Hereditation: an American tale (a novel) ; and, Taking the index back: what the internet has to offer print fiction (a commentary)

• Main Author: Smythe, James
• Published: Cardiff University 2007
• Subjects: 813
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.584197

Throughout this thesis I attempted to examine the various ways in which 'new media' writing found on blogs and the internet have added functions to their (internet-based) forms, and then discover if it would be possible for the print novel to assimilate those same techniques. The novel that came from the conclusion of these findings, entitled Hereditation, is an epic saga that spans the course of over five hundred years, and features a number of techniques and formatting that are either directly adapted from, or are closely related to, similar techniques that might be found in prose on the internet. The Critical Commentary covers my attempts to decipher the various components of online fiction, and then looks at the ways that these components can be implemented into printed fiction (with special reference to the aforementioned novel). The Commentary also includes a number of 'Blog Entries', far more personal insights into the process than most, as well as presenting an appendix that encompasses a history of the use of the internet as a means for presenting fiction. The thesis attempts to ask whether it is possible to use the information gleamed from the internet as a way of enhancing print fiction, both without resorting to genre fiction stereotypes (such as writing a Science Fiction novel to shoehorn in techniques) and without sacrificing the traditional flow and format of print fiction itself.