With many authors yet to embrace fully the platform-building potential of Twitter, are we already seeing the next wave of possibility for this microblogging site?
It seems that authors in Japan may be ahead of the game when it comes to creative usage of Twitter as a new trend emerges with authors actually writing books on Twitter.
When you consider that each ‘tweet’ is just 140 characters long, it must be quite a challenge to write a Twitter novel!
As most writers understand, it is often much harder to craft a powerful message or tell an enticing tale using a modest number of words. So the reduction to a handful of characters is taking the minimalist idea to the extreme.
Yet, according to freelance journalist Felicity Hughes* who writes a blog for the Japan Times, Japanese authors have begun writing Twitter books.
Perhaps even more intriguingly, this trend is being watched by publishers who are looking to the internet as a “testing ground for new talent”.
This is good news for authors who are hoping to attract the positive attention of agents and editors, many of whom are active on Twitter themselves.
In fact the first collection of Twitter novels, One Hundred and Forty Character Stories, was published by Discover towards the end of last year and includes 1,000 short “novels” from 10 professional writers.
Although this is clearly very early days, it is fascinating to see how creative both writers and publishers can be when it comes to taking stories to the marketplace.
So what can be learnt from their example?
In my view, this is an opportunity to remember that “less is often more” when it comes to writing, and that lesson is probably one which many of us benefit from being reminded of more than once.
What are your views on Twitter as a potential literary tool and how easy do you find it to write less to say more? Add your comments below …
