"It seems like the online medium was made for the kind of work I do," Dan says from his Montclair, New Jersey, home. "From day one, I've done this thing that no other writers do -- I interact with the person I'm writing the story for." Dan writes his 60-second novels live on AOL (keyword: sixty) three nights a week; the rest of the time, his site's chat room and nine bulletin boards are often abuzz with cyberconversations.

Dan's work defies easy description. He'll interview his subject online, with hundreds of his voyeuristic followers peeking in, and then he'll churn out his story in real time. His stories are generally a few paragraphs long, filled with the basic turning points of a person's life, usually told in a humorous vein. In his career, he's done everyone from Tom Brokaw and Vanna White to a homeless man in rags who insisted he had become Elvis. His 60-second novels, as he calls them, often lend advice or encouragement to his subjects.

"The online world is all about context and creating a space for people to get together and tell their own stories," he says. "I believe everyone is worth a novel. They really are."

-- The following online dialogue transcript and resulting novel is taken from one of Dan Hurley's earliest AOL shows (June of 1995). A few details have been changed to protect the promiscuous.

Hurley Dan: Why the "MsDesire" name? Are you the very incarnation of passion?...And lust?

MsDesire: Yes, I have been told.

Hurley Dan: By whom, if I may be so bold?

MsDesire: By friends and lovers.

Hurley Dan: How many lovers have there been?

MsDesire: 15 or so. I'm very open...inside and out.

Hurley Dan: Fifteen? Wow, that is a lot for a woman!

OnlineHost: Okay, Mr. Novelist, I think you need a cold shower.

Hurley Dan: And why so many? Just all that desire, I suppose?

MsDesire: Well, I feel you can love more than one person in life.

Hurley Dan: So how many times have you been divorced?

MsDesire: 1

Hurley Dan: You HAVE been divorced? I was just guessing. And why did it go sour?

MsDesire: Married too young. He was faithful although I wasn't.

Hurley Dan: How young were you when you married? And how old are you now?

MsDesire: I was 19, now I'm 37.

Hurley Dan: Wow, so YOU weren't faithful? Are you still that full of desire these days?

MsDesire: I have no problem with age. I don't look my age.

Hurley Dan: I bet you don't, Beautiful. One more question, Desire. Are you steady with anyone now?

MsDesire: I'm married again, but he knows that I'm not faithful.

Hurley Dan: So you're STILL not? And he doesn't care?

MsDesire: He's all right with it. Really. Strange huh?

Hurley Dan: Did you suck all the hormones out of him? Is he comatose? What's the deal?

MsDesire: No, he has never cheated. I just need more, I guess.

Hurley Dan: Incredible. Well, now it is time for your story, Desire.

OnlineHost: Yes, it is time for your story. By the way, what's your real name?

MsDesire: Sharon.

Online Host: Keep quiet now, while the great novelist writes your story.

Hurley Dan: THE WOMAN WHO DESIRED IT ALL

Once upon a time a little tigress was released upon the world. A she-bear. A woman for ages. All ages of men, that is. She felt all the passion...all the DESIRE...all the WANTING. And she did not stop herself from indulging in what she wanted. And what she wanted was men.

Big men.

Small men.

Hairy men.

And baldies.

As a youngster, she thought she would settle down and be good. But it was futile. She couldn't do it. Because she wasn't being true to herself. And she asked herself, "Why should I limit myself to what SOCIETY wants me to do?" And so Sharon gave full vent to all her passions and desires. She went after men like Donald Trump went after money. She became the Walt Whitman of desire. And if every one of us could be so wise...to accept who we are...and not battle ourselves to be like what we THINK we should be....Then there would be a lot more sex going on in this fine world of ours. THE END.

MsDesire: Dan, I love you. Thank you.