One more thing for the day...
Today's post on "Giant Girl Rampages" is kind of a milestone. School board member Mrs. Lee is the first new character we've introduced in... well... perhaps the very first week, unless you're counting characters like Miss Freckles who only pop up in dreams and memories. There will be more new characters next week.
And tomorrow's post will be noteworthy too, as Melly finally learns the true price of her new GlomCorp wardrobe when she loses something very important to her. Can't say more than that right now!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Melly's Shoe Size
In case anyone was wondering, and because at least one person apparently was, women's shoe sizes in the United States are commonly calculated using the following formula:
Shoe size = 3X - 22.5, where X is the length in inches of the foot-shaped form used to make the shoe.
A woman with a 10-inch foot would tend to wear a size 7-1/2.
Melly has a 32-inch foot, so her new AthletiGlom sneakers are size 73-1/2.
Yow!
Shoe size = 3X - 22.5, where X is the length in inches of the foot-shaped form used to make the shoe.
A woman with a 10-inch foot would tend to wear a size 7-1/2.
Melly has a 32-inch foot, so her new AthletiGlom sneakers are size 73-1/2.
Yow!
WeSeWriMo
The Giant Girl Creative Team has signed on for WeSeWriMo, or Web Serial Writing Month. WeSeWriMo is a writing challenge similar to other month-long intensives, the most famous being NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month that takes place each November.
WeSeWriMo is set to roll through August and involves the writing and posting of web serials. GGCT has committed to posting 20 episodes during the month of August, which we think is quite doable given our June and July track record and the need to wrap up a few current plotlines before Melly starts her first school year.
For anyone thinking about starting up a blog-novel, this is as good a time as any. We're looking forward to seeing what other participants come up with during the month!
WeSeWriMo is set to roll through August and involves the writing and posting of web serials. GGCT has committed to posting 20 episodes during the month of August, which we think is quite doable given our June and July track record and the need to wrap up a few current plotlines before Melly starts her first school year.
For anyone thinking about starting up a blog-novel, this is as good a time as any. We're looking forward to seeing what other participants come up with during the month!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
New Resource: Web Fiction Guide
As we try to figure out exactly what we're doing with Melly Mills, it's helpful to see what other people are doing with their blog-novels and blog fiction. The problem is finding good stories to look at, since this is such a new/specialized/experimental way to tell a story.
That's why we were so thrilled when a great new directory and rating site opened its doors this week. Web Fiction Guide has a searchable directory of online stories including ours and handy tags so readers can find other stories with similar themes. There are lots of site editors listed, and they will be posting articles, interviews, and happenings in what will hopefully become a full-fledged web fiction community.
Keep an eye on it.
That's why we were so thrilled when a great new directory and rating site opened its doors this week. Web Fiction Guide has a searchable directory of online stories including ours and handy tags so readers can find other stories with similar themes. There are lots of site editors listed, and they will be posting articles, interviews, and happenings in what will hopefully become a full-fledged web fiction community.
Keep an eye on it.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Blog Fiction Typology Discussion
A detailed summary of our most current typology can be found here.
We think it's useful to examine the place of blog-novels in the larger scheme of blog fiction, serialized fiction, and online fiction in general. Not because we want to put any author into a pigeonhole or stifle their creativity, but to set up a framework for further discussion.
Our starting point is folks who have looked into this topic from an academic perspective, starting with a 2005 paper by Angela Thomas.
In a blog entry in May of 2005, Betsy Friedrich commented on the terms defined in Thomas's paper:
Friedrich developed her views further in a 2006 thesis and other blog posts such as this one from February 2006:
This is our best understanding of Friedrich's circa-2006 typology of blog fiction:
This is a great framework to build on, and future blog-fickers will be indebted to this pioneering analysis. As for our own initial ideas on the subject, we humbly offer a few small revisions.
So this is where we were in July of 2008:
Additional discussion since then has revolved around where blog-novels, as we like to call them, fit into the chart.
The original consensus of our group was that the real-time element was required, putting them into that bottom left box. Subsequently we've come across some asynchronous blog-novels that work very well in their time frame (and we've taken to calling them "asynchronous" instead of "non-real time" because it's less contrived and more cool sounding that way).
Blog-novels are now synonymous with narrative blogs.
We've added fraud blogs onto the chart, to indicate blogs that present themselves as factual but are really works of fiction. There have been a number of these that have become popular and celebrated, only to have readers throw a fit when they discover that the author is not actually dying of cancer, working as a call-girl, or whatever. It's the same problem we've seen with memoirs that turn out to be fictional or highly embellished--people don't like it when their fact and fiction mix without adequate warning.
Interactive Role Playing is now known as Role Playing Blogs, or RPBs, on our chart--a slight improvement though I'm sure the people who do them probably have a name that's cooler and more descriptive.
Also gone are Character Diaries from Fictional and Non-Fictional Sources. If they're fictional, we're calling them Derived Blogs. If they're non-fictional, we're calling them Fake Blogs--like the Fake Blog of Steve Jobs or the Fake Blog of Dick Cheney.
We'll continue to add to the discussion draft until we come up with more ideas, which we probably will.
We think it's useful to examine the place of blog-novels in the larger scheme of blog fiction, serialized fiction, and online fiction in general. Not because we want to put any author into a pigeonhole or stifle their creativity, but to set up a framework for further discussion.
Our starting point is folks who have looked into this topic from an academic perspective, starting with a 2005 paper by Angela Thomas.
In a blog entry in May of 2005, Betsy Friedrich commented on the terms defined in Thomas's paper:
- Serialized Fiction: Lots of authors have recognized the wonder of the internet as a free publishing tool. These blogs don't necessarily use the blog as a form. Some aren’t even in first person. I suppose someone could blog in the third person, but I think one criteria of blogs is some perceived connection between the narrator/protagonist and the author. It’s great that authors are using blogs to publish their fiction independently, but I think we need to make a distinction between blogs that have fiction in them and fictional blogs.
- Commercial Blogs: This refers to marketing stratgies that utilize blogs. For example, the Captain’s Blog from Captain Morgan's Rum. This is a fictional blog, a blog written by a fictional character, but somehow I feel like intent makes it something different than fictional blogs. The intent here is to sell a product. The story is a by-product of that marketing strategy, rather than the goal itself.
- Contained Story: This is what I think of as a true fictonal blog and deserving of the term. The author has created characters and a world for them. They use the blog as a form, at least to some extent. The blog exists on it’s own, it doesn't rely on any other person's creation to exist.
- Interactive Role Playing: A great grandchild of D&D, in these blogs authors take on a character and maintain that character while interacting with other characters. A fascinating idea, but again, I think it’s more than a fictional blog and the term doesn't do it justice. Maybe they could be called Blog RPGs? Sort of sterile, but at least it’s descriptive.
- Character Diary: In these blogs the author has used a character from an existing work of fiction or from real life and made a blog for that person. For example, Darth Vader's blog. The author found an existing character and is writing a diary for them (which happens to be hilarious, by the by, if you're a Star Wars fan.) Another blogger did his research and wrote a blog as if he were Julius Caeser- another existing "character" that the author liked enough blog as. There are also lots of character diaries surrounding Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and Star Trek. Some character diaries can be really great, but like the other forms, I think they are different than fictional blogs and need their own name.
Friedrich developed her views further in a 2006 thesis and other blog posts such as this one from February 2006:
As I may have said at some point in this blog, I'd like to focus on fictional blogs written in the first person, what I've called a contained story. This is different from people who write fan fiction or short stories which they then publish in blogs. I'm most interested in journals by fictional characters that utilize the format of a blog in some way.
That said, I've been thinking of a second distinction in fictional blogs. There is a difference, I think, between what I call character blogs and narrative blogs. A character blog is heavily based on a fictional character and their daily life. Examples would be God's Blog http://bigoldgod.blogspot.com/, and American Short-Timer americanshort-timer@blogspot.com.
A narrative blog tells a story. It has a beginning and end; there are plot points. It is probably not about the minutia of someone's daily life because that does not make a very interesting story. Examples are Transplanted Life http://transplantedlife.blogspot.com, and Simon of Space http://simonofspace.blogspot.com- the blog I've been reading the most of lately.
I hadn't previously made this distinction, though it seems obvious now- especially since so much between the two is different. The motivations for writing, the process, the readership, all of these are going to depend on whether it is a character blog or narrative blog.
This is our best understanding of Friedrich's circa-2006 typology of blog fiction:
This is a great framework to build on, and future blog-fickers will be indebted to this pioneering analysis. As for our own initial ideas on the subject, we humbly offer a few small revisions.
- First, we're expanding the chart upward to show it in a greater context of online storytelling. Blog fiction is online storytelling that uses a blogging platform, possibly including multimedia elements, hyperlinks, and a commenting system. Other ways to tell a story online include podcasting, webcomics, and forums.
- Second, we're trying to find a better home on the chart for the commercial fiction category, if it even needs to be culled out at all. We disagree with the principle of mixing story content or author intent into the discussion of story format. It would be like saying a movie isn't really a movie if it includes product placements, which many of them do. Or that a book like The Devil Wears Prada isn't really a book because there's a product name in the title. And if we start by excluding commercial fiction, we might also exclude stories that support a political viewpoint, or ones that have a moral lesson, or ones that make us think about philosophical issues, and pretty soon all that's left is bland and mindless. We're keeping the "Commercial Fiction" box on the chart for now, but we're not happy about it.
- Third, we're making a distinction between narrative blogs that unfold in real time and those that don't. We think there's a major difference between how readers interact with these stories and we're also a little biased because our story is one of those real-time types.
So this is where we were in July of 2008:
Additional discussion since then has revolved around where blog-novels, as we like to call them, fit into the chart.
The original consensus of our group was that the real-time element was required, putting them into that bottom left box. Subsequently we've come across some asynchronous blog-novels that work very well in their time frame (and we've taken to calling them "asynchronous" instead of "non-real time" because it's less contrived and more cool sounding that way).
Blog-novels are now synonymous with narrative blogs.
We've added fraud blogs onto the chart, to indicate blogs that present themselves as factual but are really works of fiction. There have been a number of these that have become popular and celebrated, only to have readers throw a fit when they discover that the author is not actually dying of cancer, working as a call-girl, or whatever. It's the same problem we've seen with memoirs that turn out to be fictional or highly embellished--people don't like it when their fact and fiction mix without adequate warning.
Interactive Role Playing is now known as Role Playing Blogs, or RPBs, on our chart--a slight improvement though I'm sure the people who do them probably have a name that's cooler and more descriptive.
Also gone are Character Diaries from Fictional and Non-Fictional Sources. If they're fictional, we're calling them Derived Blogs. If they're non-fictional, we're calling them Fake Blogs--like the Fake Blog of Steve Jobs or the Fake Blog of Dick Cheney.
We'll continue to add to the discussion draft until we come up with more ideas, which we probably will.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Week #5: Foreshadowing
Some quick author notes we may add to and revise as time goes on...
In Week #5 of "Giant Girl Rampages," Melly's giant monster dream forms the centerpiece of a week that sees Melly withdraw for a while after another bad outing in town.
We've previously established Melly's dreams as being particularly vivid and populated by recurring characters like Miss Freckles and Dream Boy. In this dream we have those two dream-beings interacting with Melly and each other in a cinematic landscape--the problem being that we also previously established that Melly hasn't seen a whole lot of movies in her life and probably wouldn't dream in pop culture references like Godzilla.
Our solution was to have Melly start the week by raving about a certain Japanese monster movie she just happened to see over the weekend. Now when the dream hits, we know that she's seen the film and has it freshly churning in her mind. Foreshadowing is your friend in blog-novels just as in paper-novels. And if you read the posts carefully, you might see more foreshadowing of things that may not happen for weeks or months yet--like Friday's post about Melly's big secret and whether Jay knows about it or not.
==>http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/2008_07_06_archive.html
In Week #5 of "Giant Girl Rampages," Melly's giant monster dream forms the centerpiece of a week that sees Melly withdraw for a while after another bad outing in town.
We've previously established Melly's dreams as being particularly vivid and populated by recurring characters like Miss Freckles and Dream Boy. In this dream we have those two dream-beings interacting with Melly and each other in a cinematic landscape--the problem being that we also previously established that Melly hasn't seen a whole lot of movies in her life and probably wouldn't dream in pop culture references like Godzilla.
Our solution was to have Melly start the week by raving about a certain Japanese monster movie she just happened to see over the weekend. Now when the dream hits, we know that she's seen the film and has it freshly churning in her mind. Foreshadowing is your friend in blog-novels just as in paper-novels. And if you read the posts carefully, you might see more foreshadowing of things that may not happen for weeks or months yet--like Friday's post about Melly's big secret and whether Jay knows about it or not.
==>http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/2008_07_06_archive.html
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Week #4: Fanfic
Some quick author notes we may add to and revise as time goes on...
In Week #4 of "Giant Girl Rampages," we wanted to do something special for the Fourth of July. But in Melly's case, the meaning of Independence Day is inverted because she is in the process of losing her independence by becoming more and more dependent on the people around her. The resulting post is so much of an emotional bombshell that we were nervous that it would alienate our small but growing audience, even if it does go to the core of the "vulnerable giantess" theme we're going for with this story.
Thankfully, we were able to have Melly angst with the best of them and still end the week on a positive note. as we received our first illustrated "Giant Girl Rampages" fanfic just in time to lighten things up! We linked to the story with a bonus post on Saturday and the week was saved.
Normally authors have a range of conflicting feelings about stories written by fans: we're flattered that someone would feel so strongly about our work that they would want to extend the story; we're anxious over our loss of control over our creations; we're curious about what the reaction will be at our publisher's legal department, and we're generally amused, angry, joyful, or outraged depending on how well or how badly the fanfic is written. This particular fanfic was a pleasure to read because the author had clearly studied the characters as we'd presented them and had come up with a logical, consistent, and enjoyable story about them. Bravo!
Also, the pictures were so much fun and so much better than any of us could ever hope to draw.
==>http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/2008_06_29_archive.html
In Week #4 of "Giant Girl Rampages," we wanted to do something special for the Fourth of July. But in Melly's case, the meaning of Independence Day is inverted because she is in the process of losing her independence by becoming more and more dependent on the people around her. The resulting post is so much of an emotional bombshell that we were nervous that it would alienate our small but growing audience, even if it does go to the core of the "vulnerable giantess" theme we're going for with this story.
Thankfully, we were able to have Melly angst with the best of them and still end the week on a positive note. as we received our first illustrated "Giant Girl Rampages" fanfic just in time to lighten things up! We linked to the story with a bonus post on Saturday and the week was saved.
Normally authors have a range of conflicting feelings about stories written by fans: we're flattered that someone would feel so strongly about our work that they would want to extend the story; we're anxious over our loss of control over our creations; we're curious about what the reaction will be at our publisher's legal department, and we're generally amused, angry, joyful, or outraged depending on how well or how badly the fanfic is written. This particular fanfic was a pleasure to read because the author had clearly studied the characters as we'd presented them and had come up with a logical, consistent, and enjoyable story about them. Bravo!
Also, the pictures were so much fun and so much better than any of us could ever hope to draw.
==>http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/2008_06_29_archive.html
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Week #3: Multitasking
Some quick author notes we may add to and revise as time goes on...
In Week #3 of "Giant Girl Rampages," we tried to deal with pacing requirements in a five-day format. We resolved the issue of moving Melly into her new shed and gave her a few days to adjust before dropping a new issue in her lap--Mrs. Johansson's disapproval of Melly's wardrobe, which represents another soon-to-be-vanishing connection between Melly and her deceased mother.
Four other things we tried to do this very productive week (with varying levels of success):
First, we had Melly comment on some of the comments she's been getting. This brought those issues into the main narrative and emphasized the interactive nature of publishing a novel in blog format.
Second, we had Melly comment on a current news story in an attempt to connect Melly's world with the world of the readers.
Third, we kept the Jay-Melly plot simmering.
And fourth, we introduced a new mystery element with Melly's fuzzy memory of the "Freckles" character and her strong desire not to delve any deeper into the matter. We're doing Monday through Friday posts with weekends off, so "something big and unexpected on Friday" might become a way for us to keep reader attention over a couple days without a post. Like a chapter-ending cliff-hanger, but with weeks instead of chapters.
==>http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/2008_06_22_archive.html
In Week #3 of "Giant Girl Rampages," we tried to deal with pacing requirements in a five-day format. We resolved the issue of moving Melly into her new shed and gave her a few days to adjust before dropping a new issue in her lap--Mrs. Johansson's disapproval of Melly's wardrobe, which represents another soon-to-be-vanishing connection between Melly and her deceased mother.
Four other things we tried to do this very productive week (with varying levels of success):
First, we had Melly comment on some of the comments she's been getting. This brought those issues into the main narrative and emphasized the interactive nature of publishing a novel in blog format.
Second, we had Melly comment on a current news story in an attempt to connect Melly's world with the world of the readers.
Third, we kept the Jay-Melly plot simmering.
And fourth, we introduced a new mystery element with Melly's fuzzy memory of the "Freckles" character and her strong desire not to delve any deeper into the matter. We're doing Monday through Friday posts with weekends off, so "something big and unexpected on Friday" might become a way for us to keep reader attention over a couple days without a post. Like a chapter-ending cliff-hanger, but with weeks instead of chapters.
==>http://bigmellymills.blogspot.com/2008_06_22_archive.html
Comments and Feedback
A major benefit of the blog format for storytelling is that readers can provide instant feedback to a story in progress. Even better, readers can talk directly to the characters and maybe even have them reply! This was one of the features that originally excited us so much about blog-novels and their potential to go beyond what traditional paper novels can do.
Our advice to blog-novelists is, simply, to turn on the commenting feature for their posts, police the comments to weed out the inappropriate ones, and post replies to encourage the rest. You may want to close comments on an occasional episode that creates a controversy, but turning off comments on all posts would defeat the two-way interaction that is the main purpose in having a blog in the first place.
You may not get many comments in the first month of your blog-novel, until you start building a readership, but don't let that discourage you. Most readers will not ever leave comments, no matter how much they're enjoying your work. When you do start to get comments, respond to them with comments of your own--in character or, if you're more comfortable that way, as the author. A small trickle of comments will encourage more and more.
In addition to providing a means for reader feedback, comments will help you understand what your readers like and dislike, or where they are confused and need further explanations and details.
In Week #2 of "Giant Girl Rampages," we dealt with Melly's feelings of loss for her family--showing her anger by having her lash out at Jay Appleton. Some readers felt that Melly's behavior was uncalled for and that she should immediately apologize to Jay. Others identified with Melly and, viewing Jay through her perspective, decided he was a jerk and not worth associating with. As authors, we were able to take both of these reactions into account in fine-tuning and steering the Melly-Jay relationship over the ensuing weeks. We were also able to have Melly herself provide interaction through comments that helped readers understand her moods and motives. By doing this, the comments became an important part of the story.
We also received some abusive comments from a reader who seemed oddly obsessed with Melly's feet. Fortunately, other readers rallied around Melly and let the foot guy know that his comments were inappropriate and unwanted. We were able to delete the comments in question and, deprived of a voice, the foot guy went away.
If you're very lucky, your readership will become a community in itself and comments will riff off each other as much as off of your original posts. This hasn't happened to us, and probably never will, but we've seen it on other more popular sites. And even on our site, the commentary enhances the story.
Our advice to blog-novelists is, simply, to turn on the commenting feature for their posts, police the comments to weed out the inappropriate ones, and post replies to encourage the rest. You may want to close comments on an occasional episode that creates a controversy, but turning off comments on all posts would defeat the two-way interaction that is the main purpose in having a blog in the first place.
You may not get many comments in the first month of your blog-novel, until you start building a readership, but don't let that discourage you. Most readers will not ever leave comments, no matter how much they're enjoying your work. When you do start to get comments, respond to them with comments of your own--in character or, if you're more comfortable that way, as the author. A small trickle of comments will encourage more and more.
In addition to providing a means for reader feedback, comments will help you understand what your readers like and dislike, or where they are confused and need further explanations and details.
In Week #2 of "Giant Girl Rampages," we dealt with Melly's feelings of loss for her family--showing her anger by having her lash out at Jay Appleton. Some readers felt that Melly's behavior was uncalled for and that she should immediately apologize to Jay. Others identified with Melly and, viewing Jay through her perspective, decided he was a jerk and not worth associating with. As authors, we were able to take both of these reactions into account in fine-tuning and steering the Melly-Jay relationship over the ensuing weeks. We were also able to have Melly herself provide interaction through comments that helped readers understand her moods and motives. By doing this, the comments became an important part of the story.
We also received some abusive comments from a reader who seemed oddly obsessed with Melly's feet. Fortunately, other readers rallied around Melly and let the foot guy know that his comments were inappropriate and unwanted. We were able to delete the comments in question and, deprived of a voice, the foot guy went away.
If you're very lucky, your readership will become a community in itself and comments will riff off each other as much as off of your original posts. This hasn't happened to us, and probably never will, but we've seen it on other more popular sites. And even on our site, the commentary enhances the story.
Beginnings
Authors have agonized over beginnings since, probably, the beginning of storytelling itself. The start of a traditionally structured story must serve many purposes all at once: it introduces one or more characters, sets them in a certain place and time, establishes any number of reader expectations about style and substance, and starts a chain of action that will hopefully carry through until the final chapter--and all of it has to grab the reader before he or she abandons the work in favor of something else.
Blog-novelists who structure their stories with deliberate beginnings, middles, and endings have the additional challenge of having to do all of this in a single take, because substantial revision to a blog-novel in progress is difficult or impossible. In this way, blog-novels cross the written word with live storytelling.
We recommend that blog-novelists take the time to plan and plot their blog-novels before posting a first entry that will be, essentially, written in stone. Looking back now on the opening week of our blog-novel, "Giant Girl Rampages," it feels like we were hopelessly ill-prepared for putting the first episodes on the web, even though we pre-wrote the first five days and had rough plots ready for the next three months.
Blog-novelists coming from the world of books, especially, need to prepare for a little disappointment when looking back on earlier parts of the story. As with all first drafts, your main character's voice will evolve as she takes on a life of her own and the plot will develop layers and meanders you never expected. You will feel the urge to go back and revise--and you won't be able to. With the blog-novel, any substantial amount of retroactive editing will be impossible, but what you get instead is the constant prod to make forward progress.
The beginning of a blog-novel should be a clearly intentional beginning that works toward a clearly-intended ending, or else what you're writing isn't a blog-novel, but instead something called a character blog--which is perfectly fine if that's what you want to do. Your open-ended character blog will also require some pre-planning though, because you'll need to know something about your character and story world before you start.
In Week #1 of "Giant Girl Rampages," readers meet Melly Mills and learn about her unusual size, her background, and her personality. We describe an important event that has turned Melly's world upside-down, with aftershocks and unforseen consequences that will continue to unfold for months to come. We introduce Dr. Crisp and other key people in Melly's life, reveal her aspiration to meet and fall in love with a boy who is even taller than she is, show her reading habits, and witness her introduction to a sport that will play an important part in the story. That structured beginning gave us a platform on which to build the rest of our story.
If we continue GGR long enough, and if we don't end up abandoning it in the middle, it will wrap up in a nice, neat, clearly intentional ending. It may not be exactly the ending we had in mind when we started the project, because stories tend to take on a life of their own, but for a blog-novel, just as with a paper novel, it's important to have an ending in mind from the very beginning.
Blog-novelists who structure their stories with deliberate beginnings, middles, and endings have the additional challenge of having to do all of this in a single take, because substantial revision to a blog-novel in progress is difficult or impossible. In this way, blog-novels cross the written word with live storytelling.
We recommend that blog-novelists take the time to plan and plot their blog-novels before posting a first entry that will be, essentially, written in stone. Looking back now on the opening week of our blog-novel, "Giant Girl Rampages," it feels like we were hopelessly ill-prepared for putting the first episodes on the web, even though we pre-wrote the first five days and had rough plots ready for the next three months.
Blog-novelists coming from the world of books, especially, need to prepare for a little disappointment when looking back on earlier parts of the story. As with all first drafts, your main character's voice will evolve as she takes on a life of her own and the plot will develop layers and meanders you never expected. You will feel the urge to go back and revise--and you won't be able to. With the blog-novel, any substantial amount of retroactive editing will be impossible, but what you get instead is the constant prod to make forward progress.
The beginning of a blog-novel should be a clearly intentional beginning that works toward a clearly-intended ending, or else what you're writing isn't a blog-novel, but instead something called a character blog--which is perfectly fine if that's what you want to do. Your open-ended character blog will also require some pre-planning though, because you'll need to know something about your character and story world before you start.
In Week #1 of "Giant Girl Rampages," readers meet Melly Mills and learn about her unusual size, her background, and her personality. We describe an important event that has turned Melly's world upside-down, with aftershocks and unforseen consequences that will continue to unfold for months to come. We introduce Dr. Crisp and other key people in Melly's life, reveal her aspiration to meet and fall in love with a boy who is even taller than she is, show her reading habits, and witness her introduction to a sport that will play an important part in the story. That structured beginning gave us a platform on which to build the rest of our story.
If we continue GGR long enough, and if we don't end up abandoning it in the middle, it will wrap up in a nice, neat, clearly intentional ending. It may not be exactly the ending we had in mind when we started the project, because stories tend to take on a life of their own, but for a blog-novel, just as with a paper novel, it's important to have an ending in mind from the very beginning.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Blog-Novel Resources
Here are some sites and resources to help blog-novelists along the way. Some relate to blog-fiction or serialized online fiction generally but may also be helpful.
Meta Blogs
Blog Fiction by DustinM
Novelr
Making Melly Mills
Blog Communities
Web Writers on LiveJournal
Forums
Blog Fiction Forum
NovLounge
Pages Unbound Forum
EpiGuide online entertainment
Story Directories
List of Blog Fiction Sites
Flogalicious: A Fictional Blog Directory
Pages Unbound
Web Fiction Guide
Awards
Blooker Prize (for blogs turned into books)
References
Friedrich, Betsy. Fictional Blogs: How Digital Narratives are Changing the Way We
Read and Write. Coe College, 14 February 2007 (PDF)
Thomas, Angela. Fictional Blogging and the Narrative Identities of Adolescent Girls. University of Sydney, 26 March 2005. (Word Document)
Wright, Tim. Blog Fiction. trAce Online Writing Centre, 16 January 2004.
Blog Fiction Wikipedia Entry
Meta Blogs
Blog Communities
Forums
Story Directories
Awards
References
Read and Write. Coe College, 14 February 2007 (PDF)
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Why Are Some Posts Tagged "illustration"?
We encourage artists to create illustrations of Melly or the events in her story, as long as they are appropriate for Melly's young readers. When Melly finds an image she likes, she may include a small thumbnail version on a post with credit to the artist and a link to the full-sized image. Images of Melly posted elsewhere should link to the "Giant Girl Rampages" blog.
Clicking on the illustration label will bring up only those posts containing Melly Mills illustrations.
Clicking on the illustration label will bring up only those posts containing Melly Mills illustrations.
Why Are Some Posts Tagged "fanfic"?
We encourage other people to write stories about Melly or the people in her world, as long as they link back to the "Giant Girl Rampages" blog and the story is appropriate for Melly's young readers. When Melly finds a fan-written story she likes, she will link to it with a post labeled fanfic, short for fan fiction, because it's a fictitious story written by a Melly Mills fan.
Clicking on the fanfic label will bring up only those posts containing links to Melly Mills fanfic.
Clicking on the fanfic label will bring up only those posts containing links to Melly Mills fanfic.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Using Meta Information
When readers start a book, they flip open to the first page and the story begins. But with a blog-novel, readers may arrive in the middle of a story already in progress. They may leave for a while and miss important plot developments. Or they may need a quick refresher on a character who hasn't been seen for a week or two.
Blog-novels require meta information--supplemental text that's about the story but isn't part of the story. This might include character guides, plot synopses, frequently asked questions, posting schedules, and information about the author(s). Meta information can appear in the blog's sidebar, in the header, in posts, or in a separate website.
Three weeks into "Giant Girl Rampages," we realized that our meta information would no longer fit neatly into the sidebar. Luckily, we discovered that the blog format also makes for an excellent resource site with virtually unlimited room for expansion.
On our behind-the-scenes blog, "Making Melly Mills," every main character has an entry that can be updated as we learn more about them. And each entry has its own URL, so we can link to them from the story site.
Also, because blog-novels are still so rare, we've included frequently asked questions about what we're doing, why, and how--as well as tips like the one you're reading now, for blog-novelists who want to join in the fun. These resources are available for the reader who wants more background information without bothering some other reader who just wants to get on with the story.
Blog-novels require meta information--supplemental text that's about the story but isn't part of the story. This might include character guides, plot synopses, frequently asked questions, posting schedules, and information about the author(s). Meta information can appear in the blog's sidebar, in the header, in posts, or in a separate website.
Three weeks into "Giant Girl Rampages," we realized that our meta information would no longer fit neatly into the sidebar. Luckily, we discovered that the blog format also makes for an excellent resource site with virtually unlimited room for expansion.
On our behind-the-scenes blog, "Making Melly Mills," every main character has an entry that can be updated as we learn more about them. And each entry has its own URL, so we can link to them from the story site.
Also, because blog-novels are still so rare, we've included frequently asked questions about what we're doing, why, and how--as well as tips like the one you're reading now, for blog-novelists who want to join in the fun. These resources are available for the reader who wants more background information without bothering some other reader who just wants to get on with the story.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Blog-Novel Writing Style
With all stories written in the first person (as told by the character herself) it's important to choose an appropriate and distinctive voice and stick with it.
Our advice to other blog-novelists is to think about your character's voice before you even start writing your first post. Make sure the style you want to use matches the background of the character you have. Once you're into the story, it will be difficult or impossible to go back and make style changes from the beginning.
As you write, keep in mind that blogging is an immediate activity for your character--the events of the story have just happened, or are still happening, and the emotions of the moment should work their way into the tone. Avoid the narrative distance often seen in books, where characters may be recalling events that happened months or years before the telling.
Finally, remember that your character's word choices and writing style tell readers a lot about who they are and where they're coming from. Figure out how the character's personality and background are different from yours, as the author, and be sure to reflect that difference in your writing style. If more than one character is writing the blog, each should have a distinctive voice.
For "Giant Girl Rampages" we wanted Melly Mills to be articulate and literate enough to tell her own story, so we worked a love of books into her background. She's also been isolated on a farm for her whole life, only recently gaining access to the Internet, so she's not going to be using any texting slang, emoticons, or pop-culture references. She hasn't read a lot of blogs, so Melly mostly writes the way she talks, in an informal tone with colloquialisms she picked up from her parents.
Melly uses shorthand words like cuz and 'tho because we wanted to remind the reader that this is a blog, rough and unfinished, and not a polished and edited novel. We adopted the triple-exclamation-point so that Melly can express strong emotions--and because we imagine her voice, powered by giant-sized lungs, to be megaphone-loud. We even wrote that down as a rule in our notes: Always three exclamation points for Melly, never two or four!!!
If we've done our job, a reader will believe that Melly's blog is actually being written by Melly and her words couldn't have been written by anybody else.
Our advice to other blog-novelists is to think about your character's voice before you even start writing your first post. Make sure the style you want to use matches the background of the character you have. Once you're into the story, it will be difficult or impossible to go back and make style changes from the beginning.
As you write, keep in mind that blogging is an immediate activity for your character--the events of the story have just happened, or are still happening, and the emotions of the moment should work their way into the tone. Avoid the narrative distance often seen in books, where characters may be recalling events that happened months or years before the telling.
Finally, remember that your character's word choices and writing style tell readers a lot about who they are and where they're coming from. Figure out how the character's personality and background are different from yours, as the author, and be sure to reflect that difference in your writing style. If more than one character is writing the blog, each should have a distinctive voice.
For "Giant Girl Rampages" we wanted Melly Mills to be articulate and literate enough to tell her own story, so we worked a love of books into her background. She's also been isolated on a farm for her whole life, only recently gaining access to the Internet, so she's not going to be using any texting slang, emoticons, or pop-culture references. She hasn't read a lot of blogs, so Melly mostly writes the way she talks, in an informal tone with colloquialisms she picked up from her parents.
Melly uses shorthand words like cuz and 'tho because we wanted to remind the reader that this is a blog, rough and unfinished, and not a polished and edited novel. We adopted the triple-exclamation-point so that Melly can express strong emotions--and because we imagine her voice, powered by giant-sized lungs, to be megaphone-loud. We even wrote that down as a rule in our notes: Always three exclamation points for Melly, never two or four!!!
If we've done our job, a reader will believe that Melly's blog is actually being written by Melly and her words couldn't have been written by anybody else.
Why Are Some Posts Tagged "Jay"?
Jay Appleton is an important figure in Milly's life. He is the first person her own age that she ever meets and interacts with on a regular basis. Their relationship will evolve over time and it may be useful for readers to go back and review all that has happened before.
Clicking on the Jay label will bring up only those posts that Melly writes about Jay.
Clicking on the Jay label will bring up only those posts that Melly writes about Jay.
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