Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Twitter Fiction

I've recently discovered Twitter Fiction. Have you heard of it? Awesome stuff. It's telling a story in 140 characters. Not 140 words... but characters. The length of a twitter post. While I don't have a twitter account, I find the challenge of writing such a short story compelling. Now, keep in mind that 140 characters (which includes all punctuation and even spaces) only amounts to about 25 words.

What I find the most challenging is hitting that 140 dead on. Think about it, if you write and edit and you have 139 characters, how do you add just one more? It usually takes rewriting whole sentences or thoughts in order to do it... and then, whoops! You're at 141!

If you're a writer, try it! I bet you'll find it fun. If you don't consider yourself a writer, try it anyway. You might be surprised at what you come up with.

There are communities for 140 character fiction. One that I check each day (because they post a new twit fic every week day) is One Forty Fiction. And if you check out their home page today, you'll see one of my very own 140s as the story of the day. It's Dad and Me week over there, so while my Dad story isn't a happy one, it was judged worthy for the site. I'm damned happy 'bout that. And if you're checking out this blog later than June 15, 2011, this link should take you right to the twit fic.

Also, check out Gayle Beveridge's twitter fiction page. She's an awesome writer!

6 comments:

  1. Amy, I disagree that your story isn't a happy one. I felt the love between father and child even though he 'uses' the child to get money. It was just loaded with emotion and there was a real sense of the sheer joy of getting to do something illicit in secret, while being in the safe care of a parent. I'd have been so thrilled that I'd have 'tattled' too!

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  2. Hi Rose!
    Glad to see you here.
    You know, it's one of my favorite things about stories: the truth of the story lies in each individual reader's translation.

    Thanks so much for that! I'm going to check out your Livejournal blog this weekend. (thank goodeness for weekends!)

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  3. Hi Amy, like you I recently discovered 'Twitter Fiction' - it's great fun.
    Talking of very short stories have you come across 5X5 Fiction? Also great fun - story must have exactly 5 words & each word exactly 5 words. Check out Angel Zapata at http://5x5fiction.blogspot.com/

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  4. Hi Amy

    I just wanted to say thank you for the comment on my One Forty Fiction piece today, and let you know how much I liked "Quality Time". I didn't find it sad at all - it had a lovely atmosphere, and the tattle line at the end struck me as quite comical. I imagine dad got in trouble when they got home. :)

    Jennifer

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  5. MJ, Thanks for stopping by! I'll definetely check out 5X5 fiction!
    Amy

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  6. Jennifer,
    You're welcome! I love that small dose of fiction every day on one forty. And thanks for your comments on Quality Time!
    Amy

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