Abandoned Twitter Novels
Jeff VanderMeer • January 29th, 2009 @ 5:58 pm • Writing Tips
In an attempt to reconcile myself to new media, I’ve been trying to complete a Twitter novel, with no luck thus far. To at least get something out of it, here are the last 10 I abandoned.
Jamison Trast stood atop the huge clock and
Rank and shallow, they’d never be sure
Just as the fire reached his leg and
Making a shallow incision by
Shoving the pencil into
The light low on the
Torn by wasted
“Why’d you
Not here
Wait
January 29, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Supermicrofiction?
I’m unsure what the big deal is with Twitter btw, as far as I can see it’s essentially just a glorified version of the Facebook status bar…? Apparently I’m now “microblogging” if I announce to the world that I just had a cup of tea.
January 29, 2009 at 6:15 pm
I am waiting for it to actually come to a writer twittering that he’s blocked on his 140 word twitter novel.
January 29, 2009 at 6:29 pm
LOL!
What about Twitter book reviews of Twitter novels (concise and to the point) or MetaTwitterFiction – Twitter stories about the writing of Twitter stores. There just wouldn’t be room though.
January 29, 2009 at 9:47 pm
I have had a number of rewrite requests for Twitter stories which have subsequently sold. Rewriting a Twitter story? Way more fun than rewriting a 100,000 worder.
January 29, 2009 at 11:54 pm
Wait.
January 30, 2009 at 1:31 am
Abandoned? But you were so close!
January 30, 2009 at 6:42 am
Will–that almost made me do a spit take.
January 30, 2009 at 9:13 am
“Cover her face. Mine eyes dazzle. She died young.”
Previously described as the shortest three-act play in English, but a Twitter novel covers it also.
January 30, 2009 at 10:04 am
On the topic of incongruous genres/content in shorter forms, that reminds me of my favourite haiku at the moment:
(http://jsut.deviantart.com/art/A-haiku-for-the-old-bald-man-106304996)
“DAMMIT KOWALSKI
HAND OVER YOUR BADGE AND GUN
YOU ARE OFF THE FORCE”
Makes me laugh anyway.
February 28, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Having posted a novel at twitter at http://twitter.com/talkingcat I saw there is a different problem with comprehension in a backward reading story. I needed to post a “real” version at http://pick2prod.com Much easier to read that way. The story was written by my late wife who would have loved the idea of publishing on twitter. But having said that, she would have also loved to figure the plot for a story that starts with the ending. BTW it took about 6 months to post the story, so I can see how easy it would be to just stop