Jack Vance depended heavily on his computer to keep writing as he lost his eyesight, with custom hardware and software we would later call adaptive technology. This foreshadowed accessibility as a key driver of innovation
Conversation
Some writers didn’t adopt word processors until much later, such as Ursula K Guia and Octavia Butler. But the shift was inexorable
1
1
Ignorance of computers could also be a literary asset. William Gibson wrote Neuromancer on a typewriter because he couldn’t afford a computer, and when he finally got one it demystified a lot of what computers could do
1
1
6
But he was incredibly prescient that personal computers, once networked, would form a virtual unified universe he dubbed cyberspace
1
3
Gibbons later worked with Bruce Sterling on The Difference Engine (1990), which ushered in steampunk as a genre. They developed a completely new way of working uniquely enabled by their matching Apple II computers, sampling and borrowing and reworking outside sources
1
3
3
It was a surprise to many that writers seemed to be adopting personal computers at a faster rate than scientists. Especially sci-fi writers. I think this is due to the level of imagination required to see their usefulness at that time
2
1
3
Interestingly, it was the less glorified and more populist sci-fi writers who adopted word processing sooner, because they were less preoccupied with “bastardizing the craft” than literary elites
2
6
21
Early accounts struggled to articulate what these new devices were, including the term “TV Typewriter” prominently in advertisements such as this one for the Homebrew Computer Club
2
2
Replying to
Fits my priors. Genre fiction early adopted the web and ebooks too. Literary types are the ones still attached to paper books.
Scrivener (the name is revealing)does a good job catering to literary conceits in an online era. I use it despite those pretensions rather than because.
1
3
Replying to
I feel like there are a ton of gems in this thread for you. Nexus of computing, writing, & sci-fi feels rich for the kind of thinking you do. There’s some theorizing & model building needed in this area I think. Or at least I would love some to help with digital notes advocacy😂
1
2
Replying to
Also direct interest in document-technology history retained from my time at Xerox which included one deadpooled product in the space 🙂
Reproduction and iteration technology is interestingly coupled to editing technology via proofing/correction processes.
Making n copies of 1 polished doc is a very complementary problem in some ways to making 1 polished copy after n iterations on a draft. In perpetual beta with an expanding circle of prosumer-reviewers of any text, they two become the same process.
2
Replying to
Ah interesting. Is this how you came to the collaborative distributed feedback way of writing, across social media, Slack, FB groups, IRL, etc?
1
Show replies

