Twitter Lit, Twitter Wit and David Pogue
I guess Twitter Lit was inevitable. Considering the site's popularity, it was just a matter of time before we saw a new genre: Books generated by little blue cartoon birds.
David Pogue, who writes (and tweets) about technology for the New York Times, is developing a book from responses to questions posed to his tens of thousands of followers on Twitter. Sample question: What made your first kiss an amazing story? Answers: From ChaseClark -- First kiss in high school, in car, front of her house. Leaned on the horn as kissed--Yes, her parents were at home. From betaboy78 -- My 1st kiss, she forgot to put car in Park--slowly ran into my garage during kiss! Hard to explain to my parents.
Pogue isn't the only one to develop a book based on 140-character bits. Twitter Wit, a compilation of funny messages, is scheduled for a fall release by HarperCollins. In a larger sense, it's another example of the evolution of the book. Chris Anderson used crowd-sourcing to help hone ideas while writing The Long Tail. And Bob Stein, co-director of the Institute for the Future of the Book, has proposed a new definition of a book: "a place where readers (and sometimes authors) congregate" In a post a few months ago, I asked: Is wiki lit our future?
I didn't realize Twitter Lit would surpass it so quickly. What's next -- a rewrite of Irene Nemirovsky's novel, to be titled Tweet Francaise?
Comments
Interesting concept, but somehow I think it would get old fast.
Posted by: Kathy | May 19, 2009 8:13 AM
I started a twitter blog that was going to be a story added on every day. This is
inspiring me to continue.
Posted by: Yosef | May 19, 2009 10:33 AM
I saw some "tweets" (really, that's what they reminded me of) recently at a fabulous exhibition on "French Literary Life Under Nazi Occupation" at the NY Public Library. The exhibition is free and runs until July 25. You can read about it in a NYT article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/25/arts/design/25libr.html?_r=1
After the Nazi Occupation of France, paper was scarce and freedom of expression even scarcer. The following is what impressed me most at the exhibition. Writers and Resistance fighters would use tiny scraps of paper to display their messages, and then they'd leave these little scraps in places like mailboxes and cafe tables. Lots of them are on display at the exhibition, but here's a translation of one (a Resistance slogan from 1943). "The people of Paris will display their ardent will for struggle, arms in hand against the invader."
Now if that isn't a "tweet," what is?
Posted by: Gail Farrelly | May 19, 2009 11:40 AM