When Old School Becomes Old Skewl
By Wayne E. Yang
(Email to a Friend)

Michael Betcherman and David Diamond are co-authors of the mystery The Daughters of Freya – a modern twist on a very old-fashion literary genre, the epistolary novel. Betcherman is a Toronto-based writer and filmmaker (and the creator of The Team, an eight-part documentary series about a college basketball team; he also produced Was Justice Denied, which aired on TNT). Diamond is a Kentfield, CA-based journalist whose writing has appeared in The New York Times, Wired, Business Week, and many other national-class publications.

Wayne E. Yang spoke to Betcherman and Diamond about their “e-pistolary” novel, which mimics the classic letter-exchange format with e-mails.

A_P: Epistolary novels have a rich tradition, but how did you and David decide to adapt the form to the Internet? Can you talk about how the Internet version, the “e-pistolary” format (as you call it), differs from classics like Laclos' Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Bram Stoker's Dracula? Specifically, how has the email format opened up-and limited-what you could do with the novel?

MB: David and I are long-time friends. A couple of years ago he suggested we write a novel composed entirely of emails. The idea was to take the concept of the epistolary novel and update it for the modern age. We originally thought of publishing it as a print book, but then decided that if the book was going to be written in email form, we should send it out by email as well. We thought this would be an innovative way to use the Internet, and much more effective than previous attempts which mainly involved the electronic delivery of conventional literature without considering how people actually use the Internet. Those efforts were largely unsuccessful mainly because people don't want to read a chapter book on a computer screen. In our project the form of the novel is seamlessly integrated with the medium. Readers open an email and read an email, written in informal, chatty email style. We decided to write a mystery because it would allow us to take advantage of one of the most insidious aspects of the Internet -  you never really know who's on the other end of an email.

We also decided to deliver the emails in installments -- a few a day over the three weeks it takes for the mystery to unfold. This was an adaptation of another 19th century literary technique, the serialized novel popularized by Dickens, with the same built-in element of suspense -- readers can't read ahead to find out what happens next, they have to wait for the next email to arrive.

This solved the main problem posed by the email format, namely that since emails are written after the fact we couldn't describe events while they were happening. But because readers never know when the next email is coming, their imagination supplies the suspense the story demands. As one reader put it "I'm going out of my head waiting for the next email to arrive."

The email format allows us to blur the lines between fiction and reality. Since the emails are sent directly to their inbox, readers experience the mystery in a very personal way. No matter how absorbing a conventional book is, simply by holding it in your hands, you are aware that you are an observer. Our project bridges this distance. In fact, several readers have commented that when the book ended they felt as if their friends had stopped writing them. And others have said that they found themselves wondering throughout the day how the characters were getting along, and had to remind themselves that they were fictional.

A_P: Any idea how most of your readers receive your novel-whether they receive it on desktop computers or some kind of portable device? How is the novel suited to one type of device over the other? Anything else you can tell us about what kind of people have been attracted to the format and novel?

MB: Although some readers do get the mystery on a PDA, the majority get it on their computer. It wouldn't matter whether it's a desktop or laptop, wherever they normally pick up their email. Since some of the emails link to external websites, both existing ones and ones we've created specifically for the project, you do need to be able to access the web.

It's hard to say who are our audience is. We don't collect extensive demographics because most people don't like to be asked for personal information. All we know for sure is that it's split fairly equally among the sexes. From comments that are sent in, my sense is that readers come from a wide age range. All we know for sure is that people seem to be enjoying it. 40% of our readers complete a follow-up survey we send out and 80% of them rate the experience at 4 or better on a scale of 1-5.

A_P: In Japan, teenage girls have really taken to reading novels on their cell phones; Yoshi’s “cell phone novel” Deep Love caused a sensation when it appeared. In what stage is your Japanese translation of Freya? Why did you and David decide on a Japanese translation (instead of choosing another language)? Have you been following developments in cell phone fiction, and how have such novels influenced your writing of Freya?

MB: We plan to bring this out in as many languages as possible. We started with Japan because we felt the Japanese would be receptive to this kind of innovation. One of David's earlier books was translated into Japanese and we've partnered up with someone who was involved in that effort. The translation is nearly complete and we're now putting together a marketing plan. One of the key markets there will be cell phone users. We looked into this in North America but the limit on individual messages, around 200 characters or 20-30 words, made it impossible. In Japan the limit is 2,000 characters which makes delivery by cell phone feasible. In addition, this coming spring service providers in Japan are expected to change their fee structure. Instead of charging by the message, they'll be charging a monthly fee for unlimited service. this will make it more appealing for cell-phone users to buy our book.

We weren't aware of cell phone fiction when we began the book, so it didn't really affect the writing of Freya.

A_P: How, if at all, are you discouraging subscribers from forwarding passages of Freya onto their friends?

MB: We're not worried about this at all. The mystery is composed of over 100 emails and I doubt many people would be interested in forwarding so many emails just to save a friend $5. We have a free preview function on the Web site that allows readers to check out the first three emails from the story. Over 20% of people who read the preview, end up ordering the mystery, so if readers are forwarding the emails they'd actually be doing us a favor.

A_P: What kind of inquiries have you been getting from conventional publishers now that Freya seems to have been well-received by subscribers?

MB: We haven't really explored this option although we are certainly open to it. We weren't sure that this would work in manuscript form until one reviewer asked for a hard copy and ending up giving us a great review, saying he almost missed his plane to finish the ending.

Any predictions on how technology -- through the Internet, portable devices -- will continue to impact how fiction is written and/or distributed?

I think it's fair to say that our project incorporates a new storytelling technique, and like anything new it will evolve over time. As I mentioned, our emails link to external Web sites that contain content that relates to the mystery. In this project that content consists of text (newspaper and magazine articles) and photos. In subsequent projects we plan to use audio and video files to enhance the story. The Internet has extraordinary storytelling potential and I'm sure people will take advantage of it in ways that we can't possibly conceive of.

Wayne E. Yang's writing has appeared in SFGate (The Web site for The San Francisco Chronicle), The Christian Science Monitor, Asian Review of Books and other publications.