Comments on: A rose by any other name

By: MoJo

MoJo — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:36:10 +0000

You know, I have my problems with President Kimball, but a new printing of an old book or 4 isn’t exactly the greatest ACCOMPLISHMENT of his presidency, hello 1978 revelation.

By: Th.

Th. — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 06:19:22 +0000

I’m too young to remember it from when it happened, but remember when Elder Packer said the new publications of the standard works were a fulfillment of prophecy (the two sticks becoming one in thy hand) and would be remembered as the greatest accomplishment of Spencer W Kimball’s presidency?

Well yes, those are great editions with fantastic helps, but if I really want to find something tricksy, I go to the online version.

By: MoJo

MoJo — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 02:47:33 +0000

Eugene, I like what you did. But as Philip said, it can detract from the narrative. I also think it may depend on the device as to HOW distracting it is.

For instance, if your hyperlinks online are almost the same color as the surrounding text, you could get away with it. However, in my device, it’s just an underline and it does detract.

In fiction, I would think it’s up to the author to annotate or not, depending on what audience one wants to reach. There are several places in my book I felt I *could* have annotated things that are peculiar to our church, but in the end, I figured a reader could/should get it from context.

However, in yours, you’re translating Japanese stories into English and the nuances need to be explained MORE than our religious culture needs to be explained to an average non-Mormon.

I’m conflicted on the issue and I really struggled with it.

By: MoJo

MoJo — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:01:50 +0000

Oh, yes!

The transition from an oral tradition to a written one. Classic!

By: Eugene

Eugene — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:14:57 +0000

I’ve played around with annotating online text here (scroll down to the bottom) and here (click on “Notes” at the top).

By: Philip Persinger

Philip Persinger — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:00:04 +0000

Back at you, MoJo,

I’m sure that in the Fifth Century BC, parents were complaining, “These kids today–they can’t remember anything if they don’t write it down; they can’t remember a sentence over two hundred words long; and their Homer! They have to READ their Homer!”

By: MoJo

MoJo — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:26:04 +0000

Hey, Philip! Glad to see you!

There’s been some debate amongst e-authors and the questioning of readers about their desire for annotated fiction. Thus far, it seems the readers are at an impasse as to whether they’d like it or not (and it seems to me they fall on the “I like footnotes” side or the “I don’t like footnotes” side of the divide anyway).

I haven’t seen annotated fiction in e-books. I toyed with the idea of annotating mine and then decided against it. I do have a hyperlinked table of contents, which I consider critical in a book of any heft.

By: MoJo

MoJo — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:16:51 +0000

It seems so simple, doesn’t it? The concept that E-BOOKS ARE NOT PAPER BOOKS? And yet…that’s where everybody’s getting hung up.

Repeat after me: E-books are NOT paper books.

Read e-books on an e-book reading device long enough and eventually, you get it.

By: Zoe Winters

Zoe Winters — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:21:39 +0000

I LOVE this post. And yeah, the whole page number thing was what was freaking me out on ebooks. Like without page divisions what then, OMG RUN! hahaha. But you make excellent points here. Ebooks are not paper books. And my life will be simpler once I get that.

By: Philip Persinger

Philip Persinger — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:20:47 +0000

While the links are wonderful in non-fiction and technical books, they can be problematic when a writer wants to control the readers focus in fiction. Cheers.