InformationWeek Stories by F. Paul Wilson

InformationWeek Stories by F. Paul Wilsonhttp://www.informationweek.comInformationWeeken-usCopyright 2012, UBM LLC.2012-03-29T12:42:00ZInternet Tool Helps Choose A Writing CollaboratorIs your writing style compatible with your proposed collaborator's? Use Textalyser first and learn to avoid wordy, boring blowhards like Marcel Proust.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/232700382?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<div style="margin:0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width:185px; float:left; text-align:center;"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/repairmanjack/silhouette-185.jpg" width="185" alt="F. Paul Wilson" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" /></div>As told by Repairman Jack... Okay. One more piece on collaborating online. I thought the last entry would tie things up, but then Heide Goody (yeah, that's her name: <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/HeideGoody">@HeideGoody</a> on Twitter), one of Wilson's longtime readers, pointed him toward something called <a target="_blank" href="http://textalyser.net/">Textalyser</a> that analyzes, well, text. She seemed to think it was a good way to decide if your style is compatible with someone who might be a potential collaborator. I reminded Wilson that a frequent comment about Draculas (the novel he wrote <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/commentary/personal-tech/digital-content/232602390">with three other guys</a>) was that no one could be sure where one writer left off and another picked up the narrative. Part of that was due to the skillful editing by Crouch and Konrath, but compatibility of styles had a lot to do with it. Crouch, Konrath, Strand, and Wilson are all well versed in thrillerese. What's thrillerese? That's my term for a writing style that emphasizes showing over telling and employs short paragraphs stocked with crisp declarative sentences minimizing passive voice, all punctuated by sharp, terse dialogue. Noir and detective fiction introduced it, but the modern thriller has made the style its own. So, to test out Textalyzer, Wilson took a couple of first-draft pages from his collaborators and ran them through the program.The results are tabulated below. <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 style='margin-left:4.65pt;border-collapse:collapse;mso-table-layout-alt:fixed; mso-yfti-tbllook:1184;mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:0;mso-yfti-firstrow:yes;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border:none;border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> <o:p> </o:p> </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> Crouch </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> Konrath </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> Strand </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> Wilson </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:1;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt'> Total word count : </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 356 </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 359 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 354</td><td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 357</td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:2;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border-top:none;border-left: solid black 1.0pt;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt'> Number of different words : </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 271 </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 267 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 278 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 252 </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:3;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border-top:none;border-left: solid black 1.0pt;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt'> % Words that are unique: </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 76.1% </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 74.4% </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 78.5% </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 70.6% </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:4;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border-top:none;border-left: solid black 1.0pt;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt'> Readability (Gunning-Fog Index) : (6-easy 20-hard) </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 5.0 </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 5.3 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 5.8 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 3.8 </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:5;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border-top:none;border-left: solid black 1.0pt;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt'> Average Syllables per Word: </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 1.57 </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 1.7 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 1.51 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 1.37 </td> </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:6;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border-top:none;border-left: solid black 1.0pt;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt'> Sentence count : </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 63 </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 58 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 51 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 78 </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:7;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border-top:none;border-left: solid black 1.0pt;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt'> Average sentence length (words) : </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 9.74 </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 11.2 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 12.6 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 8.37 </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:8;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border-top:none;border-left: solid black 1.0pt;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt'> Max sentence length (words) : </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 37 </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 45 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 68 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 40 </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:9;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border-top:none;border-left: solid black 1.0pt;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt'> Min sentence length (words) : </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 1 </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 1 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 1 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 1 </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:10;mso-yfti-lastrow:yes;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border-top:none;border-left: solid black 1.0pt;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt'> Readability (Alternative) beta : (100-easy 20-hard, optimal 60-70) </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 64.5 </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 71 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 66.4 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 82.4 </td> </tr> </table> In the first readability score--Gunning-Fog--lower is more readable, and the range is six to 20. All four of us earn a score of under 6.0. In the alternative readability score (last row), the higher the score, the more readable. Here, the first three of us are within seven points of each other--only Wilson busts the curve, but it's toward greater readability, which is never a bad thing. Our sentence lengths all are very similar. Sentence length averages within four words. The maximum sentence length is within eight words except for Strand, whose sample passage happened to include a deliberate run-on. Obviously Crouch, Konrath, Strand, and Wilson were well suited for collaboration. Textalyzer shows why Draculas reads so seamlessly. But that set Wilson to wondering about his current collaborator. Sarah Pinborough is, after all, a Brit. Spelling and punctuation aside, there's the gender difference, plus cultural differences, and she used to teach English. Were they as compatible as he imagined? So he used Textalyzer for first-draft passages from their contributions to the story. For the hell of it, I suggested Wilson throw in a passage from a writer whose style is the antithesis of thrillerese. He chose the opening paragraphs of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwAOc4g3K-g">Marcel Proust</a>'s cure for insomnia, Remembrance of Things Past. Behold the results: <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 style='margin-left:4.65pt;border-collapse:collapse;mso-table-layout-alt:fixed; mso-yfti-tbllook:1184;mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt'> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:0;mso-yfti-firstrow:yes;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border:none;border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> <o:p> </o:p> </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> Wilson </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> Pinborough </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> Proust </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:1;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt'> Total word count : </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 417 </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 405 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 415 </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:2;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border-top:none;border-left: solid black 1.0pt;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt'> Number of different words : </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 325 </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 286 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 321 </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:3;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border-top:none;border-left: solid black 1.0pt;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt'> % Words that are unique: </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 77.9% </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 70.6% </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 77.3 </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:4;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border-top:none;border-left: solid black 1.0pt;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt'> Readability (Gunning-Fog Index) : (6-easy 20-hard) </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 3.5 </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 5.1 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 10 </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:5;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border-top:none;border-left: solid black 1.0pt;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt'> Average Syllables per Word: </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 1.47 </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 1.43 </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 1.51 </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:6;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border-top:none;border-left: solid black 1.0pt;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt'> Sentence count : </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 101 </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 67 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 41 </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:7;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border-top:none;border-left: solid black 1.0pt;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt'> Average sentence length (words) : </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 7.52 </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 10.77 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 21.05 </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:8;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border-top:none;border-left: solid black 1.0pt;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt'> Max sentence length (words) : </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 24 </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 34 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 78 </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:9;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border-top:none;border-left: solid black 1.0pt;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt'> Min sentence length (words) : </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 1 </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 1 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 2 </td> </tr> <tr style='mso-yfti-irow:10;mso-yfti-lastrow:yes;height:24.0pt'> <td width=181 valign=bottom style='width:135.75pt;border-top:none;border-left: solid black 1.0pt;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-right-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt'> Readability (Alternative) beta : (100-easy 20-hard, optimal 60-70) </td> <td width=80 valign=bottom style='width:59.65pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 74.8 </td> <td width=100 valign=bottom style='width:75.35pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 74.6 </td> <td width=72 valign=bottom style='width:.75in;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:24.0pt'> 57.9 </td> </tr> </table> Note the Gunning-Fog readability: Wilson and Pins are under six, Proust is almost twice Pinborough's score and nearly triple Wilson's. Proust is about 17 points lower on the alternate readability score. Average sentence length is within three words for Wilson and Pinborough, whereas Proust is double Pinborough's and almost triple Wilson's. So it looks like Wilson and Pinborough will do okay on that story. But neither should consider collaborating with Proust. <hr />Repairman Jack is the alter ego of F. PAUL WILSON, an award-winning New York Times bestselling author of more than 40 novels and many more short stories. His work, spanning horror, adventure, medical thrillers, science fiction, young adult, and virtually everything between, has been translated into 24 languages. Currently he is best known as creator of the urban mercenary Repairman Jack. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.repairmanjack.com">http://www.repairmanjack.com</a> / Twitter: <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/fpaulwilson">@fpaulwilson</a> / Facebook: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/fpaul.wilson">facebook.com/fpaul.wilson</a>2012-03-21T16:27:00ZWriting Books, Part Deux: Improv With Google DocsImagine if two or more authors could work on the same document at the same time and see each others' changes live. It's like authoring a conversation.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/personal-tech/digital-content/writing-books-part-deux-improv-with-goog/232602981?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<div style="margin:0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width:185px; float:left; text-align:center;"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/repairmanjack/silhouette-185.jpg" width="185" alt="F. Paul Wilson" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" /></div>As told by Repairman Jack... Collaborators fall together in different ways. Wilson's current collaboration followed a tortured path. <a target="_blank" href="http://sarahpinborough.com/">Sarah Pinborough</a>, a British writer, was scheduled to be a guest at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.campnecon.com/">NECon</a> in 2009. Wilson had never read her and always likes to have tried some of the guest's work. He bought <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tower-Hill-Sarah-Pinborough/dp/0843960523">Tower Hill</a> and was impressed by the unorthodox choices she made with the plot and the heroine. She had to cancel her NECon trip and so he sent her a complimentary email. A desultory correspondence began. The following year he was rebuffed by Amazon.uk when he tried to buy the ebook of her new novel, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Matter-Blood-Dog-Faced-Gods-Trilogy/dp/0575089474">A Matter of Blood</a> (U.S. rights had yet to be sold). She emailed him the PDF, which he stuck in his Kindle. He encountered a quantum leap in style, and was intrigued by a character referred to as "the man of flies." The name triggered images and scenarios that ran off at a ninety-degree angle from Blood. He knew he'd have to pursue those but felt it only fair to include Pinborough, if she was willing. And frankly, he knew the apocalyptic feel she'd brought to Blood would come in very handy. But Wilson lives down the Jersey Shore and Pinborough's a Londoner. Brits spell funny and have screwed-up punctuation, especially their quotation marks. Could this work? Wilson opened a Google Doc and committed his nascent ideas to digital paper. The (tongue-in-cheek) working title was "The Flies of the Lord" and he projected novella length. He gave Pinborough access to the doc and asked her if she wanted in. She was game but neither of them would be simultaneously free until late 2011-early 2012. No biggie. They'd keep adding ideas for characters and scenes and plot twists into the doc as they occurred. The other would drop by and comment on the ideas and enhance them or make an alternate suggestion. The result wasn't an outline, by any stretch; more like the ingredients for a stew without a recipe. Through a slow process of accretion, the doc grew; by the fall of 2011, when the World Fantasy Convention rolled into San Diego, they had something to talk about. Pinborough had crossed an ocean and a continent to attend, and the two of them sat down for a couple of hours of spitballing. Now, we've been talking all this cyber and digital stuff, and that's all great, but there's nothing like a face-to-face convo to make things gel in the planning stage. They'd met a few times before, but this was their first tête-à-tête, and the ideas flew. They nailed down what the novella would be about (beyond the global catastrophe of its plot) but they needed something immediate to involve the journalist protagonist. Pinborough had found something in her research for a YA novel that was deemed too dark for kids, but fit perfectly here. Wilson took that a step further, and suddenly they had a wicked and gruesome twist that delighted them both. The novella was now headed along a path neither could have predicted. They decided to set it in England (which meant they'd use Brit-style spelling and punctuation) and on a fragmented Dos Passos approach to convey the global scope of what was happening. Currently they're into the writing process, albeit in a somewhat epileptic fashion since each has other commitments. They're using Dropbox (as in <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/commentary/personal-tech/digital-content/232602390">Draculas</a>). Pinborough had never heard of it but she's taken to it swimmingly. They've kept the Google Doc as their idea well and are using it as a story map--not a full outline, but rather a progression of story beats a few chapters at a time. This way they won't feel locked down. But the need for face time is ongoing. For that they use Skype every few weeks. (For the two or three people out there who don't know, Skype provides a sort of audiovisual telephone call via the Internet.) The five-hour time difference between London and New Jersey means Pinborough's finished her morning writing by the time Wilson's making his first cup of coffee. But Skype has proved excellent for planning out their next moves. Now on to something really exciting. Two of the point-of-view characters are husband and wife. Oddly enough, Pinborough's been writing the male scenes and Wilson the female. They needed an argument between the two--a blow-up over religion--and the question arose: Who should write it? Wilson suggested they both write it--simultaneously. Make it like improv theater: Wilson, who had to memorize the Catholic catechism growing up, takes the religious wife; and Pinborough, who had a more secular upbringing, takes the skeptical husband. Yeah. Why not? At a preset date and time, they both showed up at the Google Doc and got into it. Pinborough had written the setup scene a few days before, and they jumped off from there. The result was ... electrifying. After some early, slightly barbed back and forth, the heat grew and things were said that seemed to come out of nowhere--things that had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with the crumbling relationship. On looking back, it all sprang from deep in the characters and their marriage as conceived, but neither Wilson nor Pinborough had realized the relationship had deteriorated to this point. Pinborough was delighted with the exchange and Wilson was positively giddy. The argument had reached into areas neither of them would have taken it alone. Beyond the addition of a few dialog tags, they decided to leave it just as it had gone down. They now knew that the answer to the old question of "Can this marriage be saved?" was a big fat "No". They resolved to arrange other improv encounters between characters. This can happen only with a collaboration and only with something like Google Docs. (Yes, a chat room would provide the same immediacy, but when they finished in Docs, the dialogue was all formatted and ready for pasting into the manuscript.) I'll keep you updated from time to time as to how it's going. In the meantime, if you're on Twitter you can follow Pins at <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/SarahPinborough">@SarahPinborough</a>; she's on Facebook too. But be warned: She occasionally uses language that would make Dorothy Parker blush. <hr />Repairman Jack is the alter ego of F. PAUL WILSON, an award-winning New York Times bestselling author of more than 40 novels and many more short stories. His work, spanning horror, adventure, medical thrillers, science fiction, young adult, and virtually everything between, has been translated into 24 languages. Currently he is best known as creator of the urban mercenary Repairman Jack. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.repairmanjack.com">http://www.repairmanjack.com</a> / Twitter: <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/fpaulwilson">@fpaulwilson</a> / Facebook: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/fpaul.wilson">facebook.com/fpaul.wilson</a> 2012-03-12T12:00:00ZWriting Books in the Cloud: Part 1Wilson and three other guys write a book using this cloud thing called Dropbox. http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/232602390?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<div style="margin:0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width:185px; float:left; text-align:center;"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/repairmanjack/silhouette-185.jpg" width="185" alt="F. Paul Wilson" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" /></div> As told by Repairman Jack... With a novel about Repairman Jack (that would be me) due every fall, plus side projects like <a target="_blank" href="http://www.repairmanjack.com/forum/content.php?84-Sims">Sims</a>, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.repairmanjack.com/forum/content.php?85-The-Fifth-Harmonic">The Fifth Harmonic</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.repairmanjack.com/forum/content.php?80-Midnight-Mass">Midnight Mass</a>, and later in the decade, a trilogy of novels about my teen years, Wilson had no time during the aughts even to think about a collaboration. And frankly, he wasn't keen on them anyway. For projects like TV and interactive, which by their very nature are collaborative, okay. Directors, artists, code monkeys, etc. are necessary evils that come with the territory. But with novels and stories he likes to be in control. (I know I've mentioned how anal he is.) So he hesitated when <a target="_blank" href="http://www.jakonrath.com/">Joe Konrath</a> contacted him in March of 2010 about a four-way collaboration on a novel they'd all self publish. Whoa. Collaborate with three other people on a novel? And the plot was already set? And he'd simply contribute characters and guide them through a quarter of the word count? Wilson's control alarms were clanging off the wall. On the plus side, his partners in the venture would be Konrath, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.blakecrouch.com/">Blake Crouch</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="http://jeffstrand.wordpress.com/">Jeff Strand</a>, three writers he knew and liked personally and respected professionally. So he was willing to listen. Konrath laid out the simple setup: vicious, blood-thirsty vampires running wild and multiplying in an isolated hospital. An enclosed environment where the situation deteriorates and spins out of control before anyone realizes what's happening. The title was <a target="_blank" href="http://www.repairmanjack.com/forum/content.php?75-Draculas">Draculas</a>. Okay, definite possibilities there, but four authors? Would their styles mesh? With <a target="_blank" href="http://mattcostello.com/">Matt Costello</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="http://web.me.com/stevenspruill/Site/Welcome.html">Steven Spruill</a>, Wilson had always done the final polish. (Not out of generosity ... the anal thing ... the control issues.) With four hands stirring the pot, the stitched-together final product could be a Frankenstein monster with all the scars showing. (Yes, that's a horribly mixed metaphor, but Wilson's the writer half. Deal with it.) Konrath assured him it wouldn't be a problem. Still Wilson hesitated, so I took him aside and told him to hang loose and go for it. The writing was scheduled to start in the summer. He'd have finished the first draft of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.repairmanjack.com/forum/content.php?92-The-Dark-at-the-End">The Dark at the End</a> by then. He always lets that first draft sit awhile before revising, so he had a window of free time. Why not put it to good use? Besides, Konrath was asking for only 15,000 or so words. Let it happen. Wilson took a deep breath and said yes. Each writer took two charactersa protagonist and a vampire. One of the suggested protagonists: "A gung-ho good ole boy gun-crazy cop (think Kevin Costner from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090022/">Silverado</a>) is the boyfriend of the historian. Meets her at the hospital (To propose? Has ring on him?)" I nudged Wilson toward him. We've done tons of research on guns for my books, plus he has a cadre of fans who do lots of shooting. Wilson was getting psyched now. He has a weak spot for gun porn, and now he could write some. So where does "cyber" (beyond email, of course) enter the collaboration? Konrath said they'd be using something he'd found extremely helpful in other collaborations (and he's done a fair number of them): a service called <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dropbox.com/">Dropbox</a>. It's a form of cloud storage locker with a handy share feature. Once you've installed it on your computer, you can create folders in the Dropbox that can be shared with others you designate. Konrath created a folder called DRACULAS with subfolders labeled "Joe," "Paul," "Blake," and "Jeff," and gave them all access. Dropbox proved crucial to the collaboration. With a loose outline that was little more than a timeline of the novel's major events, everyone agreed to write their characters' parts in a straight-line chronology and upload them to their own Dropbox subfolder as they were finished. This allowed the writers to see what was going on with the other characters as it was happening. Our anal friend Wilson never lets anyone see his first drafts, but since momentum was at stake (and because he felt at home with these three), he relented and uploaded his chapters as he wrote them, revising them later. It worked. One upload made each contributor's latest addition immediately available to the other three. As a result, the pace of the writing increased until the book was expanding at breakneck speed. Everyone went beyond their 15k commitment, amassing 70k words in just five weeks. The final manuscript totaled around 80k. And as the story progressed, a dynamic of one-upsmanship developed. It started with Konrath's line, "Is that a... flamingo?" If you've read Draculas, you haven't forgotten it. If not, you'll appreciate it when you hit it because it epitomizes the novel's unique blend of humor and over-the-top horror. I could hear Wilson thinking, 'He's going that far? Hmmm... I could push it a little further.' And so, when Crouch left Wilson's character with a horrifying situation to resolve on the OB floor, Wilson couldn't resist ratcheting it up a notch. The collaboration was smooth sailing until Wilson was ready to kill his character. The other authors wouldn't let him. They'd all come to love Deputy Clayton Theel and insisted he survive. They figured out a way to let that happen. By September Draculas was finished and scheduled for Halloween publication. They'd decided from the start that it would be an ebook. The reason? Each of the four authors had publishing contracts containing first-look clauses, but none of those covered collaborations on an indie-published book. The Kindle-exclusive route obviated negotiations with multiple publishers for permissions, etc. Another advantage to digital publication: They added extras such as interviews, short stories, and excerpts from other novels, plus all the emails exchanged between the writers during the course of creating the novel (an entertaining peek at the personalities of the authors and the creative process of a four-way collaboration). This literally doubled the word count and would have doubled production costs in a dead-tree book. It cost nothing extra in the ebook. For publicity, copies of the novel were emailed to a horde of bloggers with a request for a review. The blogosphere responded with enormous enthusiasm, and a buzz arose. On Halloween Draculas leaped onto Amazon's bestseller list. Throughout the course of planning, plotting, writing, publicizing, and publishing this novel, not a single sheet of paper was used. Not even in payment: Amazon made deposits to Konrath's bank and he distributed the royalties to the contributors' Paypal accounts. No checks were written. (An audiobook and a trade paperback were published later, but the whole process up to that point had been completely digital.) Next time: Writing Books in the Cloud: Part 2, in which Skype and Google docs contribute to a trans-Atlantic collaboration. <hr /> Repairman Jack is the alter ego of F. PAUL WILSON, an award-winning New York Times best-selling author of more than 40 novels and many more short stories. His work, spanning horror, adventure, medical thrillers, science fiction, young adult, and virtually everything between, has been translated into 24 languages. Currently he is best known as creator of the urban mercenary Repairman Jack. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.repairmanjack.com">http://www.repairmanjack.com</a> / Twitter: <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/fpaulwilson">@fpaulwilson</a> / Facebook: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/fpaul.wilson">facebook.com/fpaul.wilson</a>2012-02-24T13:00:00ZCyber collaboration: ThenWilson uses an exciting new technology called electronic mail to make the Faster Than Light Newsfeed on the nascent Sci-Fi Channel and several books and games happen.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/232601323?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<div style="margin:0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width:185px; float:left; text-align:center;"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/repairmanjack/silhouette-185.jpg" width="185" alt="F. Paul Wilson" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" /></div> As told by Repairman Jack... Way back in <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/commentary/personal-tech/desktop-pc/232301471">the first installment</a> I told you about Wilson's initial involvement with the Internet via the online service known as GEnie. He joined for the camaraderie of the other genre writers on board, sure, but he signed up for a more practical reason: access to email. He needed email because he was collaborating with Matt Costello on a project for the nascent Sci-Fi Channel (later renamed, perplexingly, Syfy). In the summer of 1992 Wilson received a call from a USA Network executive named Bob Siegal saying they were launching the Sci-Fi Channel soon and wanted him involved. USA Network was based in Manhattan and looking for an SF writer who lived in the northeast. Their plan was to insert daily newscasts from 150 years in the future between their regular programming. Could he design that future? Wilson was all for it until Siegal told him they needed it completed and set to go in six weeks. Big problem there. He needed to finish a book in time for the upcoming Frankfurt Book Fair, and no way could he do both. He remembered shooting the bull with a writer named Matt Costello at various <a target="_blank" href="http://www.campnecon.com/">NECons</a>--the small annual Rhode Island convention for writers and readers--and had been impressed with how quick and versatile he was. He'd also sensed that Costello had a work ethic similar to his own--which is, simply, sit down and do it. Plus he lived only an hour outside the city. So he turned down Siegal and gave him Costello's contact info. A day or two later the grateful Matt called back and asked was he sure he didn't want it? How about they split the work? Wilson reconsidered and has never regretted it. The Sci-Fi Channel gig turned out to be one of the best of his career. He and Matt got along swimmingly. They had minds that worked on the same wavelength, plus the network paid them handsomely and did not interfere. They worked their butts off that summer. Meetings in the city at the USA Network offices on Sixth Avenue, in coffee shops, in each other's kitchens, conference calls, and faxing--lots of faxing--between the Jersey Shore and Westchester County. But faxing wasn't working. Both guys were writing on computers but the convenience of a word processor was negated by the limitations of the fax machine: it could deliver only hard copy. That meant editing by hand and faxing back. Cumbersome as all hell. FedExing floppy disks back and forth on a daily basis would be prohibitively expensive. What to do, what to do? Matt Costello was the more wired of the two then--he was scripting an interactive CD-ROM called "The 7th Guest" for Trilobyte--and had heard of something called email. Not only were these electronic letters delivered almost instantaneously over the Internet, but digital attachments could hitchhike along--digital attachments like word-processor files. Yikes. Perfect. They joined GEnie and began swapping files via email. Wilson gave up his beloved WordStar for WordPerfect for DOS to be compatible with Matt, but no biggy. Email provided a quantum leap in their writing process. By the end of the summer they delivered a future scenario detailing the sociopolitical economic technological status of the planet Earth and near space for the year 2142, including biographies of all world leaders and entertainment personalities, long and short story arcs, one shots, and even commercials. They'd laid out the arcs in narrative form and in a flow sheet that showed what was happening when and where throughout the first year on a month by month and week by week basis. USA Network was, quite frankly, blown away by their "bible." They offered the guys a retainer to stay on board.< <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTL_Newsfeed">Faster Than Light Newsfeed</a> was born. The Sci-Fi channel handed the bible to a screenwriter named Russ Firestone, who scripted 30-second and later 60-second spots that would play one per day multiple times, five days a week, with all five repeating on weekends. Every so often he'd call them to provide fillers for the feeds. On Sept. 24, 1992, an FTL Newsfeed--their scenario, their characters, their format--launched the Sci-Fi Channel. Wilson and Costello watched from the launch party at Madison Square Garden. In 1994 the network asked Wilson and Costello to take over the scripting duties for a fee they couldn't refuse. The deliverables were 65 one-minute scripts in two-column A-V format every 13 weeks--the equivalent of four hours and 20 minutes of script every year. Now they really needed that email. They pretty much did whatever they wanted with the spots, and maybe drifted a little far out on occasion--like bringing in Professor Irwin Corey to explain the physics behind a new faster-than-light drive, not just once, but twice, because the press didn't understand him the first time. When one of the USA execs--none of whom seemed to know anything about SF--would ask, "Um, is this really science fiction?" Wilson and Costello would assure him that it was. After all, they were SF writers and who should know better? With the success of the Costello-scripted <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_7th_Guest">interactive CD-ROM "The 7th Guest"</a>--it went on to sell over two million copies and now there's even <a target="_blank" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-7th-guest/id407707744?mt=8">a version for iPhone and iPad</a>--Matt began receiving more interactive offers than he could handle. He asked Wilson to help him out and they formed a partnership. Lots more email collaboration and thousands of air miles produced much vaporware but did lead to <a target="_top" href="http://www.kidsclick.com/descrip/math_quest.htm">Disney's "Math Quest with Aladdin</a>." They also collaborated on two novels, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/Mirage-F-Paul-Wilson/dp/0446604739/">Mirage</a> and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/Masque-F-Paul-Wilson/dp/0446606766/">Masque</a> (the latter available now as an ebook under its original title, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/DNA-WARS-ebook/dp/B003TO6K44/">DNA Wars</a>). When the interactive market imploded along with the dot-com bubble, freelance script-and-design work dried up and Wilson and Costello drifted off to solo projects. Wilson shared credit with Steven Spruill on a thriller called <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/Nightkill-F-Paul-Wilson/dp/0812565363/">Nightkill</a> in 1997 but stayed solo thereafter. Until now. He's into new collaborative projects, and man, have things changed. Next time: Cyber-collaboration: Now. <hr> Repairman Jack is the alter ego of F. PAUL WILSON, an award-winning New York Times bestselling author of more than 40 novels and many more short stories. His work, spanning horror, adventure, medical thrillers, science fiction, young adult, and virtually everything between, has been translated into 24 languages. Currently he is best known as creator of the urban mercenary Repairman Jack. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.repairmanjack.com">http://www.repairmanjack.com</a> / Twitter: <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/fpaulwilson">@fpaulwilson</a> / Facebook: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/fpaul.wilson">facebook.com/fpaul.wilson</a>2012-02-15T18:36:00ZE-publishing, Part 4: E-looters And The Leech Mindset Our entitlement-addicted society has spawned a horde raised to believe that the world owes them, including free copies of Wilson's books.http://www.informationweek.com/news/232600964?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<div style="margin:0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width:195px; float:left; text-align:center;"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/repairmanjack/silhouette-185.jpg" width="185" alt="F. Paul Wilson" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" /></div> As told by Repairman Jack... Wilson just now--11:30 a.m. on Feb. 10--logged off ebookr.com where he found 133 e-book editions of almost everything he's written in almost every e-reader format. The site offers unlimited downloads for $14.95 a month. In effect, ebookr.com has declared itself F. Paul Wilson's publisher. One of many. The Internet is studded with looter sites that charge nada for downloads. (They do charge, however, for faster bit rates.) Wilson has been running a Google alert since May '08 and has found hundreds offering his work. He has neither the time nor the treasure to send lawyers after them. It's like playing Whack-A-Mole. And how do you get to servers in Vietnam? On a recent visit to a looter site we found dozens of his titles listed in order of downloads. The Keep came first with 19,725; The Tomb (the first novel with yours truly) followed with the same number. (Hey, if you're gonna grab one, why not grab them both? They're free, right?) The total downloads of the first five titles came to 92,226. We stopped counting there. Wilson has over 40 titles in print. The grand total would have been monumentally depressing. And that's just one site. Mention this and invariably one of the looter apologists brings up the music model, saying something like, "Look at the Grateful Dead. They let people record them live and share the tapes and it only increased attendance at their shows." Apples and oranges. The Dead's revenues came from their tours, not their records. Those so-called bootlegs (they can't be real bootlegs if they're sanctioned) advertised their concerts, which were not free. You had to pay to see the Dead live. (No pun intended. Okay, maybe a little.) An author's published work, on the other hand, is his concert. Giving away a free story or excerpt (and Wilson does this) might draw people in, but if he doesn't make the sale, he doesn't eat. Of course, self-pubbed newbie authors with little prospect of sales might offer free downloads of their work in the hope of gaining an audience for their later work, but it's their own work so they can choose to do what they wish with it. Another apologist mantra we hear ad nauseam: "A torrent download of a book isn't necessarily a lost sale." Whether that's true or not, so what? The book is not the site's to offer for download, free or otherwise. As for lost sales, have you ever opened an unsolicited email from a torrent site offering downloads of any author's work? Neither has Wilson. He has downloaded his own work from pirate sites to see what kind of quality they were offering but he had to go looking for them. He had to use Google or Bing to find the sites, then had to search out his titles within those sites. In other words, you've got to go looking for that free download. Do you go to that trouble if you're not interested? So maybe it is a lost sale. "The pirated downloads will introduce people to your work and generate more sales." This is the most naive. It happens, sure--guys love to justify their behavior in comment sections by saying an illegal download led to them becoming a faithful fan who now purchases everything said author publishes--but really, how many sales do you think were generated by those 92k downloads of Wilson's five titles from that one site? Once a leech, always a leech. And leeches don't pay for stuff. Our entitlement-addicted society has spawned a horde raised to believe that the world owes them. Owes them what? Everything. Owes them why? Well, because. They have no sense of "mine" and "not mine." Of if they do, their idea of "mine" is in line with Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary: "Belonging to me if I can hold or seize it." Leeches are obligate parasites who take-take-take; the concept of giving something in return is wholly alien. The Internet has exacerbated the leech mindset by offering so much for free for so long that many of us get downright hostile when we're asked to pay for content. I've seen it in Wilson himself: He'd rather buy a dead-tree edition of the Wall Street Journal than subscribe online. People behave in patterns. People who steal with no repercussions will continue to steal. (And "steal" is the proper term. What else do you call appropriating someone's work without permission or compensation?) Do you really think someone who steals The Tomb and likes it is going to run to Amazon and pay for Legacies and Conspiracies and the other dozen Repairman Jack e-books when they can steal them just as easily as the first? Are they going to pay even the measly $2.99 price tag Wilson has put on old titles he's uploaded himself when just about every freaking word he's ever written is available for free download? I don't know about your planet, but that's not about to happen on mine. So what's the solution? My personal preference is a flame thrower or low-yield nuclear devices, but that's not practical. Parasites are a fact of life and part of the cost of doing business. As long as enough stand-up folks pay their own freight to offset them, the producers and innovators will keep on trucking. We hope. <hr> Repairman Jack is the alter ego of F. PAUL WILSON, an award-winning New York Times bestselling author of more than 40 novels and many more short stories. His work, spanning horror, adventure, medical thrillers, science fiction, young adult, and virtually everything between, has been translated into 24 languages. Currently he is best known as creator of the urban mercenary Repairman Jack. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.repairmanjack.com">http://www.repairmanjack.com</a> / Twitter: <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/fpaulwilson">@fpaulwilson</a> / Facebook: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/fpaul.wilson">facebook.com/fpaul.wilson</a>2012-02-07T12:13:00ZE-publishing, Part 3: E-looters 101The moral simpletons who copy other people's intellectual property don't appreciate that anything they'd want to copy is the result of someone's hard work. Jerks.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/232600441?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<div style="margin:0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width:185px; float:left; text-align:center;"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/repairmanjack/silhouette-185.jpg" width="185" alt="F. Paul Wilson" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" /></div> As told by Repairman Jack... So now, with his international publishing empire, Wilson thinks he's F. Paul Hearst or the like. But he's not so smart. When he was publishing his Kindle editions he refused to add DRM. For those of you who don't know--I assume there must be some of you--that stands for Digital Rights Management, which means copy protection. I argued for DRM, but Wilson was adamantly opposed. His reasoning: Anyone who bought his ebooks should be able to read them on any platform they wish. If you download it to your Kindle, you should be free to use a program like Calibre to switch the format to one compatible with your iPhone. Sounds fair, right? But it makes it way too easy for the looters. You can call them pirates, if you wish. They like that. Kind of romantic and cool, like Jack Sparrow. But in reality they're looters, pure and simple. What else do you call someone who comes across another person's unprotected property, snatches it up, and takes it home? Wilson wasn't naive about the looters, but he thought he could make an end run around them by keeping his ebook price point low at $2.99. You see, a traditional publisher (a.k.a. dead-tree publisher) pays an author a royalty ranging anywhere from 6% to 10% of the cover price of a paperback. At 8%, a $7.99 paperback nets the author 64. At Amazon's 70% royalty, a $2.99 ebook yields a little over $2. The reader saves a few bucks and the author triples the royalty per copy. Ever hear a more obvious win-win? But as for stopping the looters: Wrong again, Paulie. They'd already stolen the novels about me from MacMillan and were bundling them in a single zip-file for download. Almost immediately they began swiping Wilson's self-published ebooks. A twisted part of me loves to watch the moral and ethical contortions the looters go through to justify their actions. My favorite is: "How can you accuse us of stealing when we're only copying? You still have yours." They even formed a looter advocacy group called questioncopyright.org whose motto is: "Copying is not theft." Yeah, you wish, buddy. They went as far as to create <a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeTybKL1pM4">this moronic video</a>. (Chew a couple of Tums before you watch.) This has helped me understand the looters. I thought they were sociopaths or merely morally bankrupt. Well, they're that, but the video makes it clear that they suffer from an incapacity for critical thinking; these lines from the song (written by someone named Nina Paley) make the case: If I steal your bicycle, you'll have to take the bus. But if I just copy it, there's one for each of us. Copy a bicycle? You mean like, scan it? Or download it? If you copy my bike, you'll have to work. And even before you copy the bike, you'll have to learn how to weld and how to use tools. And then (get the smelling salts ready) you'll have to buy the metal tubing and tires and gears and spend time assembling them, maybe even thinking about how to arrange the gears. You might have to sweat, you might get your hands dirty. And you know what? In the end, you will have created something where there was nothing before. It won't be a copy, it will be yours. Then maybe all the clones with all their stolen discs and books at the end of the video won't look so cute. Sharing ideas with everyone That's why copying is fuuuuuuun! Yeah. Tons o' fun when what's being copied would not exist without someone else's intellectual sweat and is the source of that someone's livelihood. Some looters use the library model: libraries buy one copy and give it to many readers. They claim they're simply doing the same. Think again. Libraries get the book back after each reading. And libraries pay for every copy on their shelves. <hr><blockquote>Who is this Repairman Jack guy? <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/authors/7129">Click here to read the rest of his work.</a></blockquote><hr> Is it okay to go into a sculptor's studio, make casts of his creations, then sell them in your gallery? Of course not. But somehow it's okay to go steal an author's work and duplicate it ad infinitum. The rationale seems to be if it's not a physical object, it can't be owned. But that digital object did not spring de novo from the Internet. It is the result of a lot of physical (typing) and intellectual (thinking) effort by a human being. The looters even pose as writers. A bonehead named David Shields "wants writers to ignore the laws regarding appropriation and create new forms for the 21st century." <a target="_blank" href="http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/270740/april-14-2010/david-shields">He said this on the Colbert Report.</a> You've got to see it to believe it. The gall of this clown. But Colbert was the perfect interviewer. One of his comments was a thing of beauty: "Could I create new forms for the 21st century by ignoring property rights and obliterating my neighbor's front door? Because you know what would look good in my house? Your things." That pretty much sums it up. If only simple theft were the limit of the looters' greed. Not satisfied with merely stealing the work, they've been duplicating it and reselling it, becoming Wilson's de facto publisher. But I'm running out of room, and I'm only getting started. Next time: E-publishing, Part 4: E-looters and the leech mindset. <hr> Repairman Jack is the alter ego of F. PAUL WILSON, an award-winning New York Times bestselling author of more than 40 novels and many more short stories. His work, spanning horror, adventure, medical thrillers, science fiction, young adult, and virtually everything between, has been translated into 24 languages. Currently he is best known as creator of the urban mercenary Repairman Jack. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.repairmanjack.com">http://www.repairmanjack.com</a> / Twitter: <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/fpaulwilson">@fpaulwilson</a> / Facebook: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/fpaul.wilson">facebook.com/fpaul.wilson</a>2012-01-31T14:55:00ZE-publishing Part 2: Kindle NationReaders like their Kindles, but authors love them. E-publishing gave new life to Wilson's old books and it's easy money.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/232500820?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<div style="margin:0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width:185px; float:left; text-align:center;"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/repairmanjack/silhouette-185.jpg" width="185" alt="F. Paul Wilson" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" /></div> As told by Repairman Jack... That first <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0051QVESA">Kindle</a> in December of 2007 was a clunky thing. Rocket and SoftBook had been around since the late '90s and the Sony Reader had been released in the U.S. the year before. The Kindle seemed like a me-too product. Wilson wasn't impressed. (But then, he'd also predicted that vampire fiction would die in the mid-90s and thereafter writers wouldn't be able to give away vampire novels, so I took his Kindle prediction with the proverbial grain of salt.) Although Amazon was coy about sales numbers, rumor had it that by the end of 2009 the company had sold 3 million Kindles. Now Wilson was impressed. Only avid readers sprang for a Kindle, and that meant 3 million readers had no access to many of his titles. Hard copies of his books have always sold well on Amazon, thanks mainly to Barnes & Noble's peculiar reluctance to stock his backlist in any meaningful depth. Via the forum on his website he repeatedly heard from frustrated readers who'd given up on their local B&N and turned to Amazon. So when his editor told him that Amazon wasn't terribly important to the company's overall sales, Wilson told him it was to his. Accepting the challenge, his editor went to his computer and called up the figures. After studying the spreadsheets he said, "Well, you're an exception." The wheels began turning. Wilson had written sci-fi all through the '70s and had never signed away the e-rights to any of those novels and stories. Why not put them to work on a new platform? Joe Konrath was telling him to do-it-do-it-do-it. Trouble was, they were mostly in .pdf files and he hadn't the faintest idea how to adapt them. His agent provided a contact. Amazon turned out to be very accommodating for a bestselling author who wanted to e-publish his award-winning LaNague Federation novels with them. Wilson was most concerned about the formatting of one of the books. Healer, Wheels Within Wheels, and The Tery and Dydeetown World contained simple narrative text. But An Enemy of the State was peppered with flyers that were crucial to the story. If they could not be properly formatted into the text, the novel would suffer. But the Amazon folks worked it out in return for a one-year exclusive on the epub rights. They offered a 35% royalty, scheduled to rise to 70% during the coming summer. (Are you kidding?) Sold. So, on St. Patrick's Day 2010, the five volumes of the complete LaNague Federation series--novels combined with all the short stories--went live on Amazon for a mere $2.99 each. (Why so low? We'll get into pricing when we talk about theft next time.) Of course, there had to be a glitch, right? The last three chapters of An Enemy of the State were missing. But when readers pointed this out, Amazon restored the chapters and zapped replacement copies to the Kindles of all who had purchased the book. Wilson was impressed. (So was I, for that matter.) He was also impressed with the checks Amazon started depositing directly into his bank account every month. On June 1, 2010, Amazon Shorts was terminated, but no one missed it. Amazon Singles replaced it. Wilson, now a believer, began converting the pre-2000 backlist and putting it online. He's had to learn more HTML than he cares to know, but no biggie. He's had to ask for help now and again (the illustrations in Sibs were tricky), but on the whole, he's in control. He could have hired someone to do the conversions, but he's too anal. He wants it just the way he wants it and no one but he knows just the way he wants it. (The guy can be a real pain in the ass, let me tell you.) So he's now a publisher, and not just an American publisher--he's gone international. He realized that even though his trade publisher owns e-rights to U.S. and Canada and a few other markets, Wilson holds all the others-- everywhere else. So now those books are going up for sale on Amazon.uk and .de and .es and .jp and so on. The 70% royalty checks keep getting bigger and the statements are simple spreadsheets. Really, could it get any better? Well, certain flies could be removed from the ointment. Next time: Internet looters. Repairman Jack is the alter ego of F. PAUL WILSON, an award-winning New York Times best-selling author of more than 40 novels and many more short stories. His work, which spans horror, adventure, medical thrillers, science fiction, young adult, and virtually everything between, has been translated into 24 languages. Currently he is best known as creator of the urban mercenary Repairman Jack. (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.repairmanjack.com">http://www.repairmanjack.com</a>) 2012-01-23T06:00:00ZE-Publishing, Part 1: In The BeginningIt's only in the last few years that the world was ready for electronic book publishing, and now it's unstoppable.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/232500128?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<div style="margin:0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width:185px; float:left; text-align:center;"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/repairmanjack/silhouette-185.jpg" width="185" alt="F. Paul Wilson" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" /> </div> As told by Repairman Jack... Wilson thinks he's a publisher now. Sort of. He's got a bunch of digital titles in print in various formats, and even a couple available as POD (that's Print On Demand for the non-cognoscenti). Even has a name for his company: Wilsongs. Cute, huh? I'm not going to attempt anything like a comprehensive history, simply one writer's journey through the e-pub maze. I was along for the ridean intimate part of it, in factso I know. Wilson flirted with electronic publishing very early onlike 1993when he became involved with the granddaddy of all ebooks, <a target="_top" href="http://www.templetons.com/brad/ebooks-clarinet.html">Brad Templeton's ClariNet Library of Tomorrow</a>. But the world wasn't quite ready back then for what ClariNet was offering. Through the years, he kept the electronic rights to his fiction whenever he could. Why? Well, just because. No big deal until the aughts. E-rights didn't exist in the 60s and 70s, and when the publisher would add "electronic" to the laundry list of rights it wanted in the 90s, he (via his agent, Al Zuckerman) would cross it out. Never a peep from the publisher. My how things have changed. These days, electronic rights can be a deal breaker. Come May 2005, he hears from Simon Lipskar at <a target="_top" href="http://writershouse.com/">Writers House</a> (his literary agency) that Amazon is starting a new project, Amazon Shorts, with an eye to making short fiction and nonfiction by established authors available for download. He immediately sees what this means: Amazon.com is getting into the publishing business. Interesting. Here's the plan: They'll charge $0.49 a pop and are offering a sixty-forty split. It's invitation only so he's got to keep mum because there's a non-disclosure agreement involved. Does he want in? Hell, yeah, he wants in. Forty percent of $0.49 is only a hair shy of 20 cents, but it's a forty-percent royalty. Whoever heard of a 40% royalty? He knows the future when he sees it. He signs the NDA, then realizes he's too booked up to write something new. No problem. He's got this old story about Yours Truly called "The Long Way Home." He wrote it back in 1992 for Joe and Karen Lansdale's <a target="_top" href="http://www.amazon.com/Dark-at-Heart-Karen-Lansdale/dp/0913165646">Dark at Heart</a>, a small press anthology limited to 400 copies. So at most, 400 people read the story more than a dozen years ago, and it's never been reprinted. Virtually a new story. So he sends it in. An agent from Writers House emails him the next morning that Amazon is "adamant" about no previously published material. Well, so much for that. Too bad. Would have been nice to get in on something new like that. Six hours later the agent is back: "Sounds like Amazon realized how ludicrous their position was in regard to your piece, because they've changed their minds. In fact, Jeff Bezos himself said to screw the technicality in this case." Nice to know Jeff Bezos has even heard of him. Even nicer that after Amazon Shorts is launched in August, "The Long Way Home" becomes the #1 fiction download for 2005 and for all of 2006. (It held the #2 spot in overall downloads, with the #1 spot going to a nonfiction investing piece.) Eventually Shorts was opened to any author who had a backlist on Amazon and the catalogue of stories and articles grew to nearly 2,000. Truth be told, despite the popularity of his story, Wilson didn't exactly clean up. Amazon Shorts was not a runaway success with the public. But one thing he did notice was a definite uptick in his backlist sales. People who read "The Long Way Home" wanted to read more about Yours Truly, and so they followed the links to Wilson's older Repairman Jack titles. At the time, he figured this was the strategy behind Amazon Shorts. He was probably right to a point, but he was definitely wrong too. Because in the fall of 2007, just a little over two years after Amazon became a publisher, it introduced the first Kindle. And that, as they say, was the game changer. Next time: Kindle Nation Repairman Jack is the alter ego of F. PAUL WILSON, an award-winning New York Times bestselling author of more than 40 novels and many more short stories. His work, spanning horror, adventure, medical thrillers, science fiction, young adult, and virtually everything between, has been translated into 24 languages. Currently he is best known as creator of the urban mercenary Repairman Jack. (<a target="_new" href="http://www.repairmanjack.com">http://www.repairmanjack.com</a>)2012-01-17T12:00:00ZRandom Bursts of Cortical ActivityF. Paul Wilson isn't a tech guy, but he's no stranger to computers. And now Repairman Jack, his most famous creation, spills the technology beans on his personal pixel slinger.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/232301471?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<div style="margin:0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width:185px; float:left; text-align:center;"> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/repairmanjack/silhouette-185.jpg" width="185" alt="F. Paul Wilson" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" /> </div> As told by Repairman Jack... Byte asked has F. Paul Wilson to contribute bits and pieces about the interfaces of technology and writing and, you know... stuff. On the surface, this may strike some as kind of strange. When he mentioned it on Facebook, one of his gay friends posted: "They asked YOU to write about tech stuff? That's like someone asking me to write a book about seducing women." Not so fast. Let's take a look back at F. Paul Wilson. (Add ! and it sounds rather pejorative, don't you think?) He could call himself simply "Paul Wilson"everyone else doesbut he feels compelled to add the "F" when he writes. He never could get used to being called Francis. We met in the early 80s... when he created me. Jump back to 1980: It's <a target="_new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/38th_World_Science_Fiction_Convention">the World Science Fiction convention in Boston</a> where Wilson is talking to Joe Haldeman at a SFWA reception. Joe mentions he's writing his current novel on a computer using something called a "word processor." What the hell is that? When Joe explains what it does, Wilson realizes such a miracle could probably pay for itself with what he'll save on Wite-Out alone. (He was a lousy typist then and, after literally millions of words of published fiction, still uses only two fingers.) When he received his advance for <a target="_new" href="http://www.repairmanjack.com/forum/content.php?49-The-Keep">The Keep</a>, Wilson bought an Apple II+ with dual 5.25" floppy drives and 32k RAM. He could have splurged for 64k but who in the world would ever need that? He also bought a word processor called Apple Writer 1.1 that displayed all-uppercase text in 40 columns on his black-and-white monitor, and broke words wherever it damn well pleased in the wraparound. The rig cost over three granda lot of Wite-Out. He wrote <a target="_new" href="http://www.repairmanjack.com/forum/content.php?39-The-Tomb">The Tomb</a>, my debut novel, on that Apple, and I've been riding his cortex ever since. <div style="margin:0; padding: 0 0 10px 10px; width:185px; float:right; text-align:center;"> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/repairmanjack/silhouette-2.jpg" width="185" alt="Repairman Jack" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" /> </div> He stayed loyal to Apple until PCs dominated the installed base to the point where he could no longer trade disks with any of his friends. He switched to a PC. Wilson tended to be an early adopter when it came to technology. He bought a Motorola bag phone in the early 90salso called a "mobile phone" or "car phone" back thenwith a huge battery that plugged into the car lighter and charged a shocking rate per minute. For years he'd been hearing about something called the Internet where people could interact through their computers. In 1992 he took the plunge, bought himself a top-of-the-line 14.4 kb modem, and checked out the bulletin boards. He joined an online service called GEnieGeneral Electric Network for Information Exchange. This was before the World Wide Webvery crude by modern standards, all text, no graphics (unless you consider ASCII art and smilies graphics). You had CompuServe, Delphi, and The Source available, but GEnie became the hang for all the tech-savvy sf, horror, and fantasy writers of the day. Lots of discussion groups, and something called... emailletters sent at electron speed. Think of all the money he could save on stamps! Then he learned he could attach documents to emails and swap them with other writers. Dude, talk about wired. (And yes, this was before <a target="_new" href="http://www.wired.com/">Wired</a> the magazine pubbed its first issue.) The e-letter itself would arrive in seconds, but then he had to download the attachment. Watching the download progress through a 14.4kb modem was excruciating. Imagine sucking a gallon of spackle through a straw. Wilson was not an early adopter of the mouse, however, preferring to key in DOS commands until the day he agreed to be a beta tester for Windows 95. He needed a mouse for that and immediately realized that the GUI was the wave of the future. Like many other writers, Wilson landed at AOL during the post-GEnie diaspora in the late 90s. Speedier, prettier, yesbut just not the same. In 1997, fourteen years after writing The Tomb, he started my second novel. <a target="_new" href="http://www.repairmanjack.com/forum/content.php?38-Legacies">Legacies</a>. Published in the fall of 1998, it was such a hit that the publisher wanted another. Seeing the writing on the wall, Wilson purchased a domain name. F. Paul Wilson fansites had been around for years, but in March of 1999 he went live with his own: <a target="_new" href="http://www.repairmanjack.com">repairmanjack.com</a>. Hits peaked at 3.5 million per month from 2008 to 2010, but have slipped to about 2.5 million or so since he started sharing his online time with Twitter and Facebook. So it's not a mindbending stretch that he'll be contributing to Byte. But I warn you: His mind wanders, so these bits and pieces might wander as well. But they'll be filtered through me to keep them honest and keep him in lineso he doesn't waste your time just blowing his own horn (as writers are wont to do). Watch this space. Jack F. PAUL WILSON is an award-winning, NY Times bestselling author of forty-plus novels and many more short stories. His work, spanning horror, adventure, medical thrillers, science fiction, young adult, and virtually everything between, has been translated into twenty-four languages. Currently he is best known as creator of the urban mercenary Repairman Jack. (<a target="_new" href="http://www.repairmanjack.com">http://www.repairmanjack.com</a>)