Jacob Lawrence, The Studio (1977)

Mark's Pages

Intro | Music | Fiction | Photography | Travel | Workbook | Resume | Links | Forums | MySpace

September 6, 2003:

Introduction.

People dislike reading online. "Best practices" for Web authors suggest cutting word counts by at least half.

This constraint poses challenges for authors of online fiction, who have neither time to unfold "stories", nor wide canvases on which to paint "scenes". Flash! The audience has moved on.

These pieces are simple experiments trying to deal with these circumstances. I'd like to develop a sort of technical repertoire. Meanwhile I've written these.

Several use formal relationships to try to evoke resonances that aren't explicitly present. The thought is that by bringing two or more independent narratives into collision in some way, the result is something like cubism, in which the whole is greater than the sum of its proverbials. If it works, readers feel a sense of depth. If it doesn't, at least they're short.

Others try to imply backstory. All struggle for compression. Some are as short as one sentence. Flash!

I'm surprised by the fact that about half have appeared in online literary zines. I'd expected a long battle to convince editors that this experimentation is worth doing. Couldn't be more delighted to be wrong.

[Concluding with references to the published pieces; see the publication history.]

Post a comment about this piece
back to the September TOC
back to the main blog page