Dead Reckoning: Twitter Novel Interview - Part I

About a year ago I joined Twitter after hearing about it from a few friends. It was one of those things that looked interesting but I had no idea what to do with it, so I ignored it. It wasn’t until a few months ago that I went back in to see what was going on and if I could get anything out of it. What I found were a lot of surprises; celebrities talking to the little people, idiots being treated as sages and making bank while they were at it, and then there was some guy writing a complete novel on Twitter. That guy was Shawn Kupfer, who posts his literary progress each night before he goes to bed for the masses to see, respond to, and possibly even have a real effect on the final product. It was such an interesting and unique idea that I wanted to know more, and to my great surprise he agreed to an interview. So read on and see just what is going through the mind of this mad Twitter genius.

Shawn Kupfer: I guess I'll just start with how the project started. I don't really sleep much, so I end up having a lot of time, even though I work a normal 8-5 job. I'd just gotten through writing a novel and sending it off to my agent, so I got to wait for months before I heard anything. Instead of just sitting around, I decided I'd work on another first draft of something else entirely.

Dead Regime: Are you previously published, or is the novel that you sent off your first?

SK: I was published waaaay back in the far off year of 2000, when cell phones were the size of cars.

DR: And cars the size of buildings?

SK: And the buildings. . . don't even get me started. Size of modern-day cell phones, actually, which was odd.

Anyhow, I was WAY too into Twitter at the time, and I started thinking -- what if I could send the novel out there in near-real time, getting feedback as I go? At least I figured someone would be reading it, and I wouldn't have to wait forever for that to happen. Publishing a book traditionally is a long, long, boring process. . . but who says you need to publish traditionally?

DR: So for those not up-to-date on your current project, can you give me a brief synopsis of your twitter novel? And can you do it in 140 characters or less?

SK: Oh, totally. It's on.

A former felon in Witness Security is hunted by killers from his old life, strange shadow-assassins, and various strangeoids. He likes punk.

140 characters exactly, sir. The "he likes punk" thing is kind of a throwaway, but punk rock is kind of linked with the novel now in interesting ways.

DR: And now the dust jacket version?

SK: Dust Jacket Version: Eric Hawkins is a boring man. He goes to work, to sleep, and to work again, and not much else. So why is a Sheriff's Deputy constantly following him around? Why are Federal Marshals constantly tearing up his apartment? And who are those two horribly thin guys who keep shooting at him?

DR: Aside from the immediate gratification of having an instant audience, what did you expect to get out of the Twitter outlet, and what has actually happened that wasn't planned?

SK: You know, I thought the medium of Twitter would be interesting, as I could link directly to people and places that use it. Another thing I hoped to get out of it (and did) was the motivation to keep writing, because I knew there were at least a couple of people out there waiting on it. Writers are very lazy people, and unless we have someone to hold us to a deadline, we can waste a day like you wouldn't believe.

DR: What kind of feedback from the Twitter community have you gotten? Any good suggestions, corrections, expert witnesses?

SK: Funny you ask -- I just got a correction tonight, and the guy was completely right on it. He's a mystery author from Boston, and he corrected a bad use of a steak knife as a slashing weapon. I've had some doctors follow, who gave me great ideas on damage and torture, and a couple of military folks, who gave me good advice on tactics and procedures.

DR: Dr. recommended torture?

SK: Not really, but they did explain what it would probably do to a person. I would LOVE to see doctor-recommended torture, though. Probably something to do with a colon cleansing.

DR: Sounds like a Lifetime Television movie - Prescription for Pain - the true story of a murdering doctor.

SK: Starring Richard Dean Anderson as NotMacGyver.

DR: death by enema?

SK: Torturous, for sure. But so is watching a Lifetime movie.

DR: So have you gotten any negative feedback, or has it all been helpful or positive in some way?

SK: Here's something I realized about 1500 followers in (where I still hadn't gotten any negative feedback) -- Twitter is cool because if you piss someone off, they don't bitch at you. They just unfollow. Though, I did get one negative comment, from a guy who didn't like all the swearing. It's a crime novel -- criminals don't say "shucks." Except on Lifetime.

DR: That's true, instead of complaining I just lost a few followers the other night for saying that I wanted to be the actor known only for the role "guy with dick in his hand"

SK: You wanted to be Jason Mewes?

SK: I just realized I never answered your "unexpected" question, which actually does have an interesting answer. What unexpected things have happened posting the novel to Twitter, that is.

One of my very first followers was actually someone I've admired for a very long time -- Dennis Thompson, drummer of the MC5. He and I have actually started talking because of the novel, and I've written some guest posts for hisblog.

I also got accused of being the lead singer of the Dead Kennedys, back when I was writing this thing anonymously. I mentioned two Dead Kennedys songs in the novel -- I mention music frequently when I write, and as I said, the main character is a punk rock fan. I got an email (I seem to get a ton of email and DMs, very few blog comments) from a guy who was like "I know who you are." I got a few of those in the early days.

Then this guy goes on to flat-out ACCUSE me of being Jello Biafra, and writing this novel and giving it away for free simply to sell back-issue Dead Kennedys records. The conspiracy theories in this dude's head must be mind-boggling, because that is probably the most inefficient way to make money ever.

DR: Was it a conscious decision to initially write anonymously, and was that sort of confusion what made you change your mind?

SK: Yep, exactly. I felt like the author wasn't important -- the story was. I got a lot of email from people asking if I was this guy or that guy (no one got it right), so I just decided, hell, it's not a big deal.

So I posted on the blog who I was, and how you probably haven't heard of me unless you're one of the 15 people who read my novel back in 2000, or you're a hardcore computer geek who read some tech articles I wrote.

My wife didn't even know it was me initially, nor did a good friend of mine who was following.

DR: Was your wife following before you unmasked?

SK: A couple of weeks before, yeah. She even mentioned it, and said I bet I wished I had come up with the idea

Come back tomorrow morning for Part II of our Shawn Kupfer interview, where we cover such Earth shattering topics as OCD, waterboarding, and assholes (the people, not the poop chutes).