Call Me Hemingway
And speaking of Orwell, the auto-written books he envisioned being cranked out at the Ministry of Truth are on their way. The FT had an article last weekend on novel-writing software:
Like other such programs, NewNovelist is based on the idea, traceable back to Aristotle, that every story ever told - from the ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh to Dr No or Peter Rabbit - can be categorised as one of a limited number of plots. The theory is not that there are blueprints in literature but that certain themes recur throughout fiction and unfold along similar structural lines, though they may play out in an infinite number of ways.
While scholars use these ideas to analyse literature, others have suggested they could also be used as a template to write stories. It's this concept - that we can stereotype characters and guide them along a skeleton storyline - that writing software employs.
With its emphasis on narrative structure, NewNovelist has 10 possible storylines in its "plot" category, nine options for "epic" and two for "character" works. Story types range from "action adventure", "revenge" or "supernatural" novels, to "coming of age" or "love story": a choice of 21 different possible storylines.
I kinda want to try it. I went through a phase in junior high when I decided I was destined to write the Great American Novel. My debut was going to be a fantasy trilogy about a plucky but naive country girl who escapes the pastoral life by apprenticing to a sorcerer. She has talent and eventually eclipses her teacher, but this goes to her head and she uses her power to terrorize the kingdom. She's eventually entrapped in a crystal castle by some enterprising adventurers, where she stays frozen in time for several millenia. After her story has faded to myth she's accidentally released by some naive bumblers who eventually turn her back from the Dark Side. It was perhaps a bit ambitious for a 13-year-old; I abandoned my quest for literary glory after a few chapters. I liked thinking of sweeping plot lines and envisioning my Nobel win much better than the actual work of putting words on paper. Ironically, now that I'm older I've gotten much better at putting words on paper, but I can't think of a thing to write about.
Like other such programs, NewNovelist is based on the idea, traceable back to Aristotle, that every story ever told - from the ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh to Dr No or Peter Rabbit - can be categorised as one of a limited number of plots. The theory is not that there are blueprints in literature but that certain themes recur throughout fiction and unfold along similar structural lines, though they may play out in an infinite number of ways.
While scholars use these ideas to analyse literature, others have suggested they could also be used as a template to write stories. It's this concept - that we can stereotype characters and guide them along a skeleton storyline - that writing software employs.
With its emphasis on narrative structure, NewNovelist has 10 possible storylines in its "plot" category, nine options for "epic" and two for "character" works. Story types range from "action adventure", "revenge" or "supernatural" novels, to "coming of age" or "love story": a choice of 21 different possible storylines.
I kinda want to try it. I went through a phase in junior high when I decided I was destined to write the Great American Novel. My debut was going to be a fantasy trilogy about a plucky but naive country girl who escapes the pastoral life by apprenticing to a sorcerer. She has talent and eventually eclipses her teacher, but this goes to her head and she uses her power to terrorize the kingdom. She's eventually entrapped in a crystal castle by some enterprising adventurers, where she stays frozen in time for several millenia. After her story has faded to myth she's accidentally released by some naive bumblers who eventually turn her back from the Dark Side. It was perhaps a bit ambitious for a 13-year-old; I abandoned my quest for literary glory after a few chapters. I liked thinking of sweeping plot lines and envisioning my Nobel win much better than the actual work of putting words on paper. Ironically, now that I'm older I've gotten much better at putting words on paper, but I can't think of a thing to write about.