Write Like You Tweet?

“I’ve long believed working with Tweets forces me to become a more clear and concise writer. For more than a year I tweeted three to four tweet stories almost nightly. How can we reduce an entire story to two or three sentences? Like this:

Carl opened his goodie bag at the frat party. ‘Life savers and gummy bears?’ Sara whined. Should have double checked after his clown gig.

or

‘There’s no monster in the closet,’ Tim’s stepmother said. ‘Can you look anyway?’ Tim asked. The monster had promised to make it quick.

or one of my favorites:

Tom wrote a story about Jeremy and a hungry bear. His wife read over his shoulder. ‘Write it happy for once,’ Sue said. The bear ate Sue.

For several months I posted my first (and, as far as I know, the first tweet novel Doublemint Gumshoe three times nightly. Composed in more than 800 tweets the sci-fi noir novel covered the case of a missing AI programmer and the less than capable detective who fell in love with her pictures.

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The “cover” of my Tweet novel Doublemint Gumshoe.

This post is more than a shameless promo, however. It’s an opportunity to share with you Sarah Brentyn’s 5 Ways Twitter Helps You Become a Better Writer.