Imaginary Year
What?
Who?
Why?
How?

IMAGINARY YEAR : WHY?

:: Download printable versions of past installments

:: Subscribe to the print version (free)

:: Donate to Year (via PayPal)

:: Year front page

Why? ::

:: Why is Imaginary Year written the way it is written?

I look at Imaginary Year as my first experiment in writing what I call "information prose." I've outlined the major precepts of information prose in a copyright-free manifesto, which can be accessed here.

:: Why serial fiction?

Perhaps it was from a youth spent reading comic books and an adolescence spent exploring the intricate serial narrative of Doonesbury, but I've always found that serial narratives have the power to engage readers in a way that ordinary novels don't have the ability to do. I'd wanted to write serial fiction for years but had been frustrated -- opportunities to publish a narrative on a periodical basis are essentially nonexistent in contemporary America (unless you're writing comic books or a synidicated comic strip, neither of which I wanted to write). It wasn't until I began to explore the possibilities of Web distribution and archiving that the idea of self-publishing began to strike me as a viable means to try out writing in that fashion.

:: Why write a novel on the Web?

Aside from the reasons I just mentioned about how the Web enables serial narrative, there are a few other reasons. Foremost among them is that I'm repelled by the market forces which drive the publishing industry. I've written on this in more depth here.

:: Why give your work away for free?

Two reasons: one: because entertainment costs more than it should. And two: creating a price barrier between my work and my audience hinders my work's ability to spread freely and be widely read. I've written more on each of these points here.

If you have other questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. Use the e-mail address below.

:: jeremy@invisible-city.com

Back to top

Year front page

http://www.imaginaryyear.com
jeremy@invisible-city.com

Imaginary Year is © 2000 Jeremy P. Bushnell.
Copies may be made in part or in full by any individual for noncommercial use, provided all copies retain this notice in its entirety.