Time to Write

Guillermo del toro on the "story engine" of the future

In Wired magazine, Guillermo del Toro talked about the future of movies and other media:

 “In the next 10 years, we’re going to see all the forms of entertainment—films, television, video, games, and print—melding into a single platform ‘story engine.’ The Model T of this new platform is the PS3. The moment you connect creative output with a public story engine, a narrative can continue over a period of months or years. It’s going to rewrite the rules of fiction.”

 He indicated that such a story engine could tell many stories simultaneously:

 “We are used to thinking of stories in a linear way—act one, act two, act three. We're still on the Aristotelian model. What the digital approach allows you to do is take a tangential and nonlinear model and use it to expand the world. For example: If you're following Leo Bloom from Ulysses on a certain day and he crosses a street, you can abandon him and follow someone else. “

 That sounds like a game scenario, and del Doro says that although game companies are conservative about trying new things, “in the next 10 years there will be an earth-shaking Citizen Kane of games.”

I don’t even have a PS3… maybe that’s why I’m having a hard time envisioning this story engine…although I can imagine that it could be possible to get drawn into, for example, a drama that has a weekly TV episode (which could be delivered via the computer), augmented by mini-episodes that appear on your mobile phone or as messages via email. Maybe something like Second Life, but one that comes to you instead of you having to go to it. Certainly food for thought as writers struggle to see our future… (and one thing that needs to be re-booted is the ‘search’ function at the Wired website—trying to find this article there was like pulling teeth. As usual, I should have Googled right from the start).

(Want guidance in reaching your writing goals? See my Breakthrough Strategy Program at www.jurgenwolff.com)

Is this the secret of writing blockbuster novels?

For the Sunday Times, Stephen Amidon wrote a long article about novelist Dan Brown. He finishes with this analysis of how to create a blockbuster the Dan Brown way:

 

“Brown’s big breakthrough is to understand that most fiction readers these days are really looking for nonfiction books in disguise. If you start with a robust catalogue of fascinating facts and real-life settings, then factor in puzzles, sex, violence and controversy, you unlock the secret of how to print not only books, but also money.”

(More secrets for writing a book that sells are in "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available now from Amazon and other online and offline retailers.)

It's coming: the digi-novel...but is it any good?

Anthony Zuiker created one of the most popular and profitable franchises on TV, the CSI series. Now he’s creating a new genre, the digi-novel. It’s a book that is supplemented every twenty pages or so with a three-minute video online. Also on the website, readers/viewers can discuss the story and even add to it.

 The project is called “Level 26.” Zuiker wrote a 60-page outline, Duane Swiercynski wrote the novel, and Zuiker wrote and directed the video bits, which he calls “cyber-bridges.”

 One of the problems with the format is that the current e-readers don’t play video so you’ll need to access the internet in a way that’s separate from how you’re reading the novel. Knowing that not everybody will want to be jumping back and forth, Zuiker has structured the work so that you don’t actually need to view the video portions in order to follow the story. That seems a weakness—it means the videos remain an interesting but dispensable add-on.

 As of this writing there is a lot of speculation that Apple may be about to release a tablet device that could play video as well as display text. If and when that kind of device is available, digi-novels could become a viable new form.

 However, there is still a question whether people who enjoy reading or video will really want to combine them. They may just wonder why it’s not a film OR a book.

Addendum: here's the first (negative) review: www.usatoday.com/life/books/reviews/2009-09-07-level-26-anthony-zuiker_N.htm . I do think it's a shame that it has to be about a serial killer...have you noticed how many books or movies or TV shows promise to take you "inside the mind of a serial killer"? I don't know about you, but I don't WANT to be inside the mind of a serial killer.

(Want to write a book? Or a script? Or even a combination of the two? My book, "Your Writing Coach," takes you through the process from idea all the way through to publication. You can get it now at Amazon and other online and offline retailers.)

Writing Mash-ups: now it's Austen and aliens

Poor Jane Austen, first it was zombies (see my earlier post), now it’s aliens. Yes, a new book called “Pride and Predator” is due. Written by Andrew Kemble, John Pape, and Will Clark, the mash-up novel is set in the 18^th century and tells how an alien ship crashes and the aliens start to terrorize the local gentry. (No, I’m not making this one up, either). Apparently the movie version is already in the works.

(Want to write your own book? See mine--"Your Writing Coach" to find out what to do at each step from idea through the publication. It's available from Amazon and other online and offline stores.)

The Digi-Novel--Is this the new way to write novels?

Publisher's Weekly reports that publishing house Dutton has paid "millions" to Anthony Zuiker, creator of the hugely successful "CSI" TV series for what they are calling a digi-novel.

It's actually a three-book series, with the books sending readers to a web site that features video footage relating to the plot. It sounds like the footage will be crucial to advancing the plot, not just the kinds of extras that already appear on many book sites, although it will also have spin-off story lines with additional characters.

Dutton says the site will be a portal where readers/viewers can "consume countless ancillary levels of story enrichment." 

Do people want to go back and forth between a book and their computer screen? How will they feel when--in the middle of the story--the characters they had imagined one way in their minds turn out to be played by actors who look different? Am I being too old-fashioned here? 

(For monthly tips on how to be more creative and productive, sign up for my free Brainstorm e-bulletin. Just send an email request to BstormUK@aol.com)

Planning Your Novel (Not) - More from Elmore

One more tidbit from the interview with Elmore Leonard in the book, The Tenacity of a Cockroach, this time about planning--or rather NOT planning a novel. The interviewer (Keith Phipps) said, "I take it that you don't work from a tight outline." Leonard replied:

"I don't even have a loose outline. I just make it up as I go along. E. L. Doctorow says you write the book to find out what it's about. I sure agree with that. He says it's like following your headlights driving at night down a country road. You can't see where you're going, but you get there."

Of course this approach sometimes has drawbacks, as Leonard agrees: "There are a couple [of books] where I went with the wrong character. In Pronto, I went with the character who, when I was writing about it, was my age, 67. When he got about 100 pages in, he was in character, but I lost interest in him, because he was getting hard to get along with. He was drinking again, and it all added to the plot, but I didn't care much for the guy anymore. I had to bring another character on, who wasn't introduced until page 40, this guy Raylan Givens, the federal marshal in Kentucky. I could write a book about him anytime. I made him a lot more important and opened the next book, Riding the Rap, with Raylan. So I gave him his due."

For what it's worth, I've found a hybrid approach to plotting novels the most useful: wing it for the first quarter of the book, then outline the rest of it.

"