The Naked Author meets The Fully Clothed Writer

                                   

Well, have to say my first reaction to the title of this article was to picture a rather unsavoury scenario of unclothed authors with notebooks, pens and laptops. The word 'laptop' conjures up all sorts of possible predicaments in this image – or maybe it’s just me.

Anyway, the article in Writers News is nothing to do with nakedness as in baring one’s body, but more about baring one’s literary attempts, at the time of  inception.

Author Silvia Hartmann will be using "Google Docs cloud-based office suite"  to let readers share her latest novel online as she types it. Followers will be able to access her writing progress using a public access web page which will go live at 9am on 12th September.

Silvia says that the project is 'An amazing opportunity for me as an author to push the boundaries of the author/reader relationship. It will be thrilling to write knowing that people will be viewing each word, paragraph and chapter, each backspace as I go along! Some authors plan their manuscripts in advance, but my stories tend to have a life of their own and I look forward to seeing what unfolds with everybody else!'

I can certainly identify with Silvia on her last comment. 

It's always been a struggle for me to plan anything at all whether it is for writing or any other everyday task and I am well known by friends and family for jumping into things headfirst. This has not always been a problem for me though. As the old saying goes "He who hesitates is lost" and I think that applies to the "she" of our species too. There are many things that I might not have done and regretted not doing if I had been less than enthusiastic about getting going immediately, eg (reader to fill in examples as appropriate)

So, The Naked Writer Project aims to go one step further than self publishing, print on demand or ebooks by giving the reader the chance to see the manuscript being typed, and to also comment on the storyline and provide feedback as the novel develops. Potential readers are being asked to provide a title for the book with the prize being a copy of the completed first edition. 

I presume that the idea is to write from a given title as a prompt. It will be interesting to learn what the title will be and how it will be chosen and I wish Silvia good luck with this. I will be trying to follow and keep this blog updated with the outcomes.

Meanwhile...

I can do this ! In fact, it is probably the best way to get me to write anything at all (apart from giving me deadlines or threatening me with forced listening to The Sweet singing Blockbuster) It's a bit like being on Twitter or Facebook but producing a book in the process!

Give me the titles then and I shall be more literarily  productive than I have ever been. 

And the reader of this blog will be entertained, amused and informed in the process.