The Man Behind The Plan
Have you heard about Plan B? Chances are, if you have a blog, or read
them, you have. Plan B is a “blognovel”. A term, which, so far, appears
to be coined by Diego Doval, the first blognovelist that Google knows
of. I have been an avid reader of Plan B since itâs inception back in
late July. The story is of a young man, his friends, his life, and
mostly about the unusual place he calls home each day from 8-5; work.
The odd part is, when I read the story, I donât think it is so unusual.
In fact, most of us cube-ized, Dilbertonian techies around the globe will
think that we work there too.
I had the pleasure of asking Diego a few questions over the past week.
Many of the questions were for my personal discovery. You might
consider me a “Plan B groupie”, but Iâd rather you didnât. Instead,
consider me a raving fan. There's no wonder why it's in the top five
most read blogs at the new Salon Blogs.
I was quite surprised to find out how this blognovel is written and
to learn more about the man behind the Plan.
[347] First things first. Who is Diego Doval?
[DD] Who is Diego Doval… now that's a question! I have a mini-bio in
my homepage.
But that really doesn't answer the question, does it?
Right now, I am doing a PhD at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, and I
work as a TA at the university. As a side note, I have also been
working on an interesting piece of software that I will release in about
a week or so. It is called
“Spaces” and is akin to a personal
information management application, but is focused on collaboration.
[347] PhD? What is your field of study? Do you have a topic for
your thesis?
[DD] I am working on ad hoc wireless mobile networks and peer-to-peer
technologies that can be used on them to provide services that are
self-organizing, self-healing, and not dependent on servers to operate,
and seeing how these technologies can interact with the “wired” network
(ie., the Internet)… Imagine the infrastructure of the Internet
running without a single point of failure (such as the DNS root servers
are today), in a completely distributed fashion.
[347] How long have you been working on Plan B?
[DD] I started writing it on July 26, 2002, the same day I thought that
it would be an interesting thing to do. I wrote an entry, posted it, and
went from there. A couple of readers have asked if I am really writing
it 'on the go', and the answer is yes. It is not a book that's already
written and which I am publishing bit by bit. What's published every day
is simply what I write everyday.
[347] Where did you get the storyline for Plan B?
[DD] Well, I began improvising, but as usual, ideas started to coalesce
and as it turned out it connected to another book I wrote a couple of
years ago called 'The Plan.' So Plan B, in a sense, has ended up being a
sort of sequel to The Plan. Lately, the connection between both stories
have featured more prominently, with oblique mentions to the previous
novel. There is a strong element of improvisation happening, though.
[347] Are the characters based on people you know?
[DD] Well, obviously some of them are composites. While no situation has
a direct mapping into my life, I've seen or felt many of the things that
are said in it. Some characters simply seem to come out of the blue, or
because they are a useful 'device' to talk about some things.
[347] Given the fact that nobody actually “holds” a blognovel in their
hands, where are we currently in the story? Beginning? Middle? End?
[DD] Heh. I have been asking that myself. In terms of word-count, we're
at about 32,000 words, which would make it halfway in a 300-page print
novel. But who knows? I am thinking that maybe this medium is ideal to
create a sort of 'ongoing story' of what would normally be a series of
novels.
[347] You mentioned that you write Plan B as you go. Do you have a written
outline that you plan with or do you truly just make it up as you type?
[DD] No, I have no written outline or specific plans. Often I might jot
down a sentence or two that appears in my head, and in some cases the
day's entry might be built around that sentence, but usually I don't
think about it during the day (not consciously at least).
[347] Are you working on another blognovel?
[DD] No, although this one might expand into a sequel. I am working on a
print novel that should be finished relatively soon.
[347] Are there any intentions to publish “The Plan” following the
conclusion of “Plan B” or are the similarities too strong?
[DD] Intentions, yes. I do have to finish a final pass to correct it.
Plan B is truly a sequel: the scope is different, and the character has
changed. “The Plan” narrates a sort of initial attempt at redefining
himself, but now in Plan B (particularly the entries around mid-october)
he has realized that change has to be permanent somehow, unless you're
always in motion, if you stop, society ossifies around you in a sense,
and it takes you with it.
[347] What type of feedback have you received? How many emails?
[DD] Mostly positive. People have written to tell me how they enjoy it,
and how, with a 'Kafkian touch', many times it seems to map their
experiences in the workplace and life.
[347] Has Plan B been inspired by any particular works or genre?
[DD] Not particularly. But I think the influence of the works of Bret
Easton Ellis (“the rules of attraction”, “american psycho”), Chuck
Palahniuk (“fight club”, “survivor”, “invisible monsters”), Ken Kesey
(“one flew over the cuckoo's nest”) and Hubert Selby Jr. (“requiem for a
dream”, “last exit to brooklyn”) is undeniable. There is some complexity
to the back story that is not entirely obvious yet, which makes me think
of Pynchon's “The Crying of Lot 49”.
[347] You recently took some time off from writing. Were you getting
tired of the story and needed a break or were you just taking some
vacation time away from the computer?
[DD] Actually, I was traveling. I went to present a paper at a
conference and then visited my family, so it was difficult to have time
to write. The break did help, however, because it made it easier to go
back to it later with renewed energy.
[347] Do you have any aspirations to become a full-time writer?
[DD] Yes, most definitely. I haven't made attempts to get any of my
books published yet, mostly because until recently (about six months
ago) I wasn't really comfortable with my writing.
[347] What are the difficulties you have experienced in writing a
blognovel?
[DD] Mostly I think I worry about trying to post regularly so that
people that are following it won't be disappointed. Specifically
regarding the story, some days it's a bit harder because there's so much
“backstory” now that the story has a life of its own, but yet I have to
maintain the “episodic” structure of the blognovel.
[347] How do you feel about blogs in journalism?
[DD] I think it's much ado about nothing. Journalists have their place,
and blogs have added a new dimension. It's like this ridiculous argument
of how “google news” will eliminate the role of editors. Nonsense.
Google news aggregates news that have *already been edited*,
So how does it eliminate the role of editors?.
Blog comments on a news item or article similarly depend on
the articles to exist. True, you will see good original content in blogs
now and then, but if your full time job is to pursue stories, you're a
journalist, even if you publish through a blog, which means that
journalism can't be “killed” by blogs. If anything, they will foster it.
[347] In choosing Plan B's blog platform, you went with Radio via Salon
as opposed to your other two blogs which use Movable Type. Any
particular reason for the software selection or was it more for the ties
with Salon.com?
It's just that it was something that occurred to me while looking at the
Salon blogs, tried it there, and then of course I could have moved it…
but I felt that Salon deserves to be supported as much as possible: they
provide one of the few truly independent, high-quality “voices” out
there, and they are constantly trying new things (audiobooks, music,
blogs, etc) to push the medium forward.
[347] What is the biggest thing you've taken away from this experiment
so far?
[DD] Hm. On one hand, it gives a sense of satisfaction at creating
something that people enjoy and/or find interesting. On the other hand,
there's a certain pressure that doesn't happen normally with writing:
people want to know what happens and it gets harder to hold the story
together while making every episode stand on its own and be interesting
by itself.