The pairing of literature and technology has rarely been a conventional form. However, with the rise of digital and social media in the last few years, a new medium has begun to take shape. This new medium has many names, one of which is Twitter Fiction, or “Twitterature,” a union between microblogging and story-telling.
Twitter Fiction is the creation of an interactive narrative using social media. It allows authors to create short stories of 140 or fewer characters, using retweets for plot development, Twitter profiles for characters, and/or timed releases of posts for suspense. Additionally, for many writers, Twitter Fiction has become the new method of publishing since it provides a direct, immediate connection between the author and the reader.
At times complicating, Twitter Fiction can act as a “puzzle” that readers have to put together. Depending on the author’s style, the narrative can either be simple or complex, inclusive or exclusive, concrete or abstract. The reader often has to fill in the blanks left between each post, visualizing the settings, actions, and unspoken words in the narrative. That said, this new literary medium appeals to a wide range of audiences. It’s multi-faceted, challenging, and progressive, which are exactly the kind of traits that entice our current generation of readers.
The Twitter Fictions “Black Box” by Jennifer Egan and “Seven Stories about Drones” by Teju Cole have stood out the most in my review of the medium. Egan’s “Black Box” is a riveting short story about a female spy from the future. The short is written in segments, yet each line differs from the other. At first, it appears that the lines are the thoughts of the protagonist, but later the reader finds out that they are instructions, reactions, and occasional bits of dialogue. Egan’s piece is a puzzle the reader has to put together to really understand what’s going on in the narrative. Eventually, as the story progresses, the puzzle pieces are put together. However, it takes time and patience for the reader to follow through to the end, which is easy due to the content’s addictive nature.
The second Twitter Fiction is Teju Cole’s “Seven Stories about Drones.” Unlike Egan’s prolonged tale, Cole’s fiction is short and succinct. He gives a total of seven posts, all of which tell a single story in 140 or fewer characters. The uniqueness of Cole’s stories lies not only in his style but also in his content. Each of the seven stories takes a line from a classic novel and adds a twist relating to drones. For instance, in Cole’s first post, or “story,” he takes the first line of Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway” and changes the ending by incorporating a "signature strike." He does a similar thing in his fourth post by altering the plot of Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man.” Cole is undeniably ruthless in his pursuit of unconventionality, making his Twitter Fiction compelling and revolutionary.
To this day, literature and technology are evolving into many different things. Yet, they are also evolving together. Twitter Fiction is the result of a changing world desperate for new entertainment without completely doing away with old. With the rise of digital and social media continuously escalating, consumers and readers alike can only hold their breaths for what’s to come. Frankly, I believe that good things are on the horizon, for it is innovations and concepts like Twitter Fiction that builds my confidence in the future of literary media.