An Exploration of How the Novel Form Responds to Digital Interactivity Through
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The Text Doesn’t Stop at the End of the Page (or does it?): an exploration of how the novel form responds to digital interactivity through the cross-sited novel ‘Once in a Lifetime’ By John Weldon BA, Grad Cert. College of the Arts, Victoria University Submitted in fulfilment of the degree of PhD in Creative Writing July 2014 i Abstract Change is a constant of storytelling, in terms of both form and content. Many scholars and commentators have argued, however, that the effects currently being wrought on fiction texts as a result of the influence of digital technology and interactivity are the most monumental that storytelling has undergone since the invention of moveable type in the mid-1400s. Writers have wrestled with ways to include digital technology in their work since its introduction in the late 1960s. It has been used as subject matter and as a tool to shape, contain and present their work to readers. This experimentation was accelerated in the 1980s following the development of hyperfiction. Web 2.0 and the birth of interactive social media have seen an increased focus among scholars on the ways and means by which digital interactivity has and will impact on storytelling and reading. This leads to an often-polarising debate and one which ranges in tone from apocalyptic to euphoric in response to the question of how long- form narrative in particular will fare as a result. As a storyteller writing a novel set in a contemporary context, I became aware of the possible use-value of social media, in the form of the blog, to deliver content – in this case, inner monologue. Those sections of the novel concerned with self-reflection thereby transformed from what was originally a Socratic/Seinfeldian internal dialectic, framed through the use of second person, into something more akin to the sort of content that might be found on a blog. It was only a short step from there to a consideration of how social media might be used in the form of the work as well as in its content. This then led to an exploration of how this might change the nature of what was written, how it was read and the effects on the relationship between reader, author and character. Through the medium of what became the cross-sited, interactive fiction ‘Once in a Lifetime’ (comprising the novel ‘Once in a Lifetime’ and the blogs Note to Elf and Hot Seat) I attempted to create a scenario whereby the effects that the incorporation of ii digital interactivity into both the narrative and the form of a novel might affect the work and the relationships between writer, reader and characters. I wished to explore whether the introduction of interactivity to the novel might allow for the novel form to move beyond the page. Would the story continue to grow in cyberspace with input from readers, or would the novel form prove more resistant to such intervention? iii Student Declaration I, John Weldon, declare that the PhD thesis entitled ‘The Text Doesn’t Stop at the End of the Page (or does it?): an exploration of how the novel form responds to digital interactivity through the cross-sited novel ‘Once in a Lifetime’ is no more than 100,000 words in length including quotes and exclusive of tables, figures, appendices, bibliography, references and footnotes. This thesis contains no material that has been submitted previously, in whole or in part, for the award of any other academic degree or diploma. Except where otherwise indicated, this thesis is my own work. Signature Date 6th May 2015 iv Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisors Drs Ian Syson and Jeff Sparrow for their rigour and their fine critical eyes. I would like to thank Ian in particular for his sustained enthusiasm for, and belief in, my work. The Dean of The College of Arts at Victoria University, Associate Professor Bronwyn Cran, was instrumental in supporting me during my candidature, as were many others of my colleagues. I’d also like to thank Dr Antoni Jach for his valuable help with this project in in its very early stages. Finally, without the support of my wife, children and my parents this work would not have been possible. v List of Publications and Awards Selected Publications: Weldon, J. Spincycle, Vulgar Press, Melbourne, 2012. Weldon, J. ‘Notes on the Future’ Postscripts 34-35, Ps Publishing, London, 2012 Weldon, J. ‘Multividual: a new story for a new audience’ The Emerging Writer, The Emerging Writers Festival, Melbourne, 2012. Weldon, J. 2012 ‘The Effects of Digitisation on the Novel’, The International Journal of the Book, vol. 10 no. 4 pp. 57-68, Weldon, J. ‘The Cruise’, Unpacked Again, Lonely Planet Publications, Melbourne, 2001. Awards: Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) Grant of $45K, for the development and staging on the 2012 Offset Creative Arts Festival Victoria University, Vice Chancellor’s Award recipient 2013 in the category: Programs that Enhance Learning: For sustained commitment to the development of innovative and flexible learning in the work place and community based learning and teaching strategies and experiences in creative industries, via the student journal Offset. vi Table of Contents Title .......................................................................................................................... i Abstract .................................................................................................................... ii Student Declaration ................................................................................................. iv Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. v List of Publications and Awards .............................................................................. vi Table of Contents ................................................................................................... vii List of Figures ....................................................................................................... viii Creative component: ‘Once in a Lifetime’ ...................................................................................... 1 Exegesis: Introduction ............................................................................................. 216 Chapter 1 .................................................................................................. 222 Chapter 2 .................................................................................................. 237 Chapter 3 .................................................................................................. 249 Chapter 4 .................................................................................................. 267 Chapter 5 .................................................................................................. 275 Chapter 6 .................................................................................................. 286 References ................................................................................................ 300 vii List of Figures Figure 1.1 ............................................................................................................. 278 The relationships between John Weldon and Bill that underpin the story world of The Project. viii Once in a Lifetime Note to Elf This is a novel. Obviously. All the characters and events in this work are fictitious etc, etc. But it’s also an experiment. Bill, the main protagonist, is a blogger. Some of his blog posts are included in these pages, many more exist online. You are invited to read his blogs <notetoelf.blogspot.com.au> and <hotseat2000.blogspot.com.au> and to comment on anything you see there that interests you. You are also invited to email him, should you wish. Feel free to flatter, argue with, cajole, flirt, attack, question, or in any other way interact with him. I’m sure he won’t mind. Or perhaps he will. You see, Bill does not know he is fictional, nor is he aware that there has been a book written about his life. I cannot imagine how he might react should you bring that to his attention. 2 ONE: Breaking Up Is Hard To Do Well that’s wrong for a start. Breaking up is not hard to do. It’s waking up the next morning with your shoes on, a head full of stale Guinness and a belly full of Mexicana pizza that’s hard. It’s working out whose CDs are whose, who gets the DVD player and who gets the iPod. Who gets the doona and who gets the bed? It’s still putting a whole packet of pasta in the pot when you know you’re only cooking for one. It’s piling all the stuff she’s ever given you into garbage bags and throwing them out onto the nature strip, and rushing them all back inside minutes later, checking it’s all still there, carefully unpacking and uncreasing everything. It’s buying a copy of The Big Issue every day after she’s left, from every vendor you pass on the way to work, until one of them refuses to take your money and actually starts feeling sorry for you. It’s making yourself watch her favourite movie right through to the end on a Friday night in the vague hope that – that what? That she might magically appear next to you on the couch. Well, yes actually – even though you can’t stand the sight of Gwyneth Paltrow, and you wish those sliding doors had just squished shut on her head and that she was left there for the entire movie squealing in that crappy posh English accent, “Will someone please get these shagging bastard doors off my head!” That’s hard. That’s all hard. But not the actual break-up, that’s easy. It’s the day after the break-up that’s hard,