Writers Going Virtual

As seen via Breaking Camp's Twitter: How Writers Are Using Second Life To Find Audiences And Readers. An excerpt:

Imagine this scenario: You’re an unpublished, unknown playwright and you’ve just written a play that you believe needs to be staged. Your income is commensurate with most writers’ – i.e., not a lot. And you don’t have rich friends or family who might fork over the tens of thousands of dollars needed to rent a theatre, hire a cast, create sets and costumes, and advertise your production.

What do you do?

Well, in the physical world, you probably send out queries to agents or producers, cross your fingers, and hope.

In the virtual world, you simply produce your play!

That’s one of the things I love so much about a virtual world like Second Life. It’s a great “leveler”: You don’t have to be wealthy or famous to have your creative work see the light of day.

This weekend (July 24 and 25) brings the final performances of the premiere run of an incredible play written and produced in Second Life that might have ended up buried in the author’s bottom drawer if the only outlet she had was first life. Not because it doesn’t deserve to be staged – quite the contrary; it’s a remarkable drama – but simply because money to support art in first life is about one-gazillionth of what it should be!

Click here to read the whole article.