Author commentary (like that on a DVD): Would you read it? Write it?

It's always been my personal wish that, if when I get published (optimism!), I'd want to put up a list on my website explaining all the nerdy references, as well as giving nods to things I take inspiration from (like lists of books that inspired me, songs I used to help me write, that sort of thing). Recently, in the "accidental plagiarism" topic, I saw someone else (can't remember who right now) mention the same thing. Which got me thinking about a different but similar idea I've had: A "commentary track" for a book, which, as you went on reading it, would explain references, inspirations, stuff that got cut, bits of subtle foreshadowing, research that you did and couldn't implement... all that good stuff.

It wouldn't necessarily be audio commentary, but perhaps a separate PDF to use as you read a book or story for the second or so time. Or maybe an annotated document. The more I think about it, the more writing it seems like a fun thing. And I know that there are many books I would've loved such a document for.

So what do you think? Would you be interested in writing such "commentary" for your own works, or reading it in other folks'?

They can be interesting, but from my experiences, full scale commentaries work better as an "end of an issue" thing, or an "interesting fact" thing. People who put full scale commentaries for each strip tend to use it as a crutch, I find.

It's always interesting to hear the author describe experiences making the story. It's the process of character constructings, why she threw in this bit— which fascinates me how it would up as it is. Maybe if I get published, I'll put "commentary" as another separate book.

edited 3rd Aug '11 11:37:40 AM by QQQQQ

I always wanted to do this, particularly laying out how I got from original concept x to where the book ended up, but I'm afraid I've already forgotten some of the basics in the earlier pieces. It's a shame, because I think laying things like that out might be a help to beginning writers, help to demystify the process.

Oh well, it'd be too much work anyways. I'd just use it as an excuse not to do my normal writing.

edited 3rd Aug '11 11:41:54 AM by deathjavu

Footnotes?

That's all I can think of.

While I love commentaries, having to read even more text while reading a book sounds tedious. It could be done well, of course, but I think commentaries are much more fitting in other media, with less reading involved.

Unless of course it's a paragraph at the end of each chapter, or something.

I already read this.

El Goonish Shive is actually a good example of how commentary can be a bad thing. It is commonly used as a crutch to explain things in comic, without bothering to justify it in universe. As a result, things don't stand on their own as well as they should.

Plus, it also is very VERY guilty of Don't Explain the Joke.

I think a better commentary, to contrast with it, is Darths And Droids.

edited 3rd Aug '11 2:21:15 PM by MrAHR

I personally love reading and watching author interviews, or just listening to writers here and IRL as they talk about their work. So yes, an extra, detailed supplement would be enjoyable as well.

Would I write one? Probably not.

I would love talking about my work. I might not do a full commentary, but I might try it out. I also like reading Author's Notes.

Commentary would come more manual-like from me. Elaborating on internal stuff, you know the drill.

I prefer - both in actual works and my own - commentary separate from the work rather then running alongside it a la The Rant in webcomics, which I've always found rather distracting. I actually have written an "annotated version" of the parody Harry Potter fanfiction I wrote, but it was kept as a separate document from the real thing (actually, I preferred writing it to the real thing, to be honest).

An "annotated version" is probably what I'd do too. If I were to write such a thing, it'd basically be a list of footnotes with the pages they go to alongside them, and a separate, downloadable document.

But I also sort of want to do Major Tom's thing, with a "manual" full of cut content and conceptual ideas on it, probably on the website. Plus deleted scenes. I am all about the deleted scenes.

I actually did the manual too (like I said, I may prefer this kind of thing to actually writing the story), but for a different work. As I mentioned in the "bonus material/omake" thread that's around here somewhere, I have a lot of All There in the Manual material - comes of having the worldbuilding be my favorite part.

Writing a book, unlike making a movie, is not usually a collaborative process and you don't have the transition from written word to moving images, so your commentary less in terms of quantity and qualitatively different as well. Meta discussion, as to why you made certain creative choices or where you got your ideas from doesn't seem to work well for written pieces. However, in-universe commentaries that explain things which might not be strictly necessary to understand the story can work. Lord of the Rings has pages of appendicies. Various Discworld novels use footnotes or end notes to explain people, places, things, creatures, in jokes and such.

Hybrid Theory did that, and Undocumented Features has done some too (though theirs is generally on the forums). I read them both. I'd read it depending on how much I like the work, pretty much.

You want the annotated version on something I've written? Mention it in a review on the story and the odds are good you'll get it.

Heh. I put together a bibliography of my own free will for my current project. And I'm probably going to badger my betas about showing it to them.

I love reading that sort of thing, and do plan to write some of my own. Due to the episodic nature of my main project, I was planning on putting a 'commentary' section at the back of the book, giving a paragraph or two for each story in the book. if that doesn't fly with the publisher, I'll probably set up a website for it.

When a forum got set up for people interested in my stuff they seemed to get more of a kick out of all the goofy business happenings rather than the creative process.

Business stuff?

It's a game with a sci-fi setting. The writing includes the future history, the racial descriptions, and numerous short stories. There were some questions and comments about why certain creative choices were made, and the players discussed with with artists why things look the way they do. There were fewer questions directed to me about the writing and the setting, and more interest about the production process and the company's fortunes. Some of the business stories are rather entertaining like how we lost the Star Trek sublicense because one of our artists slept with the VP's ex and the president wouldn't overrule him.

Wait—in-game, or in real life?

Me, I'd make it an illustrated guide with character/background sketches and assorted notes on the world I created.

Real life. We were also in the process of doing a Star Wars game but the sublicense died when West End went bankrupt, and Lucas wasn't willing to negotiate directly for something so picayune from his POV.