With the advent of the digital revolution, the long-standing definition of what a book is seems to be shifting. No longer is it just printed pages glued, bound and set on a bookshelf. It can be an e-book as well, yes, but even that is being experimented with.
Take Medallion Press and their new TREE books, which stands for Timed Reading Experience E-book. Think of those choose-your-own-adventure books you read when you were a kid. Except you don’t choose which direction the story goes, so much as the book decides for you based on your reading habits. Does anyone else think that sounds unnecessarily complicated and vaguely creepy? You don’t read the book; the book reads you.
In a writing capacity, every book becomes choose your own adventure. Each novel is a collection of decisions, major and minor, numbering into the thousands. The biggest are foundational: Who is the protagonist? Where and when is the story set? What obstacles prevent the main character from achieving his or her goal? The smallest (though still significant) usually involve syntax or word choice.
When I sit down to plot a book — I always plot first, never write from the seat of my pants — these are the questions I ask myself. Then chapter by chapter, scene by scene, I mentally work my way through all the options at my disposal. Some will work, many are boring and most lead to dead ends. Each has repercussions, ripple effects that will affect the rest of the story. By the time I’m ready to write the rough draft, I’ve already worked out all the worst kinks. Before I’m able to tell someone else the story, I must be able to tell myself. Every one of my books started in my head as multiple choice. It’s the author’s job to decide which options make the story most suspenseful or dramatic, so that the final product is the best of all possible outcomes.
How about a printed book published with disappearing ink instead? This sounds downright asinine. After two months, the letters begin to fade until all you’re left with is a blank book to use as a journal. I figure if you bought a book, it should be yours forever. This strikes me as a promotional gimmick, as I can’t see this catching on in any meaningful way.