New New Marketing for SF Creatives: Making It Real

Okay. It seems like a lot of us are getting the new marketing religion. Science fiction writers are blogging, getting on the social networks, putting stuff up on YouTube and Flickr. There’s even been some acceleration in the “popular metascience” space, with the introduction of the io9 blog.

But where do we take it from here?

Well, there are lots of things you can do. Here, we’re going to look at one of the most difficult, rewarding, frustrating, time-consuming, breakthrough-inducing things you can do. Specifically, fleshing out your writing by treating it as an alternate reality—and building things that help make it real.

I’m talking about producing alternate reality sites and artifacts.

What do I mean? Consider the sites for Oceanic Airlines and the Hanso Foundation for ABC’s Lost. Consider the site for Enitech Labs. Consider my own Manoa sim in Second Life (darn those time-traveling, cross-worlding Winfinity bastards), or Talisman Bay, the creepy California coastal town that a lot of my wife’s work takes place in.

Wait a minute! You’re probably saying. Build sites for fictitious organizations and companies and towns and such? That’s a whole trailer-full of work!

Maybe. And maybe not. You can make alternate realities as big or as small as you want. A password-protected site containing a character’s secret diaries. A link to a newsclipping. A simple site showing the results of some questionable research.

Yeah, and you’re still crazy. I’d rather be writing.

What do you think this is? This is 100% writing–and this is some of the most powerful writing you can do. Instead of blogging about your dogs and your vacation schedule or how the world is going to hell to create a post every day, turn some of that energy towards this!

You’ll quickly find that creating an alternate reality site for your little town makes you really think about how the town works. Who’s the mayor? When was it founded? What are its newspapers? Who are its local characters? What are the local businesses? Suddenly, your work becomes more three-dimensional, because you’re forced to really, truly understand your location. Or consider the example of a character’s secret diaries. By writing these, you get into the mind of the character on a much deeper level–and you create the backstory that makes your writing have even more realism and resonance. Or that newspaper clipping? Well, not only will you learn who wrote it (and have an opportunity to create another character), you’ll know more about how your world has seen your newsworthy incident.

And it does more than sharpen your work. Consider this: What’s the worst thing about a great story or novel? The fact that it has to end.

Of course, as a writer, you know it has to end. There’s no choice. That’s the way writing works. But for your fan, waiting breathlessly for your years-away next novel, it’s a big letdown. Alternate realities allow them to explore the world in greater detail. It helps keep up the momentum while you work.

And it gives them a reason to come back, again and again and again.

February 14th, 2008 /