Of course just because a new Sir Toby’s adventure has been launched doesn’t mean my prefatory remarks are finished concerning the archives. In this installment I offer some behind-the-scenes glimpses of the collaborative authorial process, as carried on in email exchanges between Peter and me preceding the publication of Peter’s books. While ordinarily I make it a rule not to reveal private correspondence publicly, in this context I’m following well-established literary precedent.

On 22 Feb 07 I wrote an email to Peter in which I apologized for intruding in his latest Sir Toby’s adventure. I had anticipated that the interactive storytelling style established in the first two episodes would continue, but it seemed that Peter intended to tell this tale himself. In my email I wrote what could almost be used as a back-cover blurb touting his book:

“I think your fiction-writing is erudite, whimsical, and
basically a gas. Sir Toby’s would make a good serial in a 19th century
magazine, a mediocre television sitcom, or perhaps a book of
loosely-connected episodes. We’ve already seen the beginning story and the
Christmas tale; now the murder mystery. The surreal gnostic sensibility;
the post-medieval Prague with its tramways and Australians; the inn itself
with its hearth, its soup, its archivists, its dogs; the intriguing and
infinitely extensible cast of characters; the archaic literary style — I
love it. Theological ideas, both orthodox and heretical, form the backbone
of the tales, framing them in an imaginary world that allows perhaps a bit
more freedom — and overt violence — than is generally tolerated even in
virtual non-fictional realities.”

Seven months later I received an email from Peter:

“I’m putting together some posts from the OST website for a small publishing project (on line; I’m not expecting a huge take-up!), and there were one or two of yours that I’d like to use - the ones which provided links in the Sir Toby’s stories. Could I have your permission to use them?”

“Sure, go ahead,” I replied before continuing:

“Perhaps 6 months ago I tried sending you an email on the closed OST message system. I didn’t hear from you for a couple of weeks, then I realized that the system hadn’t preserved a copy of what I’d sent to you. Either I made a human error or the system failed me. And so I abandoned my quest. But now your email brings it back…

“At the time I was thinking about Sir Toby’s and wondering if you’d like to try co-writing a book based on the conceit. It’s an intriguing little alternate reality, surprisingly evocative after only a few brief visits. I believe the readers were amused and perhaps even enlightened a little. The Trappist [Peter’s alter-ego in the Sir Toby’s world] and the Old Man [my fictional persona] were clearly the most well-rounded of the cast of characters (not surprising given that we were the only contributors). Within the context of OST these episodes were almost tangential, an entertainment in the midst of heavy theologizing. But if we were to occupy Sir Toby’s more resolutely, I wonder what would happen? The post-preteristic theme that so dominates OST would recede, letting the conversations revolve around broader Judeo-Christian themes. The creative tension between the two main characters — the one a nearly-traditional Christian, the other a sort of heretical mystic — could generate some “emerging theology” couched in an eccentrically mythic sensibility that’s part medieval, part Kafka. Kind of a postmodern Screwtape Letters.

“So whaddaya say? Do you have either the time or the inclination? Do you think it could be done? Is an immediate audience needed to provide creative stimulus? Can you see the roomful of theologians chiming from time to time, the dogs ceaselessly begging for bits of mutton from the nearly-empty bowls, the discourses on the Fall and the Law, the Resurrection and the New Man? Can you picture a handsomely bound little book on the new releases shelf at the local bookstore?”

In his reply Peter thought it might be worth a go. I asked whether we should consider decoupling the Sir Toby’s from OST, writing the new interactive episodes either in email exchanges or on a separate Sir Toby’s blog. After 3 days without a reply I proposed a writing strategy…

“I can picture a series of episodes loosely connected to each other but centering on theological discussion. As I said on OST during the first Sir Toby’s discussion, I tend to see the Judeo-Christian themes less through faith than through the imagination. Perhaps the creative tension between faith and imagination will be evident in the contrast between the Trappist and the Old Man. Not that the whole endeavor isn’t a work of the imagination…

“I think writing these on OST might not be the right venue. It does encourage both speed and careful wordsmithing, which is good. But I think the site works best in a more straightforward discursive mode, revolving around explicitly evangelical concerns. Sir Toby’s occupies an intermediate realm between fiction and theologizing broadly construed, so maybe it should take shape in its own space. Maybe a dedicated and very basic Sir Tobys blog that both of us can post to and edit, either opening it to others’ comments or not. You could let people at OST or anyone else know what we’re up to, then send them to the blog if they’d like to watch, comment, make suggestions, cheer us on, etc. as we go along. Or we could keep it entirely private.”

Peter responded the next day, proposing that we continue writing Sir Toby’s inside OST…

“Part of the inspiration for Sir Tobys is, of course, the OST website - and its current concerns. The setting provides a medium for argument which avoids direct head to head encounter. That’s how it developed. Of course, it didn’t begin that way - as you supplied the brush-strokes which created he hostel - and the theological ruminations which were never really pursued. Even the five scrolls [an earlier Sir Toby’s episode which I’d introduced] was hi-jacked to my own polemical concerns!

I’m probably a little less confident than you - but why don’t you launch something? I’m sure I’ll be inspired to reply - though don’t assume too much about my positions. On the eucharist, I’m a lot closer to transubstantiaton than you would think!”

I responded as follows:

“It may be what attracts you to Sir Toby’s are the very things I’m trying to evade. I often had a sense that the Trappist was hoping to engage others in the inn, especially the well-dressed young westerner [a fictionalized Andrew], in conversation, often at the expense of his discussions with the Old Man.

“So is there anything to lose if I were to launch another episode at Sir Toby’s? I guess I stand to lose a fragile sector of the imagination to what Wallace Stevens called “the pressure of reality.” But let me think about it awhile — maybe I’ll have a change of heart and have the Old Man put something up at OST. Or, to flagrantly mix metaphors and split infinitives in one fell swoop, perhaps the Trappist can launch another boat on that nearly-dry stream and see if anyone will take off their shoes, roll up their cuffs, wade in and push it along.”

Peter’s response:

“First - as regards the content and forum for an on-going Sir Tobys narrative. I’m not really that interested in getting Andrew to contribute - though I wondered if he would. At the time, the story was given an extra lease of life for me by Andrew’s 2006 advent posts, which I was simultaneously vigorously objecting to…

“As regards the eight scrolls - I’m afraid I wasn’t following you very carefully about these, and at the time wasn’t relating them to the five possibilities and the ‘true myth’ - though you’ll know I picked this interest up slightly in the story - when it was brushed aside by the Westerner as he propounded his own narrative theological line. So apologies if the idea was hi-jacked - but in the interactive story as it developed, you could always have turned the story back to your own interests. I didn’t have any overriding proprietorial rights to it!”

At that point I decided that the preliminary conversation could continue indefinitely without the two of us agreeing on how to get a Sir Toby’s book written and without our actually writing anything new. So I launched a new Sir Toby’s episode, again on OST, to see whether the collaborative writing project outlined in this email correspondence would take shape…

(To be continued — possibly. When I tried to submit this comment I received this message: “We’re sorry, but the spam filter thinks your submission could be spam. Please complete the CAPTCHA.” Maybe OST’s robotic editorial assistant has captured the essence of my remarks. I shall now type in the magical incantation in hopes of deluding the robot into believing that what I’ve provided here is worth publishing on the site.)