How is it going so far?
It's going well from the writing side of things - although it has been really hectic with interviews, phone calls, social media and I haven't had much chance to do any actual writing, especially today.
I guess trying to write a book with skype and twitter and facebook and email kicking off on the console all the time isn't like the old days when you had some peace and quiet to be doing that!
Is the experience of creating a book with the world looking over your shoulder as you expected or has the process surprised you in some ways?
The really big difference I've found is the pressure to be delivering. When you write a story off line, you can just go along with it. If it's nice, you can choose to publish it at some point. You don't have to have it be perfect and all that just from the get go.
It's an interesting experience.
Plus the idea that people are actually waiting for the next chapter has made me really twitchy all day. It's far more stressful than I thought it would be.
When did you start the project? Was it indeed September 12? Because as far as I can tell you already have eight chapters posted!
LOL. I write in short bursts numerous times in the day. Three or four sessions of between 1,500 and 3,000 words at a time. It racks up quickly especially if I'm given the time and space to be doing my thing.
Wednesday, the start day, everything had been cleared and I could spend most of the day writing. Today was another story. I barely managed a session before breakfast and have just finished another one. Only three chapters today ... :-(
But I guess that's how it has to go. It's a living project.
Why did you decide to undertake this?
The CEO of my publishing company is a techie guy. He was working with Google Docs and the idea came to him. He dared me to do it and I said yes :-)
Has reader feedback thus bar impacted the content of the book or influenced your writing in any way?
Yes. I can tell from the comments on the side bar of the document and the facebook comments too that the ladies out there want to have some serious romance going on. So it will probably end up being much more romantic than any of my other books. How sexy it will become, we'll have to see.
So what happens when the book is completed? Will it be published old school by a traditional publisher, or is this going to be a self published e-book?
I should think we'll publish a hard copy and ebook version when the manuscript is completed. In the spirit of the project, all the editing will be done openly though and the online version will be the same as the book.
What, from your perspective, are the advantages and disadvantages of writing in this way?
The advantages are the involvement of the readers all the way along. I am a writer and I want people to read what I have written. And of course, I want them to react. I like writing for the readers, rather than for an editor or an agent. Makes much more sense to me!
The disadvantages are probably primarily the technology at the moment. I was writing a moving scene, as in emotional, not U-Haul, and lost my internet connection. Then I couldn't log back in because too many readers were trying to get into the document. But it's relatively new technology and really, we're just playing and discovering how it works as we go.
It's good fun though. Once I've settled into it, and I'm less stressed, I'm sure I'll enjoy it tremendously. The readers seem to enjoy it so far and that's all that matters, at the end of the day.
Silvia Hartmann
http://silviahartmann.com/live/
Note:
For more information about The Dragon Lords / The Naked Writer Project see:
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