give us pleasure should be rewarded. Once upon a time the story-teller got the choicest piece from the pot and today she collects royalties. But remember that the Best-Seller lists John Gooley refers to are for the benefit of the investors, not the readers. (One might even suggest that in a transliterate economy readers who contribute should be paid just like writers. There's a business idea! Imagine micropayments for everyone who comments on this blog...)

Jeremy asks 'Should we give up publishing books and start publishing and distributing computer games instead?' My reply is that transliterate fiction is neither a book nor a game but something completely different. Fixed-type linearity won't disappear, and that's great, but there are also new forms of literature with sound and images and interactivity which must be taken seriously, like Kate Pullinger's Inanimate Alice http://www.inanimatealice.com/. It's simply not good enough, nor is it correct, for Matthew Tiffany to say that literature has 'always been' where it is now.

[Matthew Tiffany]

Actually, it is correct - I was talking about where I feel the future of literature has always been, not where literature has been and what it was. It may have been something entirely different historically, but the future of literature then was the printed word, and it continues to be. I'm not sure why you take issue with that bit of semantics when it doesn't really seem (unless I'm missing something) that you disagree with what I'm saying...

[John Gooley]

Sue Thomas wrote "But remember that the Best-Seller lists John Gooley refers to are for the benefit of the investors, not the readers. (One might even suggest that in a transliterate economy readers who contribute should be paid just like writers. There's a business idea! Imagine micropayments for everyone who comments on this blog...)"

After I posted my comment I regretted the line about bestsellers because I realised how loaded it was. I merely wanted to make a joke about creative writing students, having once been one myself. Nonetheless, surely bestseller lists, no matter how they're manipulated, are initially created by the buyers (i.e. the readers). But to hell with that, what I want is my micropayments for commenting on this blog.

Anyway, I agree with much of what Sue, Matthew and Jeremy say - what I object to generally is the idea that one art form should somehow exclude or mean the death of another. I think Sue sums it up well: "transliterate fiction is neither a book nor a game but something completely different. Fixed-type linearity won't disappear, and that's great, but there are also new forms of literature with sound and images and interactivity which must be taken seriously..."

[susan]

Perfect timing. Just transferred a published poem of mine into an audio-visual and am excited about going further with some of my short stories.

There's room for all methods and manner of art and literature. I've even experimented by going backward--using the idea of hypertext by inserting words in bold typeface to point the reader elsewhere in a collection of four related short stories. This is similar to the children's adventure book style.

At the same time, I'm loading my bookshelves up with the classics--notably lots of Penguin Classic series--totally old fashioned text format. On the table now: Kerouac's On The Road.

So the trend towards new media will not interfere with the traditional methods--just add to them.

[Steve Clackson]

I don't think you will see the change in novels as such, but what if you look at poetry as an example.
We think of it as the written word, we ponder and we analyze....but what if new poets read all their works on a youtube style format, a video performance book? Then add to that sound effects like a stage play. What we are seeing is the change from what has always been absorbed as written poetry emerging to being a performance.

[Brandon]

I don't think 21st-century readers are crying out for "notbooks." That's absurd. If you published enough Mark Z. Danielewski-wannabes to fill the bookshelves, you'd not only be limiting your audience, but you'd put out more crap than quality. If anything, most readers are a very traditional lot when it comes to books. I like picking up a book and not needing an instruction manual to go with it. And besides, what's wrong with traditional, linear books? Absolutely nothing; that's why they've endured for so long.

Very few authors have the balls and the creativity to do what Danielewski or James Joyce have done. And besides, traditional books sell. So why are we having this discussion? Unless Penguin is in the mood to lose money, these "notbooks" (whatever those are) will never be anything more than pipe dreams.

And maybe this should be your challenge: why not take a risk, find a "notbook," publish it, promote it, etc., and see how people react? Or maybe you can start a new imprint, Notbooks Ltd? But don't expect "notbooks" to revolutionize the novel. Tradition sells in publishing. Would you want to read a "notbook?"

[Booklad]

Yes, I think you should consider some alternative methods of presenting written stories. Mathew and Susan are writing along the lines of what I'm imagining. Interactive media is an interesting idea, it's not a replacement for the written word. Half Life 2 story-telling is a unique experience, like being "inside" the story, but the form is entirely different from, say, the novel "Animal Farm". Both are simply different ways of creating a world that the reader/gamer can explore.

I like Penguin books as a publisher. Don't lose your backlist, but do consider producing items similar to the now defunct "Voyager" series as "New Media". I know for a fact that novels written about the game worlds (Blizzard, WoW, etc) are very popular. You could take this one step further and create new media on DVD or download that would tell stories in a unique way while targeting this gamer audience (and others, of course). Authors are out there who want to create immersive scenarios, you just have to look for them.

[ming]

you could use the content you already have and present them in new exciting was.

somedays, I randomly pick a book from my bookshel and read a random chapter, then i read something else.. the experience

is pretty intresting, the best part is everyone will have a potentially diffrent experience.

and that's what we cry out for nowadays..unique experience.

You could even create such an "application/experience" as part of this website...yousing it to expose people to things they might not know they would be intrested in.

[Christine Wilks]

Jeremy said: "We explained that our role as publishers was to serve our authors and package, promote and distribute their work as well as we possibly can..." I'm a lover of books in traditional linear form, but I'm also excited about the potential of new forms as both reader and writer. It's unlikely that new forms will entirely displace traditional forms of literature, but there will be more choice for the reader of the future, both in terms of what they're able to read and the way it's delivered to them. Right now there probably aren't many "21st century readers crying out for 'notbooks' that dispense with traditional narrative form and structure" but it's early days and I think there will be in the future. Afterall we're only in the first decade of the century and the pace of change is fast.

An interesting question for me is, will writers in the future, particular writers of 'notbooks', need publishers like Penguin? Maybe yes, but not in the same way. The relationship between publisher, writer and reader will certainly change. Once satisfying fiction can be delivered entirely digitally, in the way music already can be, what's to stop the author reaching (i.e. selling to) their readers directly?

[Kirsty McGill]

The only worrying thing to me here is the implication that the alternative to a linear story is a computer game. That is not the case. I am an oral storyteller (a form of storytelling that has been around far longer than the current, fairly conceited, forms of "literature"). Part of this means that you (as an author) are immersed in the story - you have to read your audience and react to taylor the story to them. This is really what the internet is bringing back to story telling. We can get nostaligic about the physical implement "the book", but at the end of the day, it is the story is important and the literacy of reading. As long as people are telling stories and reading, what does it matter how they do so? I think books will survive, it is just a case of whether the people who cannot see beyond them will...

[Blogaulaire]

A friend was excited about picking up a pair of goggles that plug into the computer for some video game running that sort of IMAX 3-d.

He is literate. Probably ready for non-linear whatever experiences scripted by pop-lit writers and produced by game coders.

Yet I think he is further removed from the commoners who read print than, say, the videocassette viewer was 30 years ago from the once every 2 month movie-goer.

Where I see all of us breaking through to a new threshold is with lightness and wireless. The laptops are not light enough. Jump over to print. Paperback (Penguin is an excellent example) is preferrable to hardback after the first edition for nearly everybody.

Something light (like a Walkman) yet completely wireless (like Wifi for laptops) might have a chance in the same market as the mass mkt paperback - if it is cheap. That is asking mucho, however.

With some genres, I would bring in the Ubisoft coders to collaborate. Sci-Fi comes to mind. But with the classics and pop-fiction ??? Does anyone know how many consumers watch the extra stuff now stuffed onto most DVDs? I don't. I'm a conservative consumer who like linearity most of the time (exception made for music and plastic arts).

I think video games plus novels is not new but rather a kludge . . poorly mixed media. Unless people (masses of them) seek a particular viewer-reader enhancement, I'd bet that this light, wireless non-print book thing will go over as a more mobile pocketbook without elbow strain.

[mags treanor]

Thre are a number of things to keep in mind with regard to transliteracy. Reading through the comments it is noticable that a number of readers and writers feel territorial with regard to the role and place of the novel. Why do people feel threatened when transliteracy spreads its wings? We all know that change is inevitable (except from vending machines). Some refuse to evolve, others are afraid to, what would Darwin think of all this? Whatever the reason, the good news is that the novel is here to stay. As a fan of both literature and transliteracy I do not see new media in any form as a weapon to kill existing traditions.
As a parent I experience this when observing my children's relationship with transliteracy and new media. Living in a rural area means more access to literature via broadband than bookshops, and the form this literature takes can be anything from ordering books online, downloading ebooks or using interactive media as a form of reading and also as a tool for learning.
The interactive novel is clever. It may not be a novel that Parisians will read on the metro, nor one that will join me in bed. Like the written book, it too, has it's place.
Transliterate reading and writing presents an opportunity to collaborate in a new and exciting way. However, it is the tools to do so that are new.
Come to think of it, the bible must be the first real wiki that I have ever come across. So ultimately, it is neither the novel nor the method,but rather the tools that we are concerned with when it comes to transliteracy.