Book as blog: Writer finds format works, forces discipline

If you’re a fiction writer whose father died while you were a kid, you have the perfect material for a young-adult book. But if you also know it’s going to take five years to see it published, you’re going to want to try something new.

That’s exactly where Tom Llewellyn found himself last year. A Tacoma writer whose kids’ mystery book “The Tilting House” will be published by Random House in June, Llewellyn had a new book he wanted to write: the story of what it’s like to suffer through middle school and cope with the loss of your dad at the same time. But he also knew that books take years to be edited and published, and he wanted an audience, now.

The solution? A book blog.

“It’s a five-year process from writing to publishing,” said Llewellyn, of traditional books. “It’s incredibly frustrating. And it’s like the lottery, such a risk every step of the way. “The Tilting House” was the fourth manuscript I tried to have published – no one ever read the others. So the idea of having an immediate audience was attractive.”

The result is “Letter Off Dead,” a book in blog form (letteroffdead.com) which Llewellyn’s been writing since last April. The book follows the middle-school adventures and mishaps of Trevor, who begins writing to his dead father in a desperate measure to cope with life. Unexpectedly, his dad writes back from an after-life limbo – and the blog continues as the two correspond, one letter per post, five posts per week.

“The letter structure really works for this format,” explains Llewellyn. “I’m a great respecter of the medium. A diary or short-chapter book works well for a blog, it divides up into naturally small chronological chunks.”

“Letter Off Dead” went live in September, and Llewellyn is timing the progress of the plot to coincide with the actual school year, finishing in June.

It’s been successful, with around 10,000 unique visitors each month and a clutch of fans on Twitter and Facebook. Readers often comment, and many seem to read regularly.

It has also, since November, featured the artwork of Tacoma illustrator James Stowe, who began reading it as a fan and offered his collaboration.

Stowe posts two illustrations each week, one as drawn by Trevor and one by his dad, who has to draw with whatever materials he can find in limbo (such as coffee.)

“Getting to draw in two completely different styles, in two different ‘media’ was one of the draws for me,” said Stowe, who creates all his images digitally. “And I love the book. I think Tom’s extremely talented; I wouldn’t be on it if he weren’t.”

Abigail Samoun, Llewellyn’s editor at Random House, is equally enthusiastic about his writing skills, though more hesitant about the concept of a book blog.

“I really like Tom’s imagination,” said Samoun. “I’ve seen him grow a lot as a writer. The new story has really blossomed – I’ve been following it pretty regularly. It keeps you reading, and the father-son relationship is really sweet. But there are some issues [with a book blog] that we’d be concerned about: The content is available online before the book would be published. We’ve never done this before. But I told Tom to send me the book when it’s finished.”

Editing, of course, also would be an issue for traditional publication.

Llewellyn is keen on multiple drafts, and so the idea of publishing a book piece by piece largely unedited was “ a bit scary” at first. He occasionally goes back and fixes plot or character errors in past posts, assuming most people won’t notice.

And writing a book post by post also has challenges. While Llewellyn began writing last April and had stockpiled many posts before going live in September, he caught up at Christmas and has since been writing the book post to post, like a real blog. An insomniac, Llewellyn often writes until 4 a.m., but it’s still tricky.

“Last night I wrote today’s post,” he said. “I don’t know what I’ll write for tomorrow. It scares the hell out of me.” He also isn’t completely sure of how the book will end. The bonus of a book blog, though, is the power of the deadline: “If you can commit to writing, (this format) makes you write.”

Writing by installment – a tradition going back centuries, including great writers like Charles Dickens – also can change the way you write, said Llewellyn, forcing you to balance narrative with action because each post has to stand on its own as well as connect to the whole.

And it can be good for readers, too.

Ed Dobeas is a fan who’s been reading “Letter Off Dead” as an RSS feed since the beginning, and finds it addictive. “I love it,” said Dobeas. “Arriving in daily, bite-size chunks … [it forces you] to the pace of the release. No staying up until the middle of the night to devour the whole thing. Probably the best thing is this whole approach makes you really ponder the developments of each letter. … It’s a pretty unique approach, where nine months of Trevor and his Dad’s life are going to take nine months of my life, too.”

Bearded and shy, Llewellyn is known around Tacoma for his part in the guerrilla art-poster duo Beautiful Angle, and by day is a creative director at Russell. He’s also a father of four, including two teenage boys, and that helps with material for “Letter Off Dead.” But the book is largely autobiographical: Llewellyn’s own father died when he was five, and he became acutely aware of his absence during middle school – as he puts it, “the most awful time of my life.” He’s a little nervous about how the book will be taken by his own family, on whom some of it is based, but said it’s a book that he now needed to do to take on more responsibility as a writer.

“The themes are universal – the loss of someone you love, the hell of middle school, what comes after death,” Llewellyn said.

Which raises a point: If Trevor’s dad finds some coffee to paint with in limbo, does that mean there’s coffee there?

“Really bad coffee,” said Llewellyn.

Rosemary Ponnekanti: 253-597-8568

rosemary.ponnekanti@ thenewstribune.com