Romancing the Blog | Romance Authors and Readers Who Blog

Way back in, oh, I think it was 1992, I had an obsession with eating pizza. It was due to the book Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. One of the main characters was the “Deliverator”, your basic futurist Domino’s delivery person.

Reading about pizza makes me crave pizza. I am probably a marketer’s dream.

Snow Crash introduced the world to the Metaverse, a robust virtual world where real-life (and virtual) business was transacted in a virtual environment. Rather than face-to-face in-person meetings, it featured face-to-face avatar meetings. The line between reality and the Metaverse was fluid. The two impacted each other in the same way that the actions of China impact U.S. policies.

That sort of powerful connectiveness is not, by the way, the case in Second Life, a real-life (hmm, virtual real-life?) representation of Stephenson’s vision. As the reporter I hired to cover Second Life for Booksquare recently noted, the resemblance is so real that “…Stephenson should probably consider suing for royalties. Or at least get his own virtual island for free.”

Of course, Neal Stephenson is too busy in the Baroque era to worry about the manifestation of his imagination. Or maybe he figures it was one of those ideas that was so obvious, somebody would create it.

Second Life, I’m going to tell, you is weird. Not weird as in “the first time you eat sashimi” way, but weird in the anything goes sort of way. The kind of weird that makes you want to leap in and join the fun…or the kind of fun that makes you think, “Hmm, I think I’m going to take my time with this crazy thing.” It is as normal as your basic suburban neighborhood and as strange as you imagine the your crazy neighbor’s garage. Whatever you can imagine, you can build. The laws of gravity and physics and – unfortunately – good taste have no place in Second Life.

Okay, maybe some laws of physics. I never did pay the kind of attention to the hard sciences I should have. The good taste is a matter of opinion, and, well, you have to wonder about people sometimes.

Authors and publishers are naturally migrating to the virtual world, some very successfully, some with the same kind of caution that makes it clear that they are not ready for the experience. In the article noted about, Second Life reporter Ronin Kurosawa (a real human who is seeing his freelance career explode due to his unique beat) looks at the publishing industry in Second Life; he’s finishing up on a second article about what authors are doing. It should be posted on Booksquare next week. I’ve seen the drafts and do recommend that you check it out as there are some cool things happening.

Since he’s going to deal with the reality of Second Life, I thought that I would focus on the possibility of the virtual world. One thing that I think is important to remember is that, unlike other worlds, you, the creator or purchaser of property actually own that property. What you build is yours. People are making money in Second Life just like real life.

They’re also spending money and some of the ideas I’ve had for authors and publishers who enter this virtual world do require some sort of cash outlay. The good news is that the value of the Linden (the Second Life currency) to the dollar is about 268:1. It seems like you’re spending a lot of money, but it’s really not a huge amount. Unless you go crazy.

I don’t advise going crazy. Start moderate and see how it goes.

In addition to using Second Life for writing, authors can use Second Life for world-building. There is a region called “Caledon” in Second Life. I was made aware of it when someone on a readers’ list alerted the group to a virtual exhibition of cartoons about the Prince Regent. Regency fans who couldn’t afford to visit the UK could wander and view these cartoons in great detail. Sure you could go the organization’s website to see these images, or you could interact with them much in the way you would a physical museum (complete with benches to rest your weary virtual feet).

But Caledon itself is fascinating. It is a very detailed – very detailed – representation of a Steampunk village (Steampunk being that weird nexus between Victorian technology and punk rock attitude), done up in Victorian style. As you wander through shops and offices and even homes, you are treated to a rich visual experience. Details from flickering gas lamps to ornate carpeting capture the eye. Walls are textured, paintings on walls are detailed, the crown moulding is three dimensional. Outside the buildings, green space and walkways meander through the village.

If you are a creator of a “world” – be it Hogwarts or a gritty interplanetary adventure – you can use Second Life to build your world beyond the book. Rather than trying to imagine the layout of a house, you can build the house with secret staircases and all. This is a great opportunity for authors who want to extend their readers’ experience beyond the book, to tell the story in a different way. Imagine what you could do with your work if you built out a virtual representation of a fictional place.

I’m sure even the most casual self-promoters among you can see the possibilities for creating new kinds of promotion as well.

Another fun possibility of Second Life is character development. I know one participant who has used his experience to work out the actions and reactions of various characters. He is developing character voice and mannerisms. How does this man walk? What does he wear? What happens when he encounters a walking, talking butterfly on the street? He practices speech patterns as he talks to other members of Second Life.

Rather than endless character sketches, you can use the virtual world to find your character’s voice (note: by voice, I mean written voice; SL is rolling out voice capability very soon, but it’s not the right choice for all participants, reasons being obvious!).

Likewise, you can use the space to plot and block scenes. Even sex scenes. Continuing with the example of a Regency romance, one could recreate a town home, a salon, even young bucks surrounding the roaring fire. You can see the room from the perspective of your point-of-view character. What does he or she see?

If you’re creative, you don’t even need your own virtual property and buildings. If I were writing a historical novel, I might just sneak into Caledon (using the SL search engine) and spend some time in the buildings there. You will also find virtual offices, houses, treehouses, submarines, even true-down-to-the-last-detail airplanes. I think one of the great strengths of this virtual world in the future will be the ability to render objects we interact with in a flat or limited point-of-view in a three-dimensional way.

And by three-dimensional, yes, if your avatar doesn’t dress in a flattering style, there’s a chance that his/her/its butt does look big in that outfit. And everyone can tell.

You can also, with a useful and loving friend, actually “act” out certain scenes to get a sense of dialogue and action.

Oh, yes, Second Life comes with a learning curve. My avatar has mastered the knack of flying, but is not so good with the landing. And in Second Life, as in real life, she is obsessed with shoe shopping. The overall shopping experience in Second Life is not a rich as it could be, especially considering the rich capabilities of the virtual environment. This is, I believe, more a matter of resource (computing) management than lack of imagination.

So go ahead, login, pick a crazy name (I’m Bernadette Voom and my avatar looks amazingly like my Booksquare logo), and fly around.

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