Orchid Tierney

Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing

I’ve been tagged by Emma Neale to participate in this interesting cross social media, self interview, web-chain-letteresque experiment in which I answer 10 questions and then tag 5 additional writers.  Of course, this experiment appeals to my academic interests in social networks and collaborative text production. Experiments like “Next Big Thing” are vital in questioning the WWW in relation to notions of community and exchange.  Thank you so much Emma for allowing me to participate!

What is your working title of your book (or story, or project)?

I’m currently working on a chapbook of poetry called YOUR BRAIN IS TOTALLY PROGRAMMABLE AND COMPLETELY UNLIMITED!

Where did the idea come from for the book?

The chapbook is a series of appropriated tweets from an automated twitter account called @Horse_ebooks. The spambot churns out several nonsensical tweets a day. However, I am not entirely convinced that a human is not mediating some of these automated messages since the syntax fragmentation often seems deliberately constructed. Certainly, I feel @Horse_ebooks illustrates some of the problematic questions surrounding social networks: how do we know who is real on the WWW.  Thus, this chapbook attempts to realize two goals. First, I wish to heighten the eerily poetic condition of the tweets. Second, I want to complicate the bot/human relationship that Horse_ebooks is exploring.

What genre does your book fall under?

I find “genre” a problematic category that might close any interpretation this chapbook might invite. At best, I’d agree that it is appropriative but I wouldn’t say that it is conceptual.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

William Shatner as he is well versed in the art of broken syntax.

 What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Do cyborgs knead poetry?

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I’ll submit it to small literary publishers. I’m confident it will find some interest somewhere.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I’m still working on it. But it has taken four months so far to reach its current stage.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I suspect that this chapbook is comparable to any book that undertakes any form of appropriative and repurposed language.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I couldn’t name all the theorists and poets who have provoked me to think about engaging appropriative models of poetry. But a few of them are: Brian Stefans, Craig Dworkin, Vanessa Place, and Rachel Zolf.

 What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?”

All poems are plucked from @Horse_ebook tweets. I’ve added absolutely nothing. I’ve restricted my role to editor/splicer/slicer.

I’m tagging Ross Sélavy Brighton, James George, Angela Genusa, Christine Hamm, and Helen Heath.