Someone suggests a theme – perhaps the way a person’s tone shifts when talking about a loved one – and Daljit Nagra instantly writes a poem, keystroke by keystroke.

the warmth o-

f a blush

on his

eve-

r

so lightly altered voice

The words appear on two large projector screens in the Royal Festival Hall, linked directly to his laptop, which sits between.

Writer Sarah Butler is tucked behind a desk between the literary gift section and the shop counter. Prompted and encouraged by a family of booklovers eating cake and browsing the shelves of Woolfson & Tay, she writes a tale of four bunnies named Rose, Rabby, Snowflake and Nibbles.

Following an afternoon in the Jewish Museum’s archive and a quick review of his social media feeds, novelist Joe Dunthorne lists possible subjects to use as prompts. His tale of a miserable old man who steals the football from a game played next door is written for a Twitter user who watches online from home. “They have an instinct for weakness, children,” Joe writes. “It’s admirable, really, the accuracy with which they exploit human imperfection.”

Over seven weeks, David Varela and I managed a programme of events, each exploring writing as performance and also how digital technology can impact on the way writers write. For the Live Writing Series, we used technology developed by Alex Heeton and Riccardo Cambiassi to show every tap of the keyboard by seven writers, live online and in public. We put poets, scriptwriters and novelists in busy venues where they came face to face with the people they were writing for and about. Over 4,000 people engaged with the project, either in person or online, and almost 100 musings, poems, lectures, jokes, anecdotes, stories and other new pieces of writing were produced.

We had ambitious creative goals. Our aim was to offer writers taking part in the LWS project a chance to develop their improvisational skills, finding new sources of motivation, reaching new audiences in new contexts, and hopefully achieving a new mindset of openness regarding their writing practice. We were keen to see the range of work produced by writers under pressure and whether literature formed live, for screen rather than page, resulted in a new kind of text. We enjoyed seeing how the stories and poems had a fluid quality, how narrative and structure were looser, and that many of the pieces had a sense of immediacy and urgency.

Our plan was to produce technology for writers with fairly modest digital expertise. The live writing platform we have developed is functional and accessible. We don’t think that writers need to be well-versed in the digital world to develop an exciting online literature project. Rather, it’s a case of switching a writerly mind away from its traditional focus on the printed page towards the possibilities of a screen and real-time performance, and enjoying playing with the way text and stories can be presented and experienced online.

Since its conception in 2011, when Heeton and Cambiassi created the website and technology behind David Varela’s online writing project 100 Hours of Solitude, the live writing platform has been refined with a photo gallery, an area to highlight the most interesting pieces of work, and improved navigation. Our long-term aim is to keep developing it further with writers of all genres.

That includes writers who are keen to perform and those reluctant to; writers in the UK sat in venues with enormous screens; writers in other countries, their words beamed online to readers. We want to provide a tool that can be grabbed by other writers and used easily as part of a live production.

Technology has given us a chance to forge new relationships between readers and writers, turning conversation into inspiration, fans into patrons, and the act of writing into performance. By cultivating this skill in a generation of writers and opening up this possibility to new audiences, we hope the live writing platform could be a major step towards making the possibilities of digital literature available to all.

GS, DV 23.02.14

—

We interviewed Gemma and David in back in October at the start of the project. Read the interview here.

Last year David Varela wrote for 100 hours straight to raise money for the Arvon Foundation. Readers could watch every keystroke David made as he composed the commissions that people pledged for.

Now he has teamed up with writer, Gemma Seltzer, to produce a new Live Writing Series. Seven writers will be live writing at seven London venues between 25th October and 4th December. Visitors to the venue will be able to interact with the writers and once again readers will be able to watch them crafting the stories keystroke by keystroke.

We caught up with David and Gemma about the Live Writing Series and what it means for writers and readers.

Can you tell us a bit about how Live Writing works. What will the writers be doing and how will visitors and readers be able to interact with them?

David Varela: We’ve built a website – well, the wonderful Riccardo Cambiassi, Alex Heaton and Spela Strukelj have built a website – that shows every keystroke the writer makes, instantaneously, both online and on a big screen in the venue. Each writer is figuring out a slightly different way of deciding what to write. I’m going to be in a crowded gallery, so I’ll be asking people to write ideas down on paper and hand them to me, so I don’t get too overwhelmed. Sarah Butler is writing in a bookshop, so she’s asking visitors to hand her a book as a form of stimulus. We’ll also be inviting ideas online through the website and via Twitter (we’re @LiveWritingSrs).

Gemma Seltzer:  Members of the public  – in the venue and online – can ‘commission’ a short literary work or influence the writing in some way. They could write down an idea, a word or a provocation. It would then be up to the writer to choose how to respond: a continuous narrative or individual pieces that somehow incorporated the suggestions.

What inspired you to launch the Live Writing Series?

DV: After my 100 Hours experience, I was buzzing and ready for more. That sense of improv and having a live audience is a serious thrill – and I thought other writers would enjoy it too. I was struck by how much people enjoyed watching a story unfold as it is crafted, so I’m confident that there’s an audience for this new form of work. We’ll see.

GS: David and I put our heads together and came up with a plan that we hoped would bring live writing to a bigger audience, challenge authors and poets, and encourage venues to think differently about how writers can work within their buildings.

You’ve got a fantastic line-up of writers and venues. It’s a pretty new, not to mention nerve-wracking concept, did you have to do much convincing?

GS: We’ve scared off a few writers with the very idea of sharing their work in front of readers, but mainly we’ve had a great response from everyone. Venues are interested in how to programme literary activity in their spaces in new ways, and writing can be a form of entertainment for their audiences. We’re exploring the impact of technology on how writers write and the new possibilities of bringing writing into real life.

DV: It’s not for everyone, that’s for sure. The writers who’ve chosen to take part are very open about their process already or have some element of performance in their work, but this is still a new experience for all of them. I think no less of those writers who demured…

Gemma, you’re off Live Writing around London on 7th November, what are you most looking forward to? What’s your biggest fear?

GS:  We wanted to find a way of making the project genuinely London-wide, bringing together iconic buildings, the red buses and the night foxes. Our venues cover north to south London, so I’m travelling east to west and writing in places I find along the way. I had a go at live writing at Jewish Book Week in 2013, producing a series of stories for audiences. I watched how people interacted, and the scenes that unfolded in front of me, as a stimulus for my work. It was great fun, and I can’t wait to have another go … but this time I’ll be on the move! I always like writing in real time, from real life. My only fear is unreliable wifi.

What’s next for Live Writing?

GS: We’re so excited to see how writers and readers respond to the project, and have high hopes for the next phase. For me, this project is about the fleeting nature of words, how moments come and then they go – a writer can capture in words, but still the instant has passed. We’re not intending to publish the writing – once it’s written it’s gone – showcasing a selection of work on the website instead. In the future, we might consider how to share the writing in print. That’s phase two…

DV: Each of the events in the Series is something of an experiment to see what format, style, venue and audience works best and in which combination. We’re going to learn a lot, and that will influence our planning. But there are definitely plans. Oh yes.

The Live Writing Series is taking place at venues all over London between 25th October and 4th December 2013.

You can watch the stories unfold online here. Or visit the writers in situ at the following locations:

25th October: David Varela at the National Portrait Gallery

1st November: Sarah Butler at Woolfson and Tay bookshop

7th November: Gemma Seltzer around London (spot her out and about or watch online)

13th November: writer tbc at The Jewish Museum

20th November: Jacob Sam-La Rose at the Deptford Lounge

30th November: Molly Naylor at the Roundhouse

4th December: writer tbc at the Clore Ballroom at the South Bank Centre