Twitter your stories? What is this world coming to?

Haggis · Apr 18, 2009

There's a new publication, called Thaumatrope, that uses Twitter--the social networking thingy--and publishes stories up to 140 characters. Whoda thunk it?

I think I'm going to check it out.

Jcomp · Apr 18, 2009

I know we've had fun with some extremely short stories here, and I love the 100 word Necrotic Tissue stories, but 140 characters would seem to, in many instances, reduce your entire "story" (particularly horror) to a punchline.

Haggis · Apr 18, 2009

Jcomp said:
I know we've had fun with some extremely short stories here, and I love the 100 word Necrotic Tissue stories, but 140 characters would seem to, in many instances, reduce your entire "story" (particularly horror) to a punchline.

Yeah, I know. And I agree. But I've read a couple of them and they're not bad. They're just different is all.

soapdish · Apr 18, 2009

OK, I just checked this out. And you are right, they are nice little reads. Even though I sooo don’t get twitter. I was on a rampage last weekend when I realized so many people I know “tweet”.
So, my question is, why does this have to be affiliated with Twitter? Couldn’t this just be a list of 140 character stories? Is it merely a formatting thing so that there site will be readable on mobile phones? I don’t get it. :Huh:

I loved one review, directly off their website, that begins: “Ever wonder what Twitter could ever possibly be good for?”
This is what I ask myself everyday, LOL, and now, in a case like Thaumatrope, I guess I can see the value.

Perks · Apr 18, 2009

One of our members, Roger, is British novelist, RN Morris and he's serializing, The Gentle Axe, on Twitter. (It's a crime thriller, not a horror.)

I've read the book in regular format, so I can't say how it's coming over 140 characters at a time, but it's a terrific book.

williemeikle · Apr 18, 2009

I got asked recently to pitch ideas for tweeting a Xmas ghost story during December, 25 tweets long.

Still waiting to hear whether I got the gig or not, but its pro payment so it looks like some publishers are taking twitter seriously.

soapdish · Apr 18, 2009

OK, but—why would you want to read something 140 characters at a time? I get serializing a book. But why wouldn’t Morris just post it on his blog in chapters? 140 character snippets (which by the way you have to read bottom to top right?) doesn’t make sense to me.

Is it all about followers? And if so, again, why wouldn’t you just blog it, you have followers on blogs too.

Willie—can I ask why you want to do the Twitter gig? What about it seems worthwhile to you? Other than pro pay, obviously. I’d do just about anything for that.

I am not trying to slam Twitter, I am just trying to understand it and what its usefulness is.

mdin · Apr 18, 2009

How the heck do you submit to this? Do you just send an @Thaumatrope?

I love the art of distilling short fiction to a certain length.

I don't know about serializing a longer work on Twitter, but 140 character stories is definitely something I'd both read and submit to.

CarrieAnnE · Apr 18, 2009

we now bring you this important bulletin...

Twitter is most useful for minutes updates and news feeds. Think of ticker tapes at the bottom of CNN and such. (Remember ticker tape on AOL when AOL was all you had? Nowadays they just embolden it and toss up a whole article in a matter of minutes after something happens...on multiple servers at the same time.)

Actually I like twitter. The perks are just lying there, waiting. Just think...more publishers could use it to let people know straightaway that they are opening up or closing the doors to subs in a couple of seconds.

While it doesn't seem useful, it is. People just have to use it properly in order to get a full satisfaction out of it.

Carrie

Perks · Apr 18, 2009

soapdish said:
OK, but—why would you want to read something 140 characters at a time? I get serializing a book. But why wouldn’t Morris just post it on his blog in chapters? 140 character snippets (which by the way you have to read bottom to top right?) doesn’t make sense to me.

Oh, I agree. It's a curious set up.

Roger does a good job explaining it on his blog, but mostly it was an experiment, an unusual opportunity to see how a book works broken down almost sentence by sentence.

The Gentle Axe did very well in its regular incarnation, so it was safe for Mr. Morris to do this dissection.

I certainly wouldn't do it with any of my own work that hadn't lived in its natural state for a good long while. (Such as the natural state of my work is, which is a separate, desperately sad tale.)

DeeCaudill · Apr 18, 2009

I think one could do something epistemological via Twitter quite well with a handful of "character" accounts.

mdin · Apr 18, 2009

BTW, I was kicking around the idea with someone else a while back about starting something similar, but with strictly speculative fiction and/or just horror. No serials, just complete 140 character stories. We'd pay a flat rate of $1 a tweet (which would come out to .03-.05 a word) in exchange for non-exclusive, first digital , and since we're not rich, we'd have one or two a day. Eventually maybe we could pound out a sponsor like a small horror press that'd get to tweet a link in exchange for a week's worth of stories sponsorship, so it'd pay for itself. It's by no means a winning market from a business standpoint, but I think it would be pretty fun.

I love reading stuff like this.

soapdish · Apr 19, 2009

WOW, I am totally impressed with the variations and creative uses for twitter, all of these things people have mentioned above actually make more sense to me than what I *thought* twitter was for. :tongue

I thought it was just for chatting with friends LOL!

I get the ticker tape idea--to get updates from publishers and agents etc. I also get the 140 character short story idea.

XThe NavigatorX--your idea sounds very interesting.

But I am still on the fence about the serializing the bigger work. When I went to Morris's website and read his twittered story, it was difficult for me to read and if it's difficult to read, I am not going to read it. But maybe I am just not the target audience.

Perks--you are right, it wasn't as risky for Morris since he had already found success with the book in more traditional ways. I wish I was "successful in traditional ways" so I could experiment risk free too.

Kerr · Apr 19, 2009

I think if 100 words was a kick that 140 characters must be even more interesting. I was impressed. All those little stories made sense.

bsolah · Apr 19, 2009

Ok, I read some of those and they were kind of a cool, but it's starting to stretch the boundaries of what's defined as a story. Those things are more like poetry.

Shadow_Ferret · Apr 20, 2009

OK. Maybe it's me, but I don't get those. The majority aren't even stories, as I'd define them, they're like unstructured stream of conscious haikus.

Haggis · Apr 20, 2009

Like 'em or not, there are two more that I've seen--Tweetthemeat and VeryShortStory. Looks like one pays; the other is for fun.

frisco · Apr 20, 2009

Well I think its something interesting. All I would have to do is thin out my book from 297 pages to 140 characters. In seriousness I think Twitter--and a few other sites--are a great way to build exposure for books, but as an actual way of getting your story out this doesn't seem like a good way to go.
the internet is really changing the way a lot of things get done. I love the idea of utilizing free sites to help promote the fact that someone has a book out. I think it might be a great way for a lot of self published writers to get the word out and direct interested readers to their website to purchase their book. People will only read something if they know it exists so any sort of free promotion can only be a good thing.

alcoholicnightterror · Apr 24, 2009

well, Im now on twitter because of this thread!..

Izz · Apr 24, 2009

Haggis said:
Like 'em or not, there are two more that I've seen--Tweetthemeat and VeryShortStory. Looks like one pays; the other is for fun.

Here's another one for poetry. Not particularly horror, but speculative:Outshine

And they pay pro poetry rates for 140 character poetry. Good times. It's a new wave--likely just a fad--but still, whatever helps us trim unnecessary words, right?

bettielee · Apr 24, 2009

I want Twitter to go away.

Haggis · Apr 24, 2009

bettielee said:
I want Twitter to go away.

Hit the little "x" in the upper right hand corner of your screen.

bettielee · Apr 24, 2009

No... I want twitter to DIE!! I want to drag its rotten corpse out in the back yard and shovel excrement over it! I want it become a zombie twitter and THEN I CAN KILL IT AGAIN! I hate Twitter!!!!!!!!!!

... :poke:

Sorry.. don't know what happened there.. I am usually the gentlest poster....

but something about Twitter and Tweets and Twits and Tweeps just puts a twist in my panties! :rant:

Haggis · Apr 24, 2009

bettielee said:
No... I want twitter to DIE!! I want to drag its rotten corpse out in the back yard and shovel excrement over it! I want it become a zombie twitter and THEN I CAN KILL IT AGAIN! I hate Twitter!!!!!!!!!!

... Sorry.. don't know what happened there.. I am usually the gentlest poster....

but something about Twitter and Tweets and Twits and Tweeps just puts a twist in my panties!

You know, you ought to consider being a writer. You express yourself soooooo well. :ROFL:

bettielee · Apr 24, 2009

Why, thank you Haggis. I might think about it... if only the voices would stop... the ones that talk to me about interdimensional cowboys...

I'm sorry to have interrupted the thread with my personal vendetta. You all were saying?

Twitter your stories? What is this world coming to?

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