Sunday 20 January 2008

Novels Written on Cellphones

See this: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/world/asia/20japan.html?_r=1&ex=1358485200&en=0b46d32f7c7d037c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

The new ways to continue to create never cease to amaze me ...

Thumbs Race as Japan's Best Sellers Go Cellular


TOKYO — Until recently, cellphone novels — composed on phone keypads by young women wielding dexterous thumbs and read by fans on their tiny screens — had been dismissed in Japan as a subgenre unworthy of the country that gave the world its first novel, "The Tale of Genji," a millennium ago. Then last month, the year-end best-seller tally showed that cellphone novels, republished in book form, have not only infiltrated the mainstream but have come to dominate it.

Ko Sasaki for The New York Times

Rin, 21, tapped out a novel on her cellphone that sold 400,000 copies in hardcover.

Of last year's 10 best-selling novels, five were originally cellphone novels, mostly love stories written in the short sentences characteristic of text messaging but containing little of the plotting or character development found in traditional novels. What is more, the top three spots were occupied by first-time cellphone novelists, touching off debates in the news media and blogosphere.

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