Novel Way To Text
By Hannah Welham
It would appear that J.K. Rowling’s infamous technique of churning out a bestseller on the daily commute is catching. The most recent protégé of the tactic is Robert Bernocco, an Italian who is putting his writing skills to the test as a sideline to his everyday IT profession.At first glance, this may appear to be another rags-to-riches story, but there’s a catch. You see, Bernocco didn’t just write his science fiction novel on the way to work, he texted it. Using the Nokia ‘T9’ (or, ‘predictive’ text) option, Bernocco wrote out short paragraphs of the masterpiece as he was travelling. In an equally monumental feat (okay, perhaps not, but I am a techno-phobe) the author then downloaded his day’s work onto his PC where it could be polished up.
Both Bernocco and his PR rep Gail Jordan are enamoured with the idea that this kind of ‘writing’ can enable those without much time on their hands to publish the books they’ve always dreamed of. "Only a few years ago I would have struggled to find both the time and the publisher to enable me to create this book," Bernocco said.
But there’s something about it that doesn’t seem quite right. Perhaps it’s the idea that books really should be about pen, paper, blood, sweat and tears (or Microsoft Word at the very least). The idea of future novels being written - and presumably read - on mobiles takes something from the reading concept that was before so cosy.Still, congratulations to the Italian; presumably his endeavour will earn him a place in technological history as ‘The First Man to Write a Novel on a Phone’.
Robert Bernocco’s novel is available to buy now, albeit in Italian, from online publishers Lulu.com It costs $17.38, but on the plus side is ranked as the 19,720th bestseller of Lulu’s 323,000 available books. Way to go…
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If you thought that was mad, try these:
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- Really? - Eau de Phone by Motorola
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Image: Bas van de Wiel
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