I’ve had this idea ever since I joined twitter to use the medium to write a novel. When I first had the idea, I hadn’t read about anyone that had done this. Now it seems like a lot of people have started on writing projects or have actually finished their novel. It might take some time for me to actually start my own project. Maybe I’ll never do, but it’s still a dream.
In my research on how to do this project, I’ve read up what others have to say about the subject. Some of the tips seem rather general and good for writing novels the traditional way too.
1) Plan the story.
This seems to be a very general tip. When writing a “normal” story you need to plan it. You need a good beginning and you need to know where it will end. It’s also good to have a few scenes in the middle of the story.
2) Decide the type of story
a: Twiction/twit lit
You have to decide what type of story you’re going to write. Twicton is twitter fiction (twit lit=twitter litterature) or novels written using twitter as the media. This is the type I was planning to write. What is different from “normal” stories is that it’s more direct. You need to get your message out in only 140 characters. They say you need about 3700 tweets to make up a novel.
b: Twisters
Twisters is a more extreme form of twit lit. The whole story is made up by only one tweet. I would find it really difficult to being able to squeeze a whole story inside a single tweet.
Here’s an example by @AStoryIn140:
The mom screamed, as the fin came toward her child. The shark’s mouth opened. Just before striking, it saw he wasn’t a seal. It veered off.
I don’t really see that as a whole story, but it’s still interesting.
c: Twitter as research
This isn’t a story type but a way of writing. Before you start your novel, you can start following accounts that might be able to give you input on your story. Then you can test out ideas and you can also learn about different subjects that you will need for your story.
3) Story is actions
Twitcons are action oriented as opposed to narrative. The twitter audience is a very picky one. If nothing happens in a few posts, then they’ll move on.
4) Keep it simple.
Because the story flows quite fast it’s complicated for the reader to keep up so it’s probably best to have few main characters.
5) Post regularly but don’t over post
Keep the posts coming, but resist the temptation to post “everything”. Even if you have lots of ideas, write them down, but don’t complicate the story by posting too much. Less is more when it comes to twitter stories.
6) Focus on one or two main themes
Again keep it simple. The twitter media is fast, interactive and slim, but don’t try to overcomplicate things by trying to cover too many topics and sub topics at the same time.
I think that most of the twitter novels I’ve read about online has a very “short” language, but still very similar to other forms of stories. Of course the medium only allows for 140 characters, but writing the story as a “normal” story, but only tell a little less doesn’t seem to be the solution. My idea is to use twitter as “window” into the main characters’ lives. What would he/she tweet about? Who would the meet? What are their likes and dislikes? Hopefully their actions (as shown in their tweets) would build up the story without any need for any narrative in between.
Hopefully I’ll be able to start this project soon. Wish me luck. Why not start your own twitter novel too!