Twitter fiction: Creating whole worlds in 140 characters or less.

As a writer I am intrigued by twitter fiction as a genre.  I originally didn't think much of it because what I love about writing is the ability to use language to convey details in both landscape and character.  I felt that the confines of twitter were too constrictive to produce works of any level of interest or meaning.  What I found instead were writers who were using these confines to hone and perfect their skills with language.  I was humbled and inspired by the capabilities of these writers to convey so much with so little.  And I am inspired to read more and perhaps even try it myself.

To research this post I mainly used the keywords twitter fiction and twitterature.  I found quite a lot of material this way and didn't really feel the need to expand upon my search beyond this.

I included these elements because they showcased the experimental and innovative uses of the twitter format, not only the constraints of the character limit but also incorporating the social immediacy and crowd-sourcing aspects of twitter into the stories themselves.  I felt that Andrew Fitzgerald's TED did a great job of discussing ways in which writers are experimenting with this format and tried to find other examples of this.

I also was interested in the ways that twitter fiction can not only re-write existing literary texts but can also be adapted and reformatted into these cross-media formats, i.e. books and online publications.  I appreciate the ability to read these stories outside of the noise of twitter itself, where the story is embedded within timelines and is added onto with replies and comments and re-tweets.  While these things can be elements of the experience itself, it is nice to be able to get the story in a more traditional manner as well.  I am really interested in the idea of stories crossing platforms and existing in different forms within these platforms.

I don't know that my post gives a "full picture" of the issue. I did choose to focus on the aspects that I was most interested in.  There are certainly other aspects of twitter fiction that could be explored in an academic essay such as whether re-writing existing texts for twitter can bring new audiences to these texts or prevent the audiences from experiencing the authentic voice of the original author. Using twitter fiction as an educational tool for second language english learners is also an interesting topic that could be explored.

This is a topic that I am definitely interested in exploring further and as I said, I look forward to reading more twitter fiction and thinking about ways in which I can perhaps write my own in the future.

Multi-Modalities = greater story comprehension

Multi-Modalities provide different instructional media opportunities for the benefit of multiple learning styles. Whether the viewer best learns through audio, visual or text does not matter. The same basic story elements are repeated across modalities.

Multimodality - Tie it together

Cross-Media Marketing - Make your Message Shine!

 From ancient cave men to present day, the charm and emotional resonance that storytelling can bring is invaluable. Cross-Media, also referred to as 'Trans-Media' is the process of 'Storytelling' using digital tools to bring your Story to life.

One such tool is Animoto - A plausibly free website on which you can post your photos, video, Text pages and imagery into pre-made templates and make them you own. Approachable, flexible and containing a generous amount of options for the average user, Animoto is a tool that can bring Life and experience to your story.

This is my second effort on Animoto and I can see the engagement that this tool can bring to both business and personal projects - ending in a professional, enjoyable product that creates true talk value. I LOVE IT!

Inanimate Alice in Nepal

Producing 'Alice' - Creating Digital Fiction one Step at a Time

The experience of producing a video/vignette has solidified the close relationship between concept, text, images, and sound. The right combination can result in something truly meaningful and magical. Poorly done? Well...I know understand b-movie production as well.

Our experience of Inanimate Alice is one of a certain genre where even the nature of the font impacts tone and mood.

As I tried to replicate the mood of the Inanimate Alice series, where Alice now travels to Nepal, I realized that the limitations of Animoto would not provide me with a desired outcome, but at least enabled an attempt at the concept and explore the tool.

I would love to upgrade the Animoto account, explore more options to produce the next instalment of Alice in Nepal and beyond.


Inanimate Alice in Nepal

Digital Narrative

I tried to tell a narrative around the pictures.  Slurping pasta was a good example.  I had to use the pictures because you were restricted with the number of characters you could use.  I added video and music that would work with a 14 year old travelling.  Love this medium.




Digital Narrative

Politically Incorrect Twitter Fiction

Twitter fiction uses 140 characters to tell a compelling story. You can bring it to life by adding visual effects to the narrative. Try Animoto software which combines text, photos, video and music for a full sensory experience. However, the free version only allows 30 seconds with a few choice words. This forces you to tell a concise story - which reflects the purpose of Twitter fiction.

But remember, twiterature isn't always classic literature. For example, DadBoner is an ongoing Twitter story of a small man from a small town, just trying to get by. Some fun excerpts from my interpretation of his day are captured below.

Copy of DadBoner

He's a Twitter Poet But Does He Know It?

Richard Ayoade - Twitter Poet

This series of tweets by British comedian Richard Ayoade was in my twitter feed this morning.   Whether intentional or not, I find a lot of comedians I follow tend to tweet in short stories and narratives which hilariously mimic their offline comedy styles.