Expanding the novel

clipped from www.npr.org First-Time Novelists Make a Splash on the Web All Things Considered, May 18, 2008 · After Marisha Pessl finished her first novel, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, she got to work on a side project: Calamityphysics.com. The Web site is a companion piece to the book, designed as a window into the life — and dorm room — of the young protagonist, Blue van Meer. It's more and more common for a debut novel to have elaborate homes on the Web, complete with blogs, chatrooms, videos and games. Oftentimes the sites are richly illustrated, almost cinematic. "I think that we're just scratching the surface in publishing," says Ferdman. "As writers get to understand that they can use this medium to basically further their art and their craft in terms of storytelling, then I think we'll see things that go a lot further than Marisha's site."