I BLOG, YOU BLOG, WEBLOG
I’m working on a fiction blog (a flog?) and I have a moral quandary I’d like everyone’s advice on:
Do you think it’s overly deceptive to write a purely fictional blog without announcing it as fiction?
I’m of two minds about this.
I think it’s generally bad to misrepresent fiction as fact, and I can understand readers feeling abused by this sort of stealth-fiction. With diary-style print fiction (eg. Adrian Mole), this problem never really arises — the location within the bookstore is an obvious tell, but one which doesn’t ruin the suspension of disbelief. For better or worse, there’s a default assumption of factuality with weblogs and it seems manipulative to ride these assumptions. I feel like a work of fiction should stand on it’s own terms.
But part of my reason for using the weblog format is to create, (or at least allow for), an interaction between the fictional narrator and readers. Would readers be willing to engage in this sort of quasi-roleplaying? Would it be rewarding in any way? I don’t know.
And maybe the “is it fiction?” guessing game is fun anyway.
Please comment with your opinions.