Why does a novel always have to look, smell and feel like a novel?

Sc00t · Oct 14, 2008

Genuine question. Why do we read the novel front to back instead of front to back or sideways? Why is it all words? Why not pictures and abstract art and sound and smell and all that kind of stuff? Why does it have to be in typed fonts? Why can't I have a novel in crayon?

All this and more is SPEWEING from my brain right now and I want to do something different with it. I just don't know how... There's too much of it clogging up my brain!

-sc00t

Ageless Stranger · Oct 14, 2008

Well we don't all read it that way. And Graphic Novels/Picture books exist for a reason.
But sure, there is room out there for innovation and pushing the boundries artistically I guess.

As for the crayon, there's nothing wrong with it. I just doubt an editor/agent would read it.

vixey · Oct 14, 2008

There was another thread that discussed embedding a microchip (or something) into the book so that as you turned its pages you could hear music appropriate to the setting/action/characters/etc.

But the general consensus was the music would be more distracting than anything.

Phaeal · Oct 14, 2008

Experimental artists have been trying those tricks for years, sometimes with words alone, sometimes with mixed media. They have their audience, though it's much smaller than the audience of "regular" books.

A book laid out for ease of reading, in which the story is the thing, not the style, is what the mass of us mere philistines want, and so that's what the mass of publishers produce. However, play around to your heart's content and look for kindred souls. Occasionally a "weird" book even makes it to the bestseller list, like Danielewski's House of Leaves.

tehuti88 · Oct 14, 2008

There are specialty-type books out there. The "Griffin & Sabine" (sic?) series comes to mind. Heavy on letter-style and graphic writing, with inserts and things you could take out of the books to look at and put back in. There are the SARK books, I think they are, that look like they're written in marker or something. And there are lots of children's books...I saw one recently on shipwrecks. It had little maps you could take out, a compass, diagrams, all sorts of removable things to interact with. And I bet there are children's books with scratch-and-sniff too. And definitely with audio.

These aren't novels, but I think this is because strange layouts/formats suit shorter works better than novels. Can you imagine trying to read 80,000 words in crayon or marker, or typed sideways? Much less being able to make enough space for audio or interactive items without the book weighing fifty pounds or something?

That's not to say similar things can't be done. I adored the Griffin & Sabine books because of their interactivity. Maybe a compromise can be reached in regards to novels.

veinglory · Oct 14, 2008

If you are interested in reading non-tradional formats they are available. But perhaps the reasons why you haven't are instructive as to why they rarely take off except in certain niches (manga etc).

RJK · Oct 14, 2008

I'm not sure how many different ways Sc00t wants to have a story told, but we already have:

Graphic novels
Books on tape
Movies
Traditional books
Braille books
Word of mouth
Computer games
D&D

I've probably missed a few.

The Lonely One · Oct 14, 2008

To me, I think it's alright to have a book with illustrations and media (keeping in mind, simplicity of comprehension trumps it all). There might be literary hob-nobbers who'll turn their noses up at you, but who cares? Fiction is about imagination and creating and art, about vivid scenes and conveying a story.

It sure as hell isn't about academic style books and standard formatting. Those are the beasts you must understand intricately, but only to tame them before they eat you.

I think there are great literary works that were illustrated or used techniques other than "this is how you start a new paragraph."

Alice in Wonderland was illustrated. I suppose it's a children's book in some ways, but to me it's much much more than a rationalized moral (which is usually what a children's book is). It's a novel, a piece of art.

Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time includes various mathematical puzzles to fit the theme of autism.

Art can be in many forms, and can be enjoyed in many forms. Ancient story tellers didn't just beat drums and tell stories, they painted them on cave walls, they carved them out of stone, they acted them out with masks and costumes.

I've always found genre to be this troublesome thing that you have to push out of the way of your creativity.

Sc00t · Oct 14, 2008

RJK said:
I'm not sure how many different ways Sc00t wants to have a story told, but we already have:

Graphic novels

Books on tape

Movies

Traditional books

Braille books

Word of mouth

Computer games

D&D

I've probably missed a few.

I think you might have misunderstood where I'm coming from. A computer game, D&D, Movies, tapes, word of mouth, etc. are not novels, they are something different, something seperate.

Graphic novels do fit to a certain extent what I am talking about but they have a way shorter word count than a true novel would (although me challenging the concept of a novel does in turn mean me challenging the word count 'rule')

What I'm trying to get at here is that forever, since the inception of the novel, it's been written in a certain style and yes, it HAS been challenged before to a certain extent, the example given by Lonely One (Sorry, I don't know your real name) in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is an excellent example, and that novel won awards-galore!

I really want to work on something different, something that would be seen as innovative without over-doing it, and I think that more people should challenge and bend/break the unwritten rules of how a novel is formatted, and that's what I'm getting at really.

-sc00t

willietheshakes · Oct 14, 2008

Well, there are hypertext novels, stories written in and with footnotes, epistolary novels, diary novels, novels that fold into themselves (David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas), novels that are to be read front to back and back to front (Danielewski's Only Revolutions), novels in verse, etc, etc.

On balance, though, your question is a little specious -- a novel is, generally, the way it is because it is that form which determines what it is, no? If it were appreciably shorter, it would be a novella. Or a short story. If it were told entirely in dialogue, it would be a play.

It's a bit like asking why birds have wings -- because if they didn't, they wouldn't be birds. They'd be... something else.

josephwise · Oct 14, 2008

I once heard the novel referred to as "the most efficient invention in human history" and I agree with that statement.

There are novels which attempt to enhance the experience with bells and whistles, and some of them do a good job of it. There are a lot of multi-media artworks in the world.

But I don't think they are quite as efficient. You have to train the reader, sometimes, to take a different approach. Or you have to manufacture sound chips. Or you have to get the printer to print the text or pictures in color.

A traditional novel is simple. It's just words on paper. Black and white. It lets the language do ALL of the talking, and with the best novels, the language succeeds where no other device possibly could.

I maintain that no other form of art could communicate nearly as much as does the novel. Not the painting. Not the symphony. Not the video game or the film. Not even a volume of comprehensive non-fiction books could possibly outdo the novel. Nothing else is more fit to elevate the understanding of an audience.

Maybe I'm biased.

veinglory · Oct 14, 2008

Things that are written in a certain style are novels. You can add some pictures and so forth but at a certain point, whatever it is, it is not a novel. Why can't an elephant have two legs and feathers? -- well, because it would be an ostrich?

Ostriches do exist. Griffin and Sabine has been mentioned. I read a book recently created entirely by cutting words out of magazines. Another was made to simulate a post-apocalyose journal written in an old exercise book. If you want off-mainstream formats you need only seek them out. The small and independent presses being the main sources--not chain store book shelves. The reason being largely economic.

2Wheels · Oct 14, 2008

Novels, like a lot of other things around us, proceed in a linear direction. We're taught to read in that direction. Time is linear (and no, lets not start a discussion about relativity, y'all know what I mean), we go from birth to death, we grow up, not down and so on. Novel's just follow a path which humans are comfortable with. It's a bit like the system of fifths in music (with thanks to Pythagoras). Who knows why it sounds good, it just does.

Liosse de Velishaf · Oct 14, 2008

This always drives me nuts when people do this. I'm not saying you can't use other media, but if you do, it isn't exactly a "novel". It's something new, and very possibly interesting/awesome/cool(pickanadjective), but I wouldn't really call it a novel. If you really want to challenge "rules" (novels are more defined by, what else, a "definition"), come up with something new and give it a new name.

TrickyFiction · Oct 14, 2008

House of Leaves is a great example. Griffon and Sabine too. Try both of those, if that's what you're looking for. If, however, you just want a lot of other writers to challenge the norm in order to make it safe and profitable for you to do so too... Well, by that time, you won't be challenging the norm anymore, so I'm not sure I understand what you're after.

I think writers typically stick to pages of text, left to right, because usually, the story is the most important part of the novel and they want the writing to be invisible. When the story becomes secondary, or even shares importance with other visual stimulation, the novel is less a novel and more a kind of visual art.

House of Leaves was confusing and a mess to read; lots of work, but that was the point of it. It was a book about confusion. If I were reading a story about a boy wizard who goes to wizarding school in a series of footnotes, upside-down words, blank pages, and weird puzzles, I might decide it was too much work, that it bogged down simplicity and flow of the story, and I might go ahead and put it down.

Phoebe H · Oct 14, 2008

One of my very favorite writers, Sean Stewart, but out a YA novel in a non-traditional format recently. It was called "Cathy's Book" and it was ostensibly the journal of a teenage girl that was missing. There was doodling in the margins, and notes made all throughout, and it came with a pouch of 'props' -- some business cards, a napkin from a bar with things drawn on it, an old newspaper clipping, photographs, etc etc.

One of the conceits was that any phone number that you encountered could be dialed, and any website mentioned could be visited, and if you, for instance, figured out her voice mail password, you could get her voice mail messages. It was a really cool idea, and the physical stuff you got was impressive.

But you know, when I got it, I was in the process of moving and didn't have phone service. So I only got a little bit into it before I felt like I was missing too much by not exploring. And then I never got back to it. And I haven't heard much discussion of the book, so I have to figure it didn't do that well, especially given the extra costs of all that unusual stuff. So that's the problem that you end up with.

JoNightshade · Oct 14, 2008

William Blake, anyone?

Wolvel · Oct 14, 2008

Because if it smelled and felt like a turd who would read it? jk

Susan Breen · Oct 14, 2008

Did you see that book by Mark Danielewski--Only Revolutions. It was a nominee for the National Book Award and you could read it front to back or back to front or upside down. Literally. It almost drove me insane, but you might like it.

Claudia Gray · Oct 14, 2008

People are doing a lot of ingenious, experimental things with written fiction right now. But if you want to know why the basic concept of the novel is so enduring, honestly, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that the human interest in narrative drama is extremely fundamental to our nature. People in every kind of society tell stories, and they usually have a core set of themes, events, etc., that recur over and over again. I honestly believe this love of story as a means of interpreting the world is innate, and that there will always be a place for novels/stories/etc. that recapture these basic themes.

willietheshakes · Oct 14, 2008

Susan Breen said:
Did you see that book by Mark Danielewski--Only Revolutions. It was a nominee for the National Book Award and you could read it front to back or back to front or upside down. Literally. It almost drove me insane, but you might like it.

cough*Post#10*cough

wrinkles · Oct 14, 2008

O.K. this really has very little to do with the OP, but I think it's interesting. O.K., the original Princess Bride, the novel, was brilliant. The movie was too. Both of them in my top ten of all time: novels and movies. But anyway, I digest. So, the novel Princess Bride by William Goldman. It had a section that was missing. It's been a long time, but it had something to do with lawyer. Sorry I don't remember, but it was more than thirty years ago. But, I divest. So, anyway, there was an address that you could write too, and they would send you the missing section. I did. Perhaps I'm the only one who did. And sure enough I received two pages of the novel from the publisher which contained the missing section. I don't remember what it said, though. I kept it for awhile but lost it. That's it. I guess that wasn't so interesting after all.

wrinkles · Oct 14, 2008

I should have written "...you could write to." I'm embarrassed.

maestrowork · Oct 14, 2008

RJK said:
I'm not sure how many different ways Sc00t wants to have a story told, but we already have:

Graphic novels

Books on tape

Movies

Traditional books

Braille books

Word of mouth

Computer games

D&D

I've probably missed a few.

plays, role plays, interactive, scratch and sniff, animations, flip books...

katiemac · Oct 14, 2008

Don't forget pop-up!

Why does a novel always have to look, smell and feel like a novel?

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