Plotting in the Internet Age
I've idly worried from time to time that some of the plot features that were so deliciously crucial to the classic novel (strangers coming to town, people who couldn't be reached because they weren't near a phone, letters that arrived too late to be of help) were now obsolete in the age of instant access and complete information. So many of the obstacles that could drive (or delay) the meeting of hero and heroine or detective and quarry have now been removed. How would novelists respond? Obviously the new technology presents its own potential plots, and I was interested to open up a new novel that arrived in the mail today and find that a familiar feature of our own internet retail operation can play a central role in a very modern mystery. I'll quote the short prologue to Obedience, a debut thriller by Will Lavender, in full:
Run an Internet search using the name Deanna Ward
You will get over 275 hits. Click on the first one. This is an article by a man named Nicholas Bourdoix.
Read this article. You will learn that eighteen-year-old Deanna Ward went missing from Cale, Indiana, on August 1, 1986. Police thought they had found Deanna four days later, on August 5, but they had not; this was a girl who simply looked like Deanna. The Deanna Ward case remains unsolved.
Run another search: "Nicholas Bourdoix."
You will get over 6,500 hits. Mr. Bourdoix graduated from Winchester University in DeLane, Indiana. He worked for fourteen years at the Cale [Indiana] Star before moving to the New York Times in 1995.
Run an Amazon search for Mr. Bourdoix. His latest book is a memoir about his career as a crime journalist. It is called The Beaten Trail: My Life Covering Horrors and Hoaxes. There are exactly twelve pages given to his years in Indiana.
There is a customer review of this book toward the bottom of the page. You will know it because it is the only review given. The reviewer awards the book one star and suggests, in rather harsh language, that readers not buy Mr. Bourdoix's "lying crap."
The reviewer's name is Deanna Ward.
Hooked? Having seen so many of these angry reviews by people with personal knowledge of the books' subjects ("Joe Smith is my brother-in-law and I can assure you that he is nothing like the portrayal of him in Doctor of Death."), I am. Obedience doesn't come out until February 19, which explains why it doesn't have any customer reviews itself yet. --Tom
Allie on February 08, 2008 at 06:52 PM
Wow! I am already hooked on the book!! It's on my list of books to get!! Can't wait to read it!
Allie on February 08, 2008 at 06:53 PM
Wow! I am already hooked on the book!! It's on my list of books to get!! Can't wait to read it!
willis on February 09, 2008 at 09:02 AM
Fabulous! Stunning! Spell-Binding!
...Roget's Thesauras
Ellen on February 09, 2008 at 09:35 AM
The Internet giveth, and the Internet taketh away. And it doesn't do so equally. The computer-savvy know things ahead of time, and can dig for clues. The un-savvy get blindsided. Mysteries have always paid attention to who is connected, who is not - now we have a new breed of connection to consider.
Technology has shifted the ground under writers' feet before. John D. MacDonald's "Murder in the Wind" was published in 1956, before weather satellites. Surprise! A hurricane blows in! Violence and suspense ensue! This plot can still be used, but the 'surprise' element needs a lot more work to make it plausible. Before that, discovery of the uses of fingerprints changed many a clueless case into a solvable one.
And let us not forget science fiction. Lord knows, discoveries about our solar system have rendered enough adventure-stories-on-Mars obsolescent. Which just means the stories took place, not on OUR Mars, but on another planet of the same name.
As the world changes, the stories change. But they still exist.
Nicole Tedesco on February 10, 2008 at 09:53 PM
This reminds me of Umberto Ecco's book, "Foucault's Pendulum" where two computer nerds developed a program to link unrelated documents together semantically in a similar way mentioned here. Before our heros knew it, they were uncovering the deepest mysteries of the Rosicrucians, Masons, and various Illuminati-like conspiracies. This, in my opinion, is the original and better "Davinci Code."
Jody on February 17, 2008 at 10:29 AM
I was so intrigued by this entry that I wanted to find out whether it might inspire my long-slumbering muse to at least aid me in beginning the great American novel that I have been trying to hatch for 67 years. I began with a name of someone I actually know that I was actually a little curious about. I thought her name was distinctive enough to yield a modest number of hits. I not only searched her name on Google, but also limited my search to the mid-sized city she lives in. Thousands of references emerged, tho a quick scan did not reveal anyone I had ever heard of except for the person who I originally had Googled. As I write the above, I suddenly realize that this is the beauty of the whole device. A plot involving the endless possibilities for mistaken identities, doppelgangeren, impostors, saints, sinners, etc., etc. all of whom share the same name and live in one limited area is indeed intriguing. I think I will begin writing my novel tomorrow