Dead Reckoning: Twitter Novel Interview - Part II

This is Part II of our two part interview with Shawn Kupfer, the brainchild, mastermind, or other compound word that sounds intelligent and somewhat maniacal behind the Twitter Novel Project. If you missed out on Part I, check it out and then come back to read the riveting conclusion. Enjoy.

DR:: You mentioned that you use music a lot when you write. How do you choose what is compatible with the story?

SK:: I listen to a lot more diverse stuff than my main character does, but when I started writing him, I was listening to Black Flag (I think), and punk rock just seemed to fit with this guy. Music is pretty important to me, and I do love putting it into the novel wherever I can. . . but only if it suits the scene, the mood, and the character.

Like, I really want to use Nine Inch Nails somewhere in the book, but it just doesn't fit with the character.

DR:: Does music, specifically the punk music, play into the story any further than just shaping the character or does it actually have plot pertinence?

SK:: It tends to set the mood and feeling for certain scenes, and kind of gives you an insight into how the character thinks. Punk music was kind of a DIY business, and that's how this character works -- he doesn't necessarily wait around for someone to help him or tell him how to do something, he just gets in there, gets dirty, and hopefully lives through it. Which means he makes a lot of rash decisions, which gets him into trouble all the time.

DR:: When you're writing, are you writing in normal format and then converting it so that it makes sense in a Twitter stream, or do you write factory-direct to Twitter?

SK:: Kind of both. I write a bit in Notepad, check to make sure I hit my word count (at least 500 words a night), then go directly to Twitter with it. No editing, not even for spelling. (Sadly.)

I hate misspelling things. I've been an editor for a couple of national magazines, and I work as a writer in the Defense industry now, so I really, really piss myself off when I misspell something.

And Notepad has no spell-check. I'm just that Old-School, yo.

DR:: Has writing for the Twitter format and audience created any unexpected hurdles, changed how you write, forced you to do things you wouldn't when writing traditionally?

SK:: You know, it has. I'm one of those people that constantly anguishes over a word choice here, a sentence there. With Twitter, I have to write something and put it out there, scars, bruises, and all -- because if I don't, I miss a day of posting.

That, and when the Internet goes out at my house (our service provider sucks), it gets really fun. I go wardriving like it's 1998.

DR:: You mentioned a self-imposed 500 word minimum a day. Are there any other rules you have set for yourself in this project?

SK:: Sure. Post every day by midnight PST, no exceptions. Post every chapter to the blog as soon as it's completed on Twitter. (I'm in Eastern Time, incidentally -- I use Pacific to give myself a little cushion in case I run into snags).

DR:: Do you have a punishment/reward system for yourself for meeting your goals, or is it just on the personal-integrity honor system?

SK:: I'm obsessive-compulsive to some degree, so I probably wouldn't be able to sleep if I missed a day. And I let myself have a cigarette after I've posted, even though I'm "quitting."

DR:: As of right now, how far along are you in the first draft?

SK:: Twenty-one chapters as of tonight, which is [let me check]

47,950 words.

The original goal for the novel was 50,000 words, but that was a minimum. It's going to end up longer.

DR:: Over how long of a period of time? What is the goal length now?

SK:: I'm thinking 60,000. And I started writing Feb. 19 -- I plan to have the first draft wrapped up by the end of the month.

DR:: Now the goal is to write a first draft on Twitter. What happens to the novel, the project, and even your followers once that goal is reached?

SK:: Oh, they might actually get @ replies from me then!

The novel -- there has been some minor publisher interest, but I'm not sure what I want to do with it other than go through and revise, edit, update. . . all of that.

DR:: Now that you're well beyond the point of return, knowing what you know now, would you do this project again, with the same rules, restrictions, etc...?

SK:: Honestly, I'd build myself a day off into the schedule here and there. I don't sleep much anyway, but this project has cut it down to a couple of hours a night. But I would totally do this again, and probably will -- this time with more meta-content, like Twitter accounts from different in-novel characters commenting or adding more to the story.

DR:: Novel/Performance Art?

SK:: Sure. I don't think they have to be mutually exclusive. Books are changing. Projects like this give the readers the chance to interact while the novel is being written, which is all sorts of fun for me.

DR:: In that respect, do you consider yourself a pioneer, genius, fool, all-the-above for doing this? Do you see projects like this becoming more common?

SK:: I certainly hope they do. I'd love to see more of them -- and people are starting, but they're barely updating in a lot of cases, or losing interest 200 tweets in. And I just consider myself a guy who can put a sentence together who had an interesting idea.

But that's the fun of it -- an agent won't accept your novel? Screw him. Put it out there for other people to see. Let them judge. Anyone who wants to write and publish himself can now.

DR:: What kind of preparation do you make for a novel? Are you meticulous and have it plotted down to the most minor details, are you more stream-of-consciousness and let the characters and story go as they may, somewhere in between?

SK:: I kind of think about it during the day when my brain's not too occupied by other stuff. I have a general idea of where I want to go each night, but I really just sit down most nights and see what comes out.

I had a basic beginning and ending in mind for the book when I started, but the rest of it? Pretty much on the fly.

DR:: Have the characters and choices made in this novel surprised you? Have they taken on lives of their own? Do you always know how it's going to end?

SK:: I used to know how it was going to end. Now I'm not entirely sure. And one character has surprised me by surviving this long. I thought he'd be dead chapters ago.

So, yeah, they kind of do take on a life of their own, and make their own choices. A lot of times, I just feel like I'm watching them do their thing.

DR:: Have you had to punish them, set obstacles or anything to get them to do what you want?

SK:: Actually, yes. I ended up waterboarding the main character. He needed some kind of challenge to show he wasn't just running scared, that he was actually a lot tougher than he seemed -- so I waterboarded the poor guy and threw him in a commercial freezer for 36 hours.

I'm glad he's fictional, or he'd be pissed.
DR:: In any of your writing, how much of yourself and those you know go into characters, and how much of them are completely fictional?

SK:: They always start based on people I know. Or I should say, traditionally they do -- I've based some characters off of interesting user pics of Twitter accounts this time around. But yeah, any of them is probably a small piece of me. Which I'm thankful for, actually, because they'd actually be a lot harder to write if they weren't.

I apparently really like the word "actually."

DR:: What kind of information do you draw from a simple user pic?

SK:: None whatsoever. But I see a user pic, and I think "That guy looks like a hacker." So I write a hacker character with that guy's face in my head. Or "that dude looks like a cop." So he becomes the Shift Commander of Criminal Investigations for the Douglas County Sheriff's Department.

DR:: Have you been nervous or worried about how certain people would respond when/if they realize a certain character is them, or pieces of them?

SK:: Yep, but they've all been pretty cool. I tend to DM them to let them know I've done it, and no one has freaked out on me. With one exception, none of the characters based on them have been insulting, though. And that guy turned out to be cool in later parts of the novel, but he was a real asshole early on.

DR:: Well, people should take pride in their skills, and if that skill happens to be being an asshole...so be it.

SK:: Indeed. And the Twitter account I based him on was my non-book one. So I basically called myself an asshole. Interestingly, the character was supposed to stay an ass the whole book, but he evolved on his own.

DR:: Did you evolve?

SK:: Oh, god, no. Just ask my wife.

I want to think Shawn for taking the time to chat with me when he should’ve been packing. To find out what the deal is with the novel, follow him on Twitter or check out his blog and read the nightly posts. If you want to check out Shawn’s previous novel, Mr. Six, you can find it on Amazon, or your favorite online bookseller.