Glen -
Unfortunately I fear you are correct. *I*
have probably *written* at least one Novel's
worth (a Michener or King's worth?) right
here on the FRIAM list, yet you don't see me
buckling down to publish my own next to
Doug's. And in fact, I think Doug will
acknowledge that even *he* wouldn't
(couldn't) write his novel today... it was
enough focus just to dig it out, re-asciify
it, reformat it, edit, dust, clean, etc.
enough to publish as an e-book on Amazon.
Patricia (and other published fiction
authors here???) might have another
perspective of course!
I don't play video games for 6 hour stints,
even though I came of age along with Pong,
then Asteroids, Pac Man, Battlezone, and
Missile Command. I do occasionally fall
into a hole dug by Tetris on my iPhone,
however.
But I *rarely* read a novel anymore. I
was, as you were, was trained on such... but
the last 22 years (if you read my last
post) have slowly eroded that. 22 years ago
I had a TV connected to a VCR in a cabinet
with doors, and I might have indulged in a
movie once every week or two... maybe two
during a weekend. I rarely even turned the
tube on, and then only to maybe catch a
local weather forecast.
*Even* I didn't have a *laptop* until about
1998 and while I spent at least half my time
at work in front of a computer, I spent
almost no time at home on a computer and the
other half of my work time arm-wrestling
(other) idiots in meetings or crawling
around fishing cables under raised floors or
dropped ceilings. Today I spend (to this
list's chagrin) 4-16 hours a day (350/365
days) in front of this (or one or another)
damned machine either reading/writing
e-mail, surfing the web (for very important
stuff), writing proposals, writing code,
(occasionally) writing invoices, building 3d
models for proposals or for specifying
physical parts of systems, or streaming a
movie or ...
I'm lucky to
pull
my face out (2:14) of this machine
for any significant amount of time, it is
only because I maintain something of a
"homesteader's lifestyle" that requires me
to chop wood, carry water, repair a
dumptruck/tractor/trailer haul my own trash
away, etc. I still spend *several* hours a
week arm wrestling (other) idiots in
meetings but half of them are on Skype!
Someone needs to design a haptic-interface
(and mediation protocols?) for a USB
attached device to facilitate arm wresting
over the wire proper? Rob Shaw's (also on
this list?) brother (Chris) was involved in
a startup 15 years ago (Haptek?) that was
designing pneumatic haptic "suits" for
martial arts games, unfortunately it didn't
make it to the market. They got distracted
with
People Putty
(and more)...
I *am* working with the Institute of
American Indian Arts (IAIA) to try to help
them develop/teach *immersive* storytelling
in their
Digital
Dome but I fear, even with full 360
surround environments and full motion
tracking, storytelling is losing something,
unless it can somehow transcend and come
full circle. For those lucky enough to
experience Robert Mirabal's live performance
(
Po'Pay
Speaks), you might know that there is
always hope for such!
We (most of us) are of a generation that
preceded all this, I can only imagine what
it has been like for the current generation
of children who were born *after* Al Gore
invented the Internet and the rest of us
invented the rest of it. I only see MiniVans
and SUVs on the highway with 2.6 (or is it
1.8) kids in the back seat with 2 video
screens (one on the back of each parent's
seat/headrest with either a movie or maybe a
video game (or web browser) running. I have
quoted Jerry Mander with "Shoot your
Television". Obviously that was not enough,
my computer snuck in and filled it's niche
to bursting!
Off to a face-to-face meeting that will
actually require walking around outside
waving our arms (Hi Jane) !
I've gotta stop this Twitch!
- Steve
Steve Smith wrote at 03/21/2013 10:24 AM:
I'll see your "King's Men" and raise you a"Stone Junction"
<http://books.google.com/books/about/Stone_Junction.html?id=woneSCNLbrYC> by
Jim Dodge
Ordered!
When Glen writes his "great american novel" (surely to be also an
alchemical potboiler, a digital noir happening, an outlaw epic?) all his
(published on paper or internet, indexed by Google) forgotten influences
and sources will be exposed. His Twitch will be a folding of the
origami paper, or perhaps a pull of the taffy.
Unfortunately, I think the novel is dead as a format for story telling.
It may return if peak oil or a zombie apocalypse obtains. But overall,
I think it's efficacy is dwindling rapidly. I still like them because
that's the way I was trained. But I find them increasingly difficult to
read ... the surrounding people, devices, and non-fiction books with
good indices draw my attention away from novels. I'll play a video game
for 6 hours. But I won't read a novel for 6 hours. Even when I do
manage to read for a long time, it sparks ideas that I have to write
down or pause to look something up in another book. I am no longer
linear ... or even first order continuous.