Mark Twain was dismissive of those people who think it is possible for someone to learn how to write a novel. "A man who is not born with the novel-writing gift has a troublesome time when he tries to build a novel," he said. "He has no clear idea of his story. In fact, he has no story. "
British writer Stephen Fry puts it another way. He says that successful authors are those who know just how difficult it is to write a book.
These days, however, technology is making the life of an author a little easier. For Michael Green, a US data scientist-turned-novelist, the need to use technology to simplify and streamline the writing process came when he was in the middle of writing his first book.
With 500 pages of a complex story written, he recalls that the process became difficult to manage: "I had all these documents on the deeper aspects of the world I was creating. I was worried about not being able to keep track of it all. That is when I switched into my more data science-minded approach to solving a complex problem with a lot of different places. "
The end result was that Mr Green created Lynit, a digital platform to help authors plan and weave together the many elements that form a story, such as the themes, characters and major events. " Once the authors get a new idea that they want to bring into the story, with Lynit they are able to input it into a natural framework," he said, "As new ideas come in, they change, maybe by creating new nodes (节点) and new relationships. "
Once the book has been published, technology is also playing an ever-increasing role in publicity and connecting with readers. Websites and apps from specialist firms allow authors to participate in live question-and-answer sessions with their readers.
Michael Green believes technology will become even more important as a new generation of tech-savvy(精通技术的) writers become more well known. "What I'm finding with Generation Zand even younger writers is that they are looking for technology to give them guidance," he said. "They see it as a tool to learn and grow with rather than extra work. "
