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Originally Posted by wufwugy
Hey dude I just wanna pop in here and say I'm sorry I haven't gotten to reading your book yet. I wanted to be a part of this because I feel like it something I should do for several reasons, but I also haven't read a novel in ten years. Without going into any details of why, let me just say that I have a mental block against reading fiction. But I do plan on reading your novel and giving input because I think the idea is really great and the analytical process would benefit me even. I'm just taking my time getting around to it, I guess.
FWIW I have recently discovered I love Kurt Vonnegut's writing, but still can't bring myself to read one of his novels. Whatever, this isn't about me, just felt like you deserved an explanation since you sent the text yet I haven't done anything with it
We're not so different, you and I.
I mean, we are on some logistical levels simply because I had to get my terminal degree in English somehow, but our fundamental relationships with fiction aren't necessarily so different. This novel is, first and foremost, a novel written by an ADHD'ed person who grew up on the internet and first-person shooter games, and written FOR an ADHD'ed generation that grew up on the internet and first-person shooter games.
Speaking of Vonnegut, he once said (though I can't find the quote) that he wrote short novels because he wanted to be read by people of influence, and people like businessmen and politicians are too busy to have time to read Middle March. I decided to write a short novel because I think the length of the novel is quite possibly the single most important attribute that determines how likely a member of this ADHDed archetype I wrote this for is to ACTUALLY finish a novel.
I thought about Vonnegut a lot in this respect. One of the very few novels I've read more than once is Vonnegut's shortest work (Slaughterhouse V), my favorite novel written by him is his second shortest work (God Bless you, Mr Rosewater), I have read his teeny-tiny essay thing God Bless you, Dr Kevorkian, and I have read several of his short stories. Other than that, I am 1 for 3 on finishing his 300+ page novels that I started (I finished Galapagos, and did not finish Cat's Cradle or Jailbird).
Anyway, that's a small sample size but that's very representative of my relationship with novels overall. I think there's something psychologically discouraging for someone like me (and maybe you, too) to get 150 pages into a novel, and STILL have 67% of the novel to go, including so much of the exposition, character development, etc that it's yet to even get me fully invested into the main conflict at hand. The idea of the structure of Utility is that once you get 100 pages into it, the exposition and character development and all that fun stuff are all done--you should at that point have your seat belts buckled as you prepare for the rise to the climax and then the ultimate resolution of the novel.
Not that I think that all novels will have to look like this one in order to keep our generation's attention, but this was the very purposeful approach I took with this particular novel. This also isn't meant to convince you or others to read it or anything, since you've already said you intend to, but you are far from the first person that I know of who has an aversion to fiction, yet likes Vonnegut (I would put myself in this category, or at least my 18-year-old self), and I've put a lot of thought into that.
Also, there is a shout out to Vonnegut in this novel that I'm pretty sure many Vonnegut fans will appreciate.
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