The Novel as Software 150
LukePieStalker writes "Former English professor Eric Brown has published the first work in what he claims is a new literary category called the 'digital epistolary novel', or DEN. 'Intimacies', based on an 18th century novel, requires the DEN 1.2 software. The program's interface has windows for mock e-mail, instant messaging, Web browser and pager, through which the narrative unfolds. For those wishing to create their own works in this genre, Mr. Brown is marketing composition software called DEN WriterWare."
Whoops! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Whoops! (Score:1)
Re:Whoops! (Score:1)
Great... (Score:5, Funny)
Maan
Re:Great... (Score:5, Informative)
www.greatamericannovel.com [greatamericannovel.com]
Re:Great... (Score:1)
Re:Great... (Score:3, Informative)
Maan
So basically.... (Score:4, Funny)
Now if only Microsoft could do something with this.....
*naps in his cube dreaming of malware-infected reading materials*
Been there done that (Score:4, Funny)
Interesting idea. But new literary category? Please.
Re: (Score:1)
Re:Been there done that (Score:1)
As for the choose-your-own-adventure books? They're not novels, at least not very good ones. Characterization is minimal. There's an overemphasis on plot. Pretty much like most video games =).
Re:Been there done that (Score:3, Informative)
I swear, every day Slashdot gets more and more like a bunch wanna-bes sitting in a circle watching somebody else do all the work, saying "that sucks" every five minutes.
(DEN does, in fact, suck. But at least I read the article to find out why)
Re:Been there done that (Score:2)
+5 Brilliant
Re:Been there done that (Score:2)
If you ever decide to check out a CYOA book, stay away from the titles by R.A. Montgomery (including By Balloon to the Sahara, referenced in the parent post). He sucked.
When I first read this (Score:4, Funny)
Re:When I first read this (Score:5, Funny)
Heh. Choose your own FPS.
You got the rocket launcher!
. If you run at him and fire, go to 71
. If you choose to bunny-hop to the side while firing, go to 13
pg71 - ***BLAM!*** he totally rocket blasts you and GIBS fly everywhere! U sux0rz!
. Respawn at page 1
pg13 - ***SPLACK!*** you totally gibbed him!
. If you pick up his ammo, go to 19
. if you keep firing, go to 62
Re:When I first read this (Score:1)
Re:When I first read this (Score:1)
You joke but this has already been done [slashdot.org].
A first in a new genre? (Score:4, Interesting)
That game takes place in a massively multiplayer online RPG; the events unfold through happenings in the world, posts to the message board and e-mail. It seems like this "novel" is very much the same thing, but perhaps more in depth.
In either case, as far as literature goes, there's no need to have people clicking around to get to the next part. That, to me, says "game". This can just as easily be accomplished in a book with a bit of narration.. it seems just an attempt to shift the style of narration.
-DrkShadow
Re:A first in a new genre? (Score:1)
It seems more like a watered-down version of Majestic. Anyone remember that game a couple years ago? You'd get voicemail, IMs and faxes from the fictional characters in some big conspiracy story. Great concept; unfortunately the game itself turned out to be a rather obvious and cruddy puzzle game, so I ditched it in the second month.
For the love of God, PLEASE HELP ME!!!! (Score:2, Funny)
Oh God, I've gotta go, one of "Them" just came into the library...
Re:A first in a new genre? (Score:2)
HOwever, I quit once they came out with some announcement about shutting down, and that there was just enough time to finish the whole thing if you kept playing.
My only disappointment with the game was how you'd have to wait a whole day for new stuff. Sometimes I had time to do more. Other days I was too busy to do everything (or too bored to read all the clippings). I also had a difficul
Re:A first in a new genre? (Score:5, Interesting)
It seems like the innovation here is that instead of chapters, the user has days of the week they can click on to look at the formatted messages. And the vaunted interactivity is that the user can read the story out of sequence, not really in a nonlinear fiction sense (that can be hard), but really just in the same way I can skip forwards and backwards in a book if I want. Wow. I agree that while the interface is cute I suppose, the style really is more like a "game" version of a book. You might as well try interactive fiction [f9.co.uk] instead.
did we read the same book? (Score:2)
Well, that and Richard Powers getting over his break-up with his wife.
Excellent book, but I don't remember anything about this interactive epistolary novel stuff.
Re:A first in a new genre? (Score:1)
While they all have the MMORPG as the setting, it's the series of four games that has the interface that you describe.
Re:A first in a new genre? (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, I think people tend to discount new ways of telling stories. I say there's a reason interactive fiction lives on: people are naturally drawn to a medium which allows them to feel they are in control of a story. This sounds like it's a new form of interactive fiction, and I for one am happy that this professor has pushed the boundaries just a little with respect to how we receive our fiction.
I love a good novel as much as the next person, but in this age of tech, the novel format is not the only way to present a storyline, and I enjoy being challenged every now and then with a new format for the art form I admire most. I think the interactive novel is the way of the future with respect to fiction.
There is a reason that interactive fiction lives on despite the lack of pretty graphics and bells and whistles and so forth. People like to be a part of the fictional worlds they enjoy, and fancy graphics can only tell so much of a story. In the end, there's no substitute for good writing.
Someday, interactive fiction may be the norm, with the old, passively read novel format becoming quaint and outdated. This work may be seen as a pioneering work, when that day comes.
When people think interactive fiction, they think games, but I think this space has not been explored in depth and I see great opportunities for the future. I for one applaud this man and wish him great success.
Re:A first in a new genre? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:A first in a new genre? (Score:2)
Actually, it's been done rather well, take a look at Trinity (winner of the very first IF contest) for a good example.
Obviously a program cannot yet pass the Turing test, but within the limited realm of interacti
Re:A first in a new genre? (Score:1)
Like...life?
Re:A first in a new genre? (Score:1)
Re:A first in a new genre? (Score:3, Informative)
Best game title ever, btw.
Re:A first in a new genre? (Score:2)
The fact that the medium leads and in many ways restrain the experience of the reader put it outside litteracy to me.
I remember for instance the way John Brunner echoed the zapping frenzy of its world in its Zanzibar novel. He didnt need a screen and an automated zapping to share that feeling with his readers, only style and talent. Same goes for Gibson's views of cyberspace.
Yeah... (Score:1, Insightful)
but, you know, some professors just need to stir up a little press to get raises and/or funding. especially professors without any actual skills
So, how long before this "genre" goes open-source? (Score:1)
Kind of reminds me of Portal (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Kind of reminds me of Portal (Score:1)
You'd rummage through the trash of a target looking for clues like written-down passwords, or website printouts.
You'd get shell access to a machine, and could use a utility to mirror all of the hopefully sensitive data.
You'd be able to blackmail company insiders for useful inform
Re:Kind of reminds me of Portal (Score:2)
Virtual hacking is boring.
How is this any different from IF? (Score:1)
Re:How is this any different from IF? (Score:1)
DEN 1.2? (Score:1)
Epistolary form (Score:4, Interesting)
I doubt that people today are much more interested in putting effort into their reading than they were 100 years ago.
My predicition is that the DEN will not revolutionize writing.
Re:Epistolary form (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Epistolary form (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Epistolary form (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Epistolary form (Score:2)
Re:Epistolary form (Score:2)
Actually, I've never had a chance to stop using it!
Re:Epistolary form (Score:2)
Yes, language is important. However whether English Lit. as a field of study is important is a different issue entirely, as language and literature exist independently of critical analysis. The same can't be said of science, which is a product of scientists, or art, w
Re:Epistolary form (Score:2)
Some of my best friends are too.
Re:Epistolary form (Score:2, Interesting)
Ever read The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie?
Iain M. Bank's take (Score:2, Informative)
Each message is topped and tailed by a fictional, futuristic header and footer with an addressing mechism, timestamp, location and the like.
I recommend it to all.
Re:Iain M. Bank's take (Score:2)
The opening act... except (Score:3, Funny)
There is a small mailbox here.
WTF?!?
-m
Re:The opening act... except (Score:2)
There is a small mailbox here.
No mention of Zork is complete without a reference to the Zork 404 error [thcnet.net] as implemented by my friend Krux at thcnet.net.
Re:The opening act... except (Score:3, Funny)
> The Mailbox is attached to the ground
Kick Mailbox
> The mailbox jiggles and shimmies like a pole dancer on acid. The reverberations reach the ground and a humming tone comes from the vibrating soil. Earthworms emerge from the ground, driven out by the vibrating mailbox pole. You see a white envelope slowly emerge from the mailbox, falling to the ground just before the mailbox stops vibrating.
>Press Enter to Continue
ENTER
>Your foot hurts.
Wrong way round. (Score:2)
F-R-Not-R (Score:4, Informative)
From the article:
And I couldn't agree more. I don't see this style as being appealing to me. Neat concept, but it's not quite "it"
Bah (Score:2, Insightful)
Portal from Activision (Score:3, Informative)
A long time ago (1986 I think), Activision published a game called Portal [the-underdogs.org], and C64, PC, Amiga, Mac, etc. It is an interactive novel where an intelligent computer pieces together the story of why nobody is left on the Earth. The pieces come as memos, effectively e-mails, and you can browse other parts of the system for various bits of information on characters, events, etc. It's very absorbing and is obviously predates this "new" thing by nearly 20 years!
There are other excellent games from around the same time like The Fourth [spray.se] Protocol [gb64.com] which, although much more interactive, effectively work in the same manner via an icon-based system. A brilliant game, by the way, highly recommended.
this is stupid (Score:1)
Re:this is stupid (Score:1)
Similiar things have been been done before on real Web pages and in real e-mail forums. One of these days someone will write an actually interesting story this way, they'll get lucky and it'll become popular, and the art form will start to gain some traction. It's not go
It's been done (Score:5, Informative)
It's one of those oh-so-clever ideas that gets done once just to show it can be done, then is never done again because it's not that great of an idea.
There was even a video game like this. I think it was Majestic, http://www.gamezone.com/gamesell/p16652.htm , that I'm thinking of. You could give it your beeper number and it would call you, etc. A one person LARP.
Re:It's been done (Score:2)
It is the first digital one, or the author claims so.
Re:It's been done (Score:2, Interesting)
In the same way, I can see that t
Sounds a bit like the game... (Score:4, Insightful)
I seem to recall the game folding itself up and going away immediately after the Trade Center Tower Attack.
Other than the phone and fax events, this sounds quite similar, and I suspect it may end up with some of the same flaws.
The primary flaw that I see with this is that I personally have no problem reading bits and pieces out of dozens of books, often several different books by the same author. This is purely my decision, and I am in a mindset for that book when I go back to reading it, because I choose to be. Getting IM's, e-mail, etc as "Novel" content, seems to me to be eliminating the reader's election to get back into the frame of mind for properly processing the content, and I suspect will end up being ignored.
Then again, I could be wrong.
-Rusty
Re:Sounds a bit like the game... (Score:2)
Re:Sounds a bit like the game... (Score:1)
Re:Sounds a bit like the game... (Score:1)
Folded long before that (Score:2)
Based on what I've heard, it was a bad idea, not much fun and required a massive time investment.
That, and I'm sure all those phone calls and pages added up in cost, both both the publisher maintaining it all and the people "playing" the game.
Digital Epistolary Novel. . ? (Score:3, Interesting)
If all his works sound this appealing, then I'm sure he'll be making tens of dollars in no time.
Anyway, Griffin and Sabine [griffinandsabine.com] has done the series of letters as a story already, and in grand style, I might add. The novelty novel. With paintings and cursive handwriting and little pasted-in envelopes.
Frankly, I can't think of anything further from the romantic ideal than ASCII. Of course, I can also think of several relationships which began on-line, so who am I to judge?
-FL
Eye-strain (Score:3, Interesting)
Now, the one thing I don't see any indication of, but that several people have mentioned, is the ability to alter the story by how you respond. This DEN looks pretty cut and dried to me - i.e. the sequence of emails and webpages is preset to tell the story - it isn't something you as the reader respond to. Maybe I missed something because I didn't read the NY Times article (won't register) - but looking at his own site should have been more informative.
Official Site (Score:2, Informative)
It's not a bad read actually, even if the idea is not exactly new...
Novels are for relaxation... (Score:1)
Just don't forget that interactive books aren't in vogue anymore. What's so different about this?
Not my cup of caffeinated beverage... (Score:1)
But when I'm faced with interactive fiction I always get the feeling to have to "split up".
"So were all the subtile hints true? Is the conspiracy real? For Yes, go to page 56, for No go to page 241"
I somehow cannot stand such books. Sorry.
What Is Art? (Score:4, Insightful)
An Anonymous Coward dismissed it entirely saying it was not even literature. Isn't it, though?
The one point that caught my eye was the last sentence. "Mr. Brown is marketing
Is it art, or marketing ploy? Considering that even television commericals are considered by some to be art, one wonders.
I've always been in the "art for art's sake school." The fact that Mr. Brown is marketing his 'genre' diminishes the value of his 'literature', at least for me. But does that mean that it's not art?
Re:What Is Art? (Score:3, Interesting)
"Art it the indirect communication of one persons abstract idea to another through an indirect medium."
The more abstract the idea, the less the audience connects with the artist; the more direct the communication the less 'revelatory' the experience is.
Re:What Is Art? (Score:2)
I gave a bit of a double-take to the web address for this. Calling it "great american novel" speaks a lot more of ego than of substance.
ARG (Score:2)
Isn't highly similar to LJBook ?! (Score:1, Interesting)
It's highly similar when people use their blog as a journal like livejournal's users...
Shuteye Town (Score:3, Informative)
Exegesis (Score:3, Interesting)
How about writing software as a novel? (Score:2)
Jos Claerbout, in teaching himself OOP, has written one of the more creative and instructive tutorials [stanford.edu] on OOP design hosted at Stanford [stanford.edu]. The work is admittably rough around the edges and may be too short (nothing a good publishing editor couldn't have polished up). But, it remains valuable for those who tend to be more right-brained thinkers, rather
Re:How about writing software as a novel? (Score:1)
Re:How about writing software as a novel? (Score:2)
At the very least, it would make code a pleasure to navigate. No one appreciates being lost if your aim is to reach a definite goal. Considerate and friendly signs accurately describing the foreign landscape would be a welcome sight for a stranger. Who enjoys hacking through the thicket of maze-like logic in the dar
interactive computer games (Score:2)
Nice going prof, but you are tunnel visioned.
'The novel as software' has long existed in the form of interactive computer games - dare we go back to nethack, maniac mansion and the various other unfolding adventures of the genre.
Self evolving storyline? (Score:1)
Maybe a better approach would be something like one of those tests that adapts to your previous answers, except the user would have to rate sections of the story and it would serve up alternate paths based on what the reader likes (more action, suspense, plot twists, romance, *action*, etc.)
They could read the story hundreds of times and have hundreds of possible path's and endings.
remember the "goto" novels? (Score:2)
Some instructional material wa written this way. It got rather annoying. I prefere the "expanded outline" type. You only go into the detail you think you need.
My favorite was the Screwtape Letters (Score:2)
Bad Download (Score:2)
Narrative through technology? (Score:3, Funny)
The program's interface has windows for mock e-mail, instant messaging, Web browser and pager, through which the narrative unfolds.
Just browsing through the table of contents...
Chapter I: John deletes his spam
...
Chapter II: John closes a million popups
Chapter III: John deletes more spam
Chapter IV: John cybers **hotChIcKa69**
Chapter V: John deletes more spam and sets up a new mail client
Chapter VI: John closes more popups, installs Mozilla
Chapter VII: John deletes more spam, puts his fist through the monitor
Chapter VIII: John goes to the hospital
The First Software Novel of this Sort: (Score:1)
Re:The First Software Novel of this Sort: (Score:1)
http://www.eastgate.com/catalog/Funhouse.html [eastgate.com]
http://www.iath.virginia.edu/elab/hfl0285.html [virginia.edu]
http://www.kith.org/logos/wander/10.west/Buddy.ht
Great (Score:1)
It seems that it's the type of technology that'll wind up wearing a big t-shirt that says: "If you've seen one of me, you've seen it all".
If I wanted to look through a bunch of email and follow a soap opera-like story I'd go to work.
interactive fiction (Score:1)
http://www.ifarchive.org/
Epistolary without the software (Score:2)
There was a rather fun gaming product that came out a couple years back called De Profundis [rpg.net], which involved roleplaying by writing letters back and forth. Sadly, it came out shortly before Hogshead went out of the gaming business, so it's not widely available anymore.
Re:Prior art? (Score:1)
Re:What If it's a... (Score:1, Informative)
The software doesn't work like EA's old Majestic game... it's a self-contained program that creates a fake interface to the story's "emails".
Question about novel piracy (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Question about novel piracy (Score:4, Funny)
yeah, I'm an idiot... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Question about novel piracy (Score:2)
Interesting question. I'd suggest posing it as an Ask Slashdot.