No, the title to my post is not referring to an Olympic sport that I'd like to see. I'm referring to the fact that writing blog fiction is just as much a performance as it is writing. Sure you have all the traditional writing elements to worry about: plot, character arc, pacing, etc... But with Blog Fiction there is an added curve ball. Depending on your format, comments and others' blog posts(if more than one author) could throw a writer's best laid plans under the bus.
Over in the forums I responded to a post asking what people like about Blog Fiction. One thing I mentioned was,
Multiple authors working on the same story blending the distinction between writing and performing.After doing some thinking, I now realize what a dumb thing that was to say. A blog fiction does not need multiple characters or authors to blend the distinction between writing and a performance. Even a standard blog fiction(one diary, one character) enters performance the moment they allow comments. Two examples of just that happening.
Last week it looked like the writer's over at Giant Girl Rampages tried to get their audience to help the main character, Melly, figure out Dr. Crisp's code talk. The diary made it clear that Melly was not getting something that was quite clear to the audience.
"Strictly closed. The only way a person might hear what's going on would be if they happened to be located 18 feet off the ground, just outside that open window." It was like he was speaking in code, I thought, but I was just too tired to figure out the message.Fortunately, an astute reader helped Melly out. She then stowed away in the van so that the story could continue. I'm not really sure what the writer's would've done if none of it's readers helped Melly figure out Dr. Crisp's "code". Would they have had Melly miss the board meeting? Or would some deus ex machina fallen out of the sky and clonk her on the head allowing her to decipher Dr. Crisp's "code". I'm not sure what they would've done, but the point is, they had to plan for it.
"I have a math exam for you, Melly," he said, handing me a few sheets of paper. "I'll be by later to pick up your answers, on my way to the school board meeting, in my big empty truck."
I took the papers and nodded. I wanted to ask Doc if he'd come up with a way for me to attend the meeting, like he said, but I'm sure he'd have told me about it if he had.
Jason X over at the User Pool has some very engaged readers and commenters. Some have even taken to giving Jason advice on helping him out of some of his predicaments. Advice that Jason has been known to incorporate into his story. Well, reading through is archives, I do believe that one of his more observant readers nearly ruined a clever storyline for him.
[Warning: Spoiler Alert!]
In the story, Jason thinks he's being framed for a murder. He reveals this in a Friday post. The names of characters and some of the circumstances are very similar to the movie, Basic Instinct. There are no further posts until tuesday. On that day it's revealed that someone was using the Basic Instinct plot to play a practical joke on Jason, but not before Jason really twists in the wind with stress and worry that he's about to get arrested.
Here's the problem. Back on friday one of his more astute readers commented on the similarities between his situation and Basic Instinct. As smart as the character is, after reading that comment he should've been able to figure out that it was a practical joke. Also, it kind of ruined the suspense for the readers who never saw, or don't remember the details of Basic Instinct (like moi). We were able to realize something is up. So, at best, the innocent comment ruined the suspense, and at worse, caused a small plot hole. Jason did acknowledge the comment in the tuesday post, but the story didn't seem to be affected by it. (My guess is that he already had the post written and didn't have time to rewrite the whole thing and just allowed the small plot hole)
Those two examples were enough for me to realize that almost all blog fiction is a written performance, not just the multiple character\author blogs. In both cases the writer's have had to react to their readers in some way. It would seem that all blog fiction blends the distinction between writing and performing if they allow, and respond to, comments.
2 comments:
This is a marvelous insight about writing and life. It is an acknowledgement of the histrionic aspect of blog fiction, which has its roots in the original form of blogging, to confess one's daily life to an anonymous audience.
But blog fiction takes this conceit to a higher level. The examples that you mentioned seem to be examples of dramatic irony, wherein the audience knows something about the main character that the main character doesn't know or understand herself. I look forward to reading these blogs that employ self-dramatization and the interaction of the audience.
The character of my novel, Lethe, is under the spell of his own playacting. It seems he will go to any legnth to act out this egocentric drama. I'm deeply interested in the concept of the imaginary audience in adolescent psychology. This is where person believes his action are central to the world and everyone is watching.
In an essay on another one of my sites I explore this topic of the Imaginary Audience.
It's nice that you would credit us with having alternate plots ready to roll depending on how the reader feedback goes, but we'd have hit Melly over the head with a clue-bat if nobody else had done it first.
We've also had a similar problem to the one you describe with the User Pool, where readers were urging Melly to see Dr. Crisp about sleeping pills to deal with her bad dreams--which would have sidetracked the entire dream plot we were driving toward. If we were smart and clever, we'd have found a better way around that than we did.
But you're totally right about this blog fiction genre being a cross between writing and performance art--or writing as a performance art. There's the same potential for disaster as there is with live theater, where actors can flub their lines, props can fail to work, or the scenery can fall apart, and quick ad-libs are needed because the audience is seeing it all happen live.
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