That would be pretty cool. Wasn't there something like that a while back. Project Greenlight, or something? I never watched it, so I don't know. But the idea of doing fiction on a blog rather than a TV show would work. Imagine having a say in promoting good writing over dreck as it's developing. Put a literary contract as the prize and you'd get people writing hard for it.
-- Jonathan Sherwood Sr. Science & Technology Press Officer University of Rochester 585-273-4726 On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 2:58 PM, cd <[email protected]> wrote: > > That's a bad decision, frankly. Fiction production is boring from > beginning to end. What they should do is a playwrights reality show. > At the end of each episode, we would see the scenes by the > playwrights. People could literally watch the rehearsal process, the > (re)writing process, and watch the finished product. Only difficulty > is that the scenes would have to be 2 minutes long at the beginning. > > > > On Jun 30, 2:42 pm, Jonathan <[email protected]> wrote: > > Okay, this kind of thing may be one future of published fiction. If I > > were asked to participate, I think I'd do it. > > > > Sent to you by Jonathan via Google Reader: Victoria Strauss -- Fourth > > Fiction: (Yet) Another Literary Reality Show via Writer Beware Blogs! > > by [email protected] (Victoria Strauss) on 6/30/09 > > Regular readers of this blog will know that I have a small obsession > > with so-called literary reality shows. (Amazed that such things could > > even exist? See this recent post for a recap.) To date, seven of these > > suckers have surfaced. Five never got past the planning and > > announcement stages. The jury's still out on the sixth (I'm not holding > > my breath), and the seventh is still embryonic (not holding my breath > > there either). > > > > Now, however, there's a literary reality show that might actually go > > all the way. > > > > Fourth Night, a blog maintained by writer Constantine Markides, will > > launch FourthFiction, "the first blog-based literary reality show," on > > July 4. Twelve writers will write original novels, which they'll post > > in tri-monthly installments, according to literary guidelines provided > > by Mr. Markides. Readers will vote to eliminate one contestant per > > round. On December 4, the single survivor of all twelve rounds will be > > announced. What does he or she win? Well, maybe nothing, apart from the > > sense of achievement in having completed a novel in five months. But > > maybe a small-press publishing contract. Mr. Markides says that he > > approached several small presses at BEA to discuss the possibility of > > funding limited publication of the winner's novel. (Writer Beware-ly > > caveat: some small publishers are no prize, and a number of really bad > > ones were at BEA. I hope Mr. Markides has thoroughly checked them out.) > > > > The writers are anonymous--and some, apparently, have never written > > fiction before. They'll be Twittering at will during the month of July, > > as a way of warming up and letting readers get to know their styles. > > The contest proper will begin on August 4. > > > > In my opinion, this is really the only way a literary reality show is > > possible. The writing process simply is not interesting to observe (nor > > are writers--or if they are, it's generally not because of their > > writing), nor is it easy to come up with telegenic challenges involving > > authoring ("Writers, give us 5,000 words on love and death while > > sitting at a sticky table in a noisy Starbucks with a latte that isn't > > hot enough, using only one hand! You've got two hours--now go!"). > > Attempting a televised literary reality show is a recipe for failure > > (as Tony Cowell, Simon Cowell's brother seems to have discovered) or > > ridiculousness (as demonstrated by announced plans for The Ultimate > > Author, in which contestants were to vie hotly for supremacy in such > > vital authorial areas as spelling and arranging a room attractively for > > a book club gathering). By putting all the emphasis on the writing, and > > cutting image and identity out of the picture entirely, Fourth Night > > has come up with a literary reality show concept that actually seems > > workable. > > > > You can participate, or just observe, by subscribing to free email > > updates or Fourth Fiction's RSS feed. > > Things you can do from here: > > - Subscribe to Writer Beware Blogs! using Google Reader > > - Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your > > favorite sites > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "R-SPEC: The Rochester Speculative Literature Association" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/r-spec?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
