the Scroll

No, not the lost Gnostic religious scroll. Not even the "Z" Sect (Zaddokite) scroll fragment #28 discovered in my novel, AKS. Nope, I'm talking about a continuous paper roll like the one Kerouac used when he rewrote his Road novel in a three week frenzy. The scroll that Wayne thinks I should toss in the Van and "just get after it." ROFLOL

Thanks to computers – especially laptops -- I don't need a giant paper roll and a heavy old Olivetti typewriter. I have an endless amount of disk space. So, if I do rewrite over 80K words in three weeks, I can just scream, “Yes, Yes!” as Dean Moriarty the maniac would.

I’ve spent years trying to understand what's wrong with my WIP (“Work in Progress” as Joyce called his.) When I finally had the “ah ha” moment, it was this simple -- it’s too adult. I always thought it was too juvenile. It was too juvenile for an “important” work, but too adult for nonsense. It's neither, nor and there lies the problem. If I’m successful (with the roll and rapid rewrite) it will become a blend of reality and nonsense, mixed genres and maybe even a little biography. The best writing, IMHO, delights young and old alike.

It may have taken James Joyce 17 years to write his WIP (Finnegans Wake), but I have to say it’s still not accessible. Dedicated scholars have spent years trying to comprehend it, and can’t. I can say this because Joyce is dead. I once said something critical to a budding young new age writer and he killed himself. I know I’m not responsible for his death, but that doesn’t change how you feel when that happens. Telling someone they aren’t communicating is dangerous and insensitive. Harsh criticism along the way sure set me back (for years), but as they say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I endured.

Erudite, important literature has a place. But in a time when only one in four Americans even read a single book (2006), and if print books are on the way out (as I speculated in my last entry), then “nonsense” may be just the ticket. How many million -- or billion -- Harry Potter books have been read? Among our most enduring and most loved works are “Alice in Wonderland,” “Peter Pan (aka Peter and Wendy),” and though more popular as a movie, “the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” Add to that Harry Potter and maybe someday, “A Kindred Spirit.” I should be so fortunate to ever be in that illustrious company.

I do envision a movie, too, Mr. D, but first things first. I need to move at warp maniacal speed and crank out some nonsense. Those hypno sessions are certainly helping. "You can't wait to write. Your fingers are flying over the keyboard." (something like that.) I'm doing it. Yes, really, I am. The clock is ticking and calendar pages are flying by. 08, can't wait. Let's go...

digi-mags and cell phone novels

It's time to face it, print books are going the way of vinyl records, 8-track tapes and bulky VHS cartridges. I can hear the groan as I write this. I'm not saying I agree or think it's a good thing. I love the look, texture and smell of a freshly bound book. I like to handle them, gaze at them on my shelves and yes, read them. But, I can see the writing on the LCD. Smaller, hand-held devices and digi text is what the current generation is accustomed to. HG Wells saw this in his Time Machine novel over 100 years ago. Books would become relics and turn to dust. Who can manage so much paper and volume? Not future generations. A mobile society will not haul boxes of books around when a 500 gig SATA drive costs under $100 and can easily hold an entire public library (7.5 million volumes could be stored in .zip format in 2.6 terabytes.) Your average 4-gig thumb drive can hold the text of 10,000 books. (source: Project Gutenberg) 30,000 books could be stored in 12 gigabytes, and we'll see 12 gig flash drives this year! You could carry around every word in 30,000 books in less space and weight than your average wristwatch.

Online data has already completely revolutionized research. I didn't have to make a physical trip to California to get information I need for my novel. I could take a virtual trip with Google Earth, view 3D renderings of the buildings, use panoramic photography to see interiors, and of course all information in the world is somewhere within Google's grasp.

This morning I saw a TV segment (CBS Sunday Morning) on cell phone novels. Huh? Kids in Japan are writing novels on their cell phones and uploading them to the internet. One woman has sold 800,000 copies and made over $8 million doing this. It's clearly time to completely reconsider what "publishing" means. I thought of this years ago when I told my friend JC that I envisioned some multi-dimensional novel with more than one ending. But, that time is NOW!

I'm looking at the 2008 Writer's Digest Yearbook and Harper Collins is publishing to iPhone now. Sales of e-books have tripled from 2006 to now (according to WD.) Podcasting and Audible by- pass print media altogether for those who want to listen, rather than view text. I don't have an answer here, but I sure have a lot more questions. I may jump into the e-frey with my novel. I was thinking POD anyway (print on demand.) hmmmmm.