Dubai Debt Issues Push Stocks Down
GMA: Adam Lambert, No; Chris Brown, Yes
Family Gets Early Christmas Gift From Ellen DeGeneres
Mayor: Sex Trafficking Victims, Please Speak Up
Street Artist Proposes on Subway Signage
While you were busy checking out possible candidates for a Missed Connection post and listening to your podcasts, 36-year-old Brooklyn writer Peter Brett wrote a novel while commuting on the F train. Feeling like an underachiever yet? He wrote the novel, his first, entirely on his smartphone. Now the "dark, demonic fantasy," titled The Warded Man, is sitting pretty in bookstores. The Daily News reports that Brett worked in medical publishing, and for the two years it took him to finish the 400-page novel, the F was his muse on his daily commute to and from the Fort Hamilton Parkway stop and Times Square. He told the paper, "I trained myself that at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. every day when I got on the train, that was my writing time. I had about 45 minutes each way, and everyone who takes the F knows that 45 minutes can turn into an hour and a half." Now a full-time writer, he combats writer's block by taking rides on the train.
Brooklynite Writes First Novel While Riding F Train
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebookComments (23) [rss]
Post a comment (Comment Policy)
Tips
Newsmap
Contribute
Latest Tip:
Those Mariachi guys piss me off when you enter a mostly silent subway car.
[more]
wow, a gimmicky toolbag writer from brooklyn! what's next? flamboyant hairdressers from chelsea? oh NY, such a cast of characters!!!
LOL
LOL
"Jongleur Arick Sweetsong?" Bitch please.
Regardless of what the jealous haters say - good on ya.
Henry Miller did say you could write a novel on the IRT from Bronx to Brooklyn - so way to go - at least this guy keeps the dream alive - not like the above that acts their shoe size not their age.
Good for him. I don't go for that whole demons and magic routine, but it's not like I've ever accomplished anything.
That's funny, because I've been busy writing a fucking encyclopedia waiting for the damn G train to show up.
Good for him.
But 432 pages ?!?
I think the editor probably could have sharpened his/her pencil a few more times.
Good for him.
But 432 pages ?!?
I think the editor probably could have sharpened his/her pencil a few more times.
That is so true about the F!
I'll stick to falling in love on the F train for 30 minutes each morning and night. Staring at a smartphone is not my idea of fun.
I think it's appropriate to ask how his eyes have diminished as a result. He was probably that guy who constantly got in your way on your way out. I'd rather make human contact, not necessarily "Missed Connections."
those are the busiest times on the F. How the hell did he write? People are packed like sardines at 8 and 5
If he got on at Fort Hamilton Parkway, he probably was able to get a seat most of the time. Getting a seat at 42nd during rush hour is a different story though unless you beat the rush. I've read several books during my F train commutes, so this story is not too surprising. Good for him!
i really need to stop playing iPhone solitaire and apply myself...
Lucky you... i have to content myself with a cheap Sony/Ericsson goPhone blackjack...
"He wrote the novel, his first, entirely on his smartphone."
That's not what the article says.
F train is wack.
When I'm not H; when I'm not at W: — I' m on the F.
I do most of my reading on the train. I could probably write a decent sized book in that time too.
nothing new here.
the japanese have been writing novels on their phones for a long while now. several of those novels have been reprinted in book form. as the new york times reported in January :
"Of last year’s 10 best-selling novels, five were originally cellphone novels, mostly love stories written in the short sentences characteristic of text messaging but containing little of the plotting or character development found in traditional novels. What is more, the top three spots were occupied by first-time cellphone novelists, touching off debates in the news media and blogosphere."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/world/asia/20japan.html?_r=1&ex=1358485200&en=0b46d32f7c7d037c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
A completely different thing.
This is newsworthy?
I've written several plays on the F train--cumulatively more than 400 pages. Where's my Gothamist shout out?
Which bestseller lists are yours on?