Here's something else that gets to me: where are the online publishers willing to publish the really big, crazy work? The ones that heard "nobody reads anything long on the Internet" and laughed their asses off?
Where are the online publishers who reward big, weird experiments?
Where are the online publishers, in other words, who will post something that doesn't fit into their blog's template?
Seems as if there must be places like this, and certainly there are adventurous publishers, but I guess I'd like to see more.
For what it's worth, if we get a great experimental crazy wild thing, Uncanny Valley will find a way to make it seen, online or off.
I have to say that PANK posts long stuff quite a bit--in the coming months, we have several stories in the 7-14,00 word range. We also publish weird, strangely formatted stuff, and make it a PDF because we are limited in our programming ability. Often times, I don't think that it's because an online magazine won't publish wildly experimental work but because they simply do not know how. I don't know that this is a question of adventure at all. There's a different skill set, perhaps, that online editors could benefit from and many of us are still figuring out how to acquire that skill set.
ReplyDeleteRight -- I like that you guys publish long stuff, you took what is easily the longest story I've placed online and I thought that was cool. PDFs are good too, though obviously we're still stuck with the metaphor of the page with those, which is good for many instances but not what I'm talking about. I'm thinking less of experimental content, which may be TOO easy to place in some ways, and more in terms of experimental form.
ReplyDeleteI guess part of what's going on here is selfishness; I'm writing something now that requires its own totally particular format and definitely will not fit any magazine's layout, and I'm thinking, either other people are doing things like this too and not finding a home, or they aren't and someone needs to remind them they could. I mean hyperfiction can get very gimmicky and lame, and usually is, but I think we've maybe matured enough that we should give it another shot, see what we can do that wasn't practical when we were stuck on one page. Really I'd like to see a website/"press" devoted entirely to posting ambitious digital projects, maybe something that worked in words and comics. I don't have the knowhow to really do a good job at that either, of course. I just hope somebody does.
There is a magazine that does that and the name escapes me but their work is simply gorgeous. When I remember the name I will let you know. (I'd love to take a peek at what you are working on.)
ReplyDeleteCool. I will give you a peek if/when it becomes a thing. It will probably be huge when it's done, maybe even technically a novella (though I hope it doesn't feel like one).
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