Jan
26
2007
First Episode
I attended last night's premiere screening of The 3 Day Novel Series. The first episode of eight was aired and I have to say, with all objectivity and not because I participated in the thing (The Raving Poets are in episode 3, apparently), that it rocks. Brilliantly edited, very tight, exciting, and captivating. Huge rocks to Tate Young and Rachel and the crew down at Chapters Southpoint. A fine, fine job. I can't wait to see the rest of the series. My only beef is that there wasn't any pointless, gratuitous animal violence. And not enough nudity, of course.
After the feature episode, a few of the featured writers took questions from the crowd. Some interesting queries were forwarded and they all gave great insight on what it was like to write a novel in a bookstore over the course of a weekend. Some loved the experience, some didn't. Some were indifferent. Everyone had different reasons. The series is about writing a novel, but it's also about human dynamics and what happens when you coup up a dozen writers in the same room for a weekend. It makes for an interesting reality concept, one that is markedly different than something like "American Idol". Writing is not a performance art or a contact sport. It's a solitary and lonely endeavor. You've got to become obsessed and slightly sociopathic to get serious writing done. You've got to push yourself until you don't see the edge any more; until you're just crushing it out. You've got to lose faith in your writing. You've got to start over. And then you've got to write the fucker. The Three Day Novelists did all of that on national TV.
The series puts the writing process - albeit a heightened, more intense / insane version of it - on the screen. Producer Tate Young said, "There are many shows about writing and the writing process. But none show the emotion and struggle of writing and the creative process like this one." I'd have to agree. The whole thing is an interesting people experiment with a literary twist. Could it be called "Canadian Novelist?" Possibly. In any case, It's worth checking out.
