Ask HN: How would you write novels for people who rarely read entire books? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How would you write novels for people who rarely read entire books?

#11

Post by amichail » Wed, Aug 05, 2009, 9:39 PM UTC

ggchappell wrote: post #9

This is an interesting question, but I am not sure about some of the assumptions behind it. Consider how I do things: the net has indeed made me impatient, in many contexts. When I read an HN post, I usually give it at most a paragraph or so to convince me it's worth finishing. If I'm not convinced by then, I usually skip the rest. If I am convinced, I still often just skim the rest. However, I still read novels. I r…

I suspect that the number of people willing to read a novel cover to cover is or will be decreasing due to the internet.

But maybe there is a way for novels to remain relevant in an impatient world. Writing very short chapters would help, but I suspect more is needed than that.

For example, how do you help people remember what they read in a novel fragment? What sort of technology might you use?

Re: Ask HN: How would you write novels for people who rarely read entire books?

#12

Post by iterationx » Wed, Aug 05, 2009, 11:48 PM UTC

I'd analyze Michael Crichton's work, and extrapolate the answer.

Re: Ask HN: How would you write novels for people who rarely read entire books?

#13

Post by billswift » Thu, Aug 06, 2009, 1:57 AM UTC

Writing a STORY in anything less than chapter length segments wouldn't work very well - there has to be enough content and context for the reader to get into the story. And for that matter, the average length of published fiction has been growing for decades, many, maybe most novels now are as long as the extremes, like Dune, from the sixties, and short stories have become increasingly rare from the early 1970s on. Multi-book novels (trilogies, and longer) have often become normal, especially in science fiction - see most of the works of John Ringo and of David Weber, for examples.

Re: Ask HN: How would you write novels for people who rarely read entire books?

#14

Post by bowman » Thu, Aug 06, 2009, 10:27 AM UTC

I wouldn't. To me that is like writing music for the tone deaf. The wrong direction I'd want do go if doing anything creative.

Removing content and splitting ideas into bite sized pieces seems the way to go. Also, remember these people rarely buy books but people still buy books for them. You could target the "gift" book market.

Re: Ask HN: How would you write novels for people who rarely read entire books?

#15

Post by ganley » Thu, Aug 06, 2009, 4:26 PM UTC

bowman wrote: post #14

I wouldn't. To me that is like writing music for the tone deaf. The wrong direction I'd want do go if doing anything creative. Removing content and splitting ideas into bite sized pieces seems the way to go. Also, remember these people rarely buy books but people still buy books for them. You could target the "gift" book market.

Agreed: Why bother? FWIW, lately I've swung away from reading stuff online, RSS feeds, etc. and back to novels. I'd forgotten how much more satisfying long-form reading is. It's like food: Junk food seems really tasty, but you forget how much better a good meal is.