After The End, the prize

Our ten Novel Idea short stories wrapped up this morning. Some people are already expressing withdrawal jitters (not to worry, round 2 is brewing…)

And here’s more exciting news: we have R8000 to give away to the most popular Novel Idea writer and R2000 to the runner-up.

In keeping with the democracy of the platform, the winner and runner-up are determined entirely by public vote. Registered users simply click on the orange ‘vote’ button on the Novel Idea WAP home page (www.mobfest-novelidea.co.za – on your phone browser, it doesn’t work on PC browsers, unless you have Opera). If you scroll down, you’ll see the current voting pie-chart and see where your favourite writers stand. You get one vote only, so use it wisely.

Animal smuggler leads the pack

Novel Idea voting went live yesterday and Sam Wilson’s Prestige Animals has taken an early lead, with Sarah Lotz’s Winona Forever close on his heels.

Every Novel Idea reader gets one vote, so log onto the WAP site (www.mobfest-novelidea.co.za) in your phone’s browser (or click the ‘home’ link at the bottom of your daily chapter) and then click on the orange vote button to make your choice. South Africa’s first award-winning mobilist will be decided entirely by public votes, so make yours count.

Once you’ve cast your vote, go back to the vote button to see how your favourite story is doing (there’s a nifty little pie chart). Campaigning on this blog or our Facebook group is highly encouraged!

Carrots for mobilists!

Novel Idea has been getting glowing coverage in major newspapers this week.

Vivien Horler of the Cape Argus was ebulliently impressed with Novel Idea, calling it “the 21st century’s answer to Charles Dickens’s serialised stories”.

Rapport writes “die selfoonverhale is ’n vinnige literêre happie” before urging readers to sign on to Francois Toerien’s story Onderweg.

There’s also a write-up in The Big Issue, currently on the streets.

Spreading the word, indeed!

Visiting from M&G?

Henrietta mentioned Novel Idea in an awesome interview on the Mail & Guardian’s website today. Are you interested in receiving specially commissioned original stories (including Henrietta’s Callback) on your cellphone?

To sign up, SMS NOVEL to 33879. You’ll get an SMS back with a link in it. Click on the link to visit our WAP site. Click on the ‘register here’ button and enter your cell number. You’re in!

You can also register online at http://www.mobfest.co.za/novelidea/register.html.

Tech teething

Boy, have I learned a lot about cellphones. With Novel Idea we’ve had everything from phones that won’t accept WAP push messages (we now seamlessly send text messages specifically to those) to phones that try and reinterpret special characters in URLs and throw up rude error messages (the sheepish tech guys have taken the “rude” out of the error message – aw! – and are working on the URL problem…).

Thousands of new phone models are released annually, all with different tweaks and upgrades, and it’s impossible to get one solution to fit them all. The tech guys have a database of all current phone models that’s updated every three days and which they use to customise delivery for “difficult” phones.

And yet, despite the hiccups, Novel Idea is growing each week. This is unusual for a WAP site – usually they’re like fireworks; fizzling for a few days before sputtering out due to lack of traffic. But we get new readers signing on every day.

So we’ll keep working on accommodating every phone we can. Because we’re growing teeth here.

And then there were 10…

Francois Toerien’s story Onderweg launched on Novel Idea today. Here’s the first textisode:

“Ek kan nie meer nie. Ek moet uit! Ek het alles probeer. Ek kan nie meer nie. Wat moet gebeur, moet nou maar gebeur.” En toe was dit stil. Dis al wat hy kon onthou. Wie het dit gesê? Hy het drie dae later wakker geword in ‘n vreemde bed. Langs die bed was ‘n oorvol asbak en drie leë kondoompakkies. Hy’t ‘n stort hoor loop. En toe val sy oë op ‘n sweep. Boeie. ‘n Lyf onder ‘n kombers in die hoek van die kamer. In die badkamer het iemand “Give me hope, Johanna” gesing. Hy wou saam sing. Hy het probeer fokus. Sy gedagtes probeer orden. Probeer dink. “As ek net my tande kan borsel”. Sy mond het geproe na laatnag en aspirien. Dit was lig buite. Sy horlosie was nie meer aan sy arm nie. “Give me hope, Johanna”. Hy moet uit. Uit die kamer. Uit hierdie plek. Hy moet sy ma bel. Die Spur waar hy werk. Watter dag is dit? “Wat moet gebeur, moet nou maar gebeur”. Die stort het ophou loop. En toe was dit stil.

Sounds good? If you join Novel Idea now, you can access all the back chapters of your selected stories.

So many good things…

Here I am on my 30th birthday updating the Novel Idea blog (and watching SA klap NZ out the corner of my eye). Novel Idea (and life, I guess) just keeps getting better!

First of all, big kudos to our dear Zukiswa, who’s been getting lots of well deserved coverage after the launch of her second novel, Behind Every Successful Man. Mwah, Madam!

Second, I have cool news. We’ve got an Afrikaans author! Francois Toerien is an actor, director, voice-over artist, TV presenter and writer of the sketch comedy show Die Francois Toerien Show.

If you go to ‘Chose your stories’ on the Novel Idea page, you can now sign up to his story, which goes live on Monday. Here’s the blurb:

‘n Man word wakker in ‘n vreemde bed. Leë kondoompakkies, boeie, ‘n sweep, ‘n lyf onder ‘n kombers in die hoek van die kamer – kan hy in sy ouma se huis wees? ‘n Riller van persoonlike proporsies.

Booiend, nê? Register en geniet!
mm

Coincidence?

The launch of Novel Idea coincided with the 50th anniversary of sliced bread. Woah.

Could Novel Idea be the next best thing? Register to find out…

(Another) award-winning author for Novel Idea

The launch of Novel Idea yesterday coincided with the very w00t-able news that Henrietta Rose-Innes won the Caine Prize for African Writing. Oodles of happy congratulations! We’re flippin’ honoured to have you on board, lady.

If you haven’t already selected Henrietta’s Novel Idea story, Callback, go do so right away!

Spoiled for choice

If you’ve registered for Novel Idea you’ll receive an SMS today inviting you to select which stories you’d like to receive for next to nothing through July. For those who haven’t, here’s a taster of what you’re missing out on:

Extra Lessons by DIANE AWERBUCK: Valentine’s Day. Two boys hold an English teacher and her girls hostage in the library. What do they want? The teacher thinks she knows: One of the boys has a heart on his sleeve and a knife in his hand…

Ghost Girl by LAUREN BEUKES: Sekwa never asked to be haunted, not least by a 14 year old girl with a runaway mouth, a twisty sense of humour and bad dress sense. It’s a ghost story about the structure of things, about love and death and architecture.

FYI by RICHARD DE NOOY: Two trigger-happy psychopaths have escaped. They’re sending you messages. They think you’re someone else. You need to make some arrangements for them. They may be a little annoyed if you don’t. And cellphones are so easy to trace…

iGlassy Glassy by ROBYN GOSS: Four suburban housewives, a Zulu-speaking Ouija board and a goat on the lam; iGlassy Glassy is a light-hearted romp through the spirit world – South African-style.

Winona Forever by SARAH LOTZ: Lars and the Real Girl meets Silence of the Lambs in a black comedy featuring life-size realistic silicone dolls, Winona Ryder and a Sea Point serial killer.

Callback by HENRIETTA ROSE-INNES: Violet’s always liked telephones – ever since telling her secrets to a toy one as a child. So when the phone salesman comes to the door with a very special offer, how can she refuse? Never mind his strange tattoos and peculiar odour. But when the frightening voices start to come down the line, she realises there’s more to Callback Telecommunications than meets the eye …

City Fun by STEPHEN SIMM: Okay, so he wasn’t an oil painting, and clearly he hadn’t been 100% honest in his profile, but Jen had been internet dating for 2 months now – long enough to know that most people tend to colour a little outside the lines. What Jen didn’t know was that this was not only to be her worst date ever – but also her worst night ever…

The Opportunist by ZUKISWA WANNER: The story of 1 professional African man’s battle 4 acceptance in Joburg. A desper8 decsn 2marry a S.african woman 4legal reasons & his f8tful falling 4anotha woman make this story as heart wrenching as it is romantic.

Prestige Animals by SAM WILSON: Drug Lords! Smugglers! Guns! Planes! Badgers! Eugene and Dennis are in a very unlikely amount of trouble.

Remember, if you JUST send NOVEL to 33879, you WON’T be registered. You MUST register your number on the site – this lets us know that you’ve opted in.

Let the story begin…