Digital Short Fiction and its Social Networks by Susan Ann Adele Hesemeier A thesis submitted in ...

303 Pages·2012·0.44 MB·English

Digital Short Fiction and its Social Networks
by
Susan Ann Adele Hesemeier
A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Graduate Department of English
University of Toronto
© Copyright by Susan Hesemeier 2012
Digital Short Fiction and its Social Networks
Susan Hesemeier
Doctor of Philosophy
Graduate Department of English
University of Toronto
2012
Abstract
This thesis considers how the digital medium and social networks affectthe short story. I argue
that digital short fiction has shown changes, such as signs of becoming more modular or briefer
than its print counterparts, and that it has also reflected a shift to the personal or semi-
autobiographical story. Digital short fiction has also been used increasingly to market a
publisher’s or author’s name or non-digital works. I begin contextualizing this shift in Chapter 1
by analyzingdifferent approaches tothe study of the short story, including an overview of
generic and historical scholarship, and I conclude with a working definition of the short story. In
Chapter 2, I analyze early digital short fictionalong with the themes of contemporary fiction in
general that have been affected by digital media, social networks, and other changes. I also
consider digital short fiction in the context of its publication media, postmodernism, and changes
in communication in general. In Chapter 3, I verifythese considerations with responses to
questionnairessent to writers of short fiction both on the Web and off. By studying these
writers’ conceptions of the short story, preferred publication media, and writing habits, I build on
the working definitions of the short story from Chapters 1 and 2. In Chapter 4, I consider the
effects on the short story and concludethat we can update print-based conceptions of the short
story to include born-digital short fiction and accommodate the contemporaryshift in general to
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modularity, open source, social networks, and the focus on the self. Rather thanestablishinga
concrete definition of what short fiction is at this time, I conclude that a better approach isto
replace pre-defined categories with an acknowledgement that the short story is perhaps shifting
closer to pre-print storytelling roots, although within the confines of current limitations such as
copyright and the attention span of contemporary readers. Although we cannot fully quantify
these changes at this time, I argue that they impact the short story and require scholars to
consider its paratexts and publication media differently than in pre-Web years.
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Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to a number of people who have helped me throughout my Ph.D. studies.
I owe thanks first and foremost to my son Andrew, who will finally not have to constantly hear
his Mom say that she is working on her thesis. And to Mike, for being there for me during my
final year of thesis writing. I am indebted to both of you for helping me and putting up with me
during a very stressful time in my life.
I am also extremely grateful for the support of my supervisor, Ian Lancashire, and
especially for his career advice, which was astute and available to me when I really needed it.
My committee members, Heather Murray and Alan Galey, offered thorough and valuable
advice on the drafts of my thesis, and I am very thankful for this.
My friends in Toronto, along with family and friends in Edmonton, werethere for me
when I needed them while I was in Toronto, and without their friendship and support, Toronto
would not have been as bearableas it was. For years my relatives and friends welcomed me to
stay with them during my visits to Edmonton, and I am grateful for this as well.
This research was supported by a Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council of Canada, along with University of Toronto Fellowships and
other fundingthroughout the first five years of my Ph.D. program, for which I am thankful.
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements........................................................................................................................iv
Table of Contents............................................................................................................................v
List of Appendices.......................................................................................................................viii
Preface............................................................................................................................................ix
1 The Background of Short Fiction Writing on the Web and Studies of Digital Short Fiction....1
1.1 Introduction: Digital Short Fiction and its Social Networks..............................................1
1.2 What is a Short Story?......................................................................................................12
1.2.1 How the Short Story is Perceived Generally........................................................12
1.2.2 The Short Story andits Predecessors....................................................................13
1.2.3 Oral Storytelling....................................................................................................18
1.2.4 Print-Based Definitions of the Short Story...........................................................22
1.3 Historical and National Approaches to the Short Story....................................................26
1.3.1 Evolution of the Short Story.................................................................................37
1.4 The Short Story Collection and the Short Story Cycle.....................................................49
1.5 Classifying Genres, Literature, and Media.......................................................................55
2 Examining Digital Short Fiction and its Communities............................................................74
2.1 Early Digital Short Fiction and the Academic Communities that Theorised it................74
2.1.1 Influences on the Early Development of Digital Short Fiction............................76
2.1.2 The Content of Contemporary Literature.............................................................80
2.1.3 Different Generations of Hypertext......................................................................90
2.1.4 More Recent Discussions of Digital Literature....................................................94
2.1.5 Comparisons With the Development of the Novel.............................................104
2.1.6 The Shift to Social Networks and Communities.................................................110
2.2 Digital Short Fiction and Born-Digital Short Fiction.....................................................113
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2.2.1 Born-Digital Long Fiction..................................................................................124
2.3 Short Fiction Communities.............................................................................................126
2.3.1 What is a Community?........................................................................................ 126
2.3.2 Online Communities...........................................................................................131
2.3.3 Fan Fiction Communities....................................................................................134
2.3.4 Digital Paratexts and the Community of the Text..............................................141
2.4 Contemporary Fiction Experiments and Projects...........................................................143
2.4.1 “The Former General”........................................................................................144
2.4.2 “The 21 Steps”....................................................................................................146
2.4.3 “Slice”: The Story Built on Social Networks.....................................................152
2.4.4 “Your Place and Mine”: Performed Blog Fiction...............................................153
2.4.5 “Fairy Tales” and “Hard Times”: Early Digital Short Fiction Created after
Web 2.0...............................................................................................................153
2.4.6 “Alice in Storyland”: Alternate Reality Game.................................................... 154
2.4.7 Penguin’s Collaborative Writing Project amillionpenguins.com........................155
2.4.8 Profitability of Print and Digital Literature........................................................162
3 Web 2.0 Literary Communities and Their Participants, and the Fiction CreatedWithin......164
3.1 Responses from Digital Short Fiction Writers................................................................164
3.1.1 Publication Preferences for Different Media......................................................170
3.1.2 Publication of Short Fiction in Online Communities.........................................183
3.1.3 Participation in Writing Communities................................................................185
3.1.4 Participants in Online Writing Communities in General....................................190
3.1.5 Editing and Reviewing Processes.......................................................................194
3.1.6 Use of the Web to Advertise One’s Name or Writing........................................204
3.1.7 The Effect of the Internet on What People Choose to Write..............................211
3.1.8 The Effect of Location and Geography on Whether Writers Create Short
Fiction.................................................................................................................215
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3.1.9 Publishing and Posting........................................................................................217
3.1.10 Copyright and the Quality of Digital Short Fiction: Original Versus Fan
Fiction Works......................................................................................................219
3.1.11 Writing and Community.....................................................................................221
4 Conclusion..............................................................................................................................230
4.1.1 The Effects of Social Networks and Marketing on Digital Short Fiction........... 230
4.1.2 The Novelty of Fiction in Typically Non-Fiction Platforms..............................231
4.1.3 Digital Short Fiction and Temporality................................................................233
4.1.4 Revising Print-Based Conceptions of the Short Story and Short Fiction...........240
Works Consulted.........................................................................................................................253
Appendices..................................................................................................................................277
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List of Appendices
Appendix A: Recruitment Advertisement 277
Appendix B: Consent Form 278
Appendix C: Question Set 1 280
Appendix D: Question Set 2 283
Appendix E: Glossary 287
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Preface
Inthis thesis, I address three research questions: 1) How do the digital medium and social
networks affect the short story? 2) How is the digital short story affected by the shift to
marketing as its purpose? 3) Does the digital medium affect the reading of short stories?
My method combines an unstructured qualitative survey of representative working short-
story writers, a review of the digital output of large publishers and production companies,and a
reading of critical and scholarly literature on the short story and on the impact of digital media
andsocial networkson it. I sent surveyquestionnaires to writers who had published or circulated
short storiesboth on the Web and off. Participants answered questions about their preferences
for publishing (digital or non-digital), their experience in creating and editing their born-digital
short stories, their views about whether they wrote and edited differently for digital and non-
digital publishers, and their use of social networks to advertise their name or writing. I also
encouraged participants to share additional information. Some gave web-page statistics about
readership access, and others discussed their reasons for joining online communities and writing
short stories instead of longer fiction. Several described their opinion of the quality of online
fiction.
From researching the first question, I concluded that the digital medium and social
networks (including the open-source or open-access movements) increase the writer's semi-
autobiographical or personalcontent in the short story, and affect reader expectations with
respect to its structuring. Digital publishing of short and especially fan-fiction stories also raises
concerns about authorship and copyright; some production companies creating born-digital,
original stories are including designers as coauthors of a work. These changes show a push-back
to the pre-print, oral storytelling roots of the short story by emphasizingthe role of the
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community and collaborative authorship. Sharing stories freely rather than selling them for
profit also shifts away from print-based distribution methods.
In response to the second question, I concluded that the turn toward marketing as a
purpose of digital short stories affects the content, chosen format, and length of the genre.
Briefer digital short stories can more easily be used to market a writer’s name or a publisher’s
imprint than those that are longer. Digital stories can also include multiple formats such as
audio, larger text, or various file types for downloading on different devices, in order to
customize the reader’s experience. Writers use short stories on the Internet to sell their other
works. Some publishers also encourage writers to advertise their works online in social
networks. Writers of fan-fiction stories, however, promote the fan object instead.
After researching the third question, I concluded that an online reading environment
shortens theattention span of the reader, and that the digital short story, like other types of
fiction, shows signs of becoming briefer than its print counterparts. People who are accustomed
to reading online also have altered expectations and will find novelty in reading short stories in
platforms that are typically used for non-fiction. The digital short story adjusts to such changes
in readership.
These research questions, the method that addresses them, and the conclusions drawn
from them highlight the importance of the short story’s paratexts, processes of production, and
materiality to its subject matter and interpretation. The online communities of writers and readers
influence the genre. Paratexts arean essential aspectof digital short stories because community
feedback and the extended network form part of a story's content. Digital short stories are also
connected to their postmodern context. A born-digital genre enhances the treatment of loss,
disorientation, trauma, and the self. The study of born-digital short stories also draws attention
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