TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Archive for the ‘hypertext novel’ Category

By Rita Toews

The RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization that provides analysis and solutions for the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world, has done an interesting study of e-books entitled: Innovation and the Future of e-Books. The author of the study was John W. Warren.

According to Mr. Warren, the future of e-books may include enhanced e-books. This concept could prove interesting to authors interested in experimenting with hypertext novels. A hypertext novel would include links in the text that take a reader to various locations either within, or without, the novel itself.

In 2002 when my co-author and I were writing our novel Prometheus, the idea of including hypertext was considered. The novel, set in Nepal, seemed to lend itself to the inclusion of both photos of the area and links to more information on the culture and traditions of the society the reader was about to enter. We felt the inclusion of these elements took full advantage of the capabilities of e-books. In the end the idea was set aside.

The concept of hypertext novels in print format is not new. According to the RAND study, novels that play with the hypertext form include Fernando Pessoa’s The Book of Disquiet (posthumous 1991), Julio Cortazar’s Rayuela [Hopscotch, 1963], or Norman Mailer’s Advertisements for Myself. Hopscotch invited the reader to choose various paths through the novel; Mailer’s work proposed three different readings; and Pessoa’s invites browsing through the series of thoughts and fragments. Although cumbersome in print form, the idea seems particularly suited to an e-book format.

Hypertext offers a unique way for the reader to actually participate in the story, or even add to the text if freedom is given to join in as an author. One challenge, on the surface, would be unique writing styles that could interfere with the readability of the story line. This could be overcome by having individual authors participate as specific characters in the plot. The result would be each character having a unique “voice”, thereby eliminating one frustration authors often struggle with.

Challenges certainly do abound with the concept of hypertext. Links within the text that remove the reader from the immediate story could also draw them totally out of it. On the other hand, giving an audience a chose of story lines and story conclusions could draw an enormous audience to the work. As noted by Warren, the Choose Your Own Adventure series of the 1980s allowed young adult readers to make plot decisions and the series sold more tan 250 million copies.

Hypertext is not a business model that most publishers are familiar with. And if a multitude of authors contribute to a novel ownership issues come into play. However, with the age of digitalization it is authors and innovative publishers who will push the envelope far enough to bring seemingly off-beat concepts of what constitutes a book into the mainstream. It will be the adventuresome readers inter-acting in the reading experience who translate success into something publishers understand - the bottom line on the sales ledger.

Rita Toews
www.domokos.com
www.ebookweek.com