Dynamic Creative Writing presentation to WordCamp Victoria on January 14, 2012.

1. Dynamic Creative Writing
WordPress as a platform
for a literary Work in Progress
Craig Spence Writer
January 14, 2012 WordCamp Victoria 1

2. What am I talking about?
In September, 2011 I posted the first episode to The Cosmic Chicken web
site, launching what has become for me an experiment in Dynamic
Creative Writing.
This presentation will talk about:
• What the term Dynamic Creative Writing means.
• Why WordPress makes a superb Dynamic Creative Writing
environment.
• Who might want to engage in Dynamic Creative Writing.
The Cosmic Chicken is located at www.cosmicchicken.ca. Although I was
pleased to acquire the domain name, I wasn’t really surprised to discover
no-one else had claimed it!
January 14, 2012 WordCamp Victoria 2

3. First, a little bit about me…
Published Author My last board
• Josh & the Magic Vial (2006, Thistledown Press) meeting ever!
• Einstein Dog (2009, Thistledown Press) YEEHAW!
• Three novels in progress
Supporter of Arts & Letters
• Langley Arts Council Board Member
• Community Arts Council of Greater Victoria member
• Federation of BC Writers President
Retired Journalist & Communications Manager
• Community Newspaper Journalist (1981- 1996)
• School District Communications Manager (1996 – 2012)
• Full time writer from January 2012 on…
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4. More telling images…
The first inkling of the writer in
me stirred in a Grade 5 classroom
in Parkdale Elementary School.
Call it a blessing or a curse, a
vocation is unavoidable. You live
and breath it and build your life
around it.
Hmm? This is a
bit of a game
changer!
Daddy, yo
u ain’t got
a clue!
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5. Fast forward to real time…
WHAT IS DYNAMIC CREATIVE WRITING
What Craig Imagine yourself in a department store display
means to say is: window on a busy downtown street. You are sitting
“Involving
at your desk clattering away feverishly on the next
audience while
a work is still in episode of your work in progress. Your computer
progress.” console is wired to a second screen that shows
passers-by your every keystroke. A big sign
welcomes them to text, email or phone if they want
to comment or make suggestions.
Someone taps on the window. You look up…
That’s Dynamic Creative Writing.
Original art
by Diana Durrand
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6. Why get Dynamic? Perhaps what
Craig really
means is he just
CREATIVE WRITING AS EVENT didn’t know
We live in a networked, collaborative world. where to begin.
Dynamic Creative Writing derives authenticity by
opening itself to the chatter of the network. The
novel evolves in its audience’s mind as a work-in-
progress, allowing readers to influence
outcomes. The act of writing-as-event challenges
the author to become a guide through real time
story-telling toward an uncertain conclusion
along undefined pathways.
Flickr,
MJM Photographie,
Melissa M
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7. OK, let’s get practical… OK. Maybe he
did know where
to begin, but
WHY WRITE DYNAMICALLY? does he know
• Build audience as a novel is written. how to finish.
• Make the outcomes of your story relevant.
• Extend context by including ‘outtakes’.
• Build a process of self-evolution and growth.
• Develop momentum.
• Incorporate graphic and media elements.
• Provide links to supplementary resources.
• Position WIP for alternative modes of publication.
• Achieve global reach.
• Build creative relationships.
Flickr,
MJM Photographie,
Melissa M
January 14, 2012 WordCamp Victoria 7

8. WordPress as Dynamic space…
SOME FEATURES OF WORDPRESS
THAT MAKE IT A RICH Well, wouldn’t any
DYNAMIC WRITING ENVIRONMENT? web authoring
program allow you
to do that stuff?
• Browser accessed web authoring
• The Blog
• Comments
• Categories Don’t know, but I do
• Social media plug ins know WordPress
• Media imports works for me.
• Drafts/Published lists
• Menus
• Full Screen Mode
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9. Browser accessed web authoring…
Most users appreciate browser accessed
web authoring because they can work on
their pages anywhere without having to buy
web authoring programs. I really appreciate
that my WordPress workspace is just another
web page on my open pages bar. The walls to
the writer’s room have become
transparent. Information
Flows in and out.
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10. WHAT’S
The Blog… NEXT!
Blog tends to an episodic, sequential style of
Flickr image
writing. They also tend to a plot oriented NightFall404
structure. Not every novelist can work within Richard Hopkins
those constraints.
However, the blog’s timeline makes it effective
for dynamic creative writing. Readers can
follow characters and events, with the current
episode always at the top of the stack.
The blog has evolved as a medium for the
exchange as much as the presentation of
ideas, which will encourage audience
participation in the emerging story.
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11. Comments…
The comment function of the blog works two
Comment? I’ll give ways for the dynamic creative writer. Readers
you a comment: Just interacting with the work in progress can post
write the damned their ideas for the writer and others to see.
book and forget about
The author can also respond to readers ideas.
all this palaver. Cosmic
Chicken indeed!
As important is the potential for the author to
post his own ideas by initiating comment
threads. This makes the process of revision
overlap with the process of creation. It also
makes the author’s revision notes public and
open to comment.
Original art by Diana Durrand
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12. Categories…
As a work of fiction progresses the author has more
and more information to keep track of. Maintaining
consistency with regard to character, setting, plot and
metaphor can become a challenge.
More importantly, maintaining tension and pushing
emotional and intellectual boundaries means
revisiting ideas repeatedly, and not leaving any
threads dangling.
The ability to call up categories and tags instantly and
review storylines and trends quickly is one of the most
useful tools WordPress provides me as novelist.
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13. Original art by
Diana Durrand
Lovely, I’m
Media imports… sure, but is
it
art, dear?
A great novel doesn’t need photographs or
illustrations, just as great paintings don’t
require a whole lot of words.
That said, the judicious use of graphics can
cue readers, giving them visual elements to
build a scene around. WordPress’s Media
functions make it easy to place images and
video clips into a story.
The Cosmic Chicken was inspired by the art of
my partner Diana Durrand, and the main
character in the story echoes my own
fascination with portraits of Gallus Domesticus
– the domestic chicken.
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14. Drafts/Published lists…
As an organizational tool WordPress ‘Drafts’ and ‘Published’ lists provide an
intuitive context for story development. The writer can review his list of
episodes (posts) at a glance. He can switch out of the episode he’s working
on to create a new one, then switch back in an instant. He can storybuild
unpublished episodes over time, based on his growing familiarity with the
novel in progress. He has a breakdown of drafts and published episodes and
an organically growing roadmap of his entire novel all laid out.
January 14, 2012 WordCamp Victoria 14

15. Menus…
A thoughtfully developed menu to a web-
based work of dynamic creative fiction invites
readers to explore beyond the storyline of the
novel. It can even become a standing
reference for readers who want to gain
perspectives into a published work that would
otherwise remain part of the back story.
The Cosmic Chicken has navigation links to a
‘Glossary’; a page that describes ‘The Cast’;
and a page about ‘Places’ in the novel.
Readers can also learn about the author. The
interested reader can access layers of
information that are outside the book proper. Flickr image by Mary Margret, Double-M
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16. That’s Dynamic Creative Writing
Is Dynamic Creative Writing a method that
might be used by others? Or is it a one-off
experiment that will result in a single work of
speculative fiction?
If Dynamic Creative Writing does become a
useful mode, is WordPress the best
environment for engaging in it, or is there a
better context? Wikis for example?
I don’t know at this point. But my experience so
far makes me think I will be writing more novels
using WordPress as my creative medium.
Flickr image by o5com
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