To many people the term ‘short story’ may reference something specific such as a poem, rhyme or children’s short fiction. However, the short story actually originates with short ‘prose’ fiction, which has adopted differential forms to accommodate the transitional demands of the general public. 

The limited content of a short story should give the reader just a glimpse into the characters and their lives, often capturing a dramatic incident or fleeting moment and revealing this, in part, to the reader. Due to its swift beginning, middle and end the readers imagination is always engaged, which is the most significant appeal of a short story. History authenticates a love for brief narratives, with this being evident with the longevity of fairytales, anecdotes and short myths that have survived each new century. These narrative structures, amongst others, have all shaped the modern short story that we see today.

Despite its ancient origin, short story fiction has had an intangible relationship with public opinion, declining in popularity in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. This was due, in part, to the uprising of the novel. A more descriptive narrative that explored the discovery of new land and social conditions of the time, significant intrigue in the novel was due to its extended length. However, from the nineteenth century onwards, an interest in short story fiction was restored as it reappeared in circulation as the ‘modern short story’.

‘This was a new stage in the evolution of short fiction, one in which the short form undertook a new seriousness and gained a new vitality and respect.’

Britannica (2018)

Short stories in the twenty-first century have to compete with alternative forms of entertainment to secure audience attention. Examples include television, cinema, social media and web forums which are often a more popular and accessible leisure choice. Due to this, the traditional format of a short story once again experienced a sharp decline in popularity, until recently, when the format was revived – revolutionised on Twitter.

If you haven’t heard of Twitter, then where have you been? With over 330 million users, Twitter exceeds similar micro-blogging platforms such as Tumblr in popularity. Micro-blogging allows any social media user to become a blogger or an author, creating a unique and independent profile, on Twitter restricted to a 280 character limit. Its tried and tested ‘timeline’ system allows users to publish their own content, follow others and retweet posts, this then appearing on their own timeline. This ongoing ‘web’ of retweets means tweets can travel at a rapid rate, gaining popularity with favourites and retweets, thus disseminating across the world in seconds. Twitter hosts the accounts of celebrities, social media influencers and established authors, amongst many others. This platform allows individuals to publish their content to a curated audience instantly.

In such a digital age, social media for the promotion of your brand is fundamental when publicising your content to a large audience. This is evidently the case for authors, as the promotion of stories in any genre can be easily shared online to enable mass distribution, giving the piece of literature the best chance of success. 

‘There’s no doubt that writers’ interest in Twitter fiction is partially driven by publishers. Authors are encouraged to use social media to engage with their readers, and a large Twitter following can translate into strong book sales.’

Goldhill (2018)

To do this, the simple use of an author’s page and their choice of additional hashtags means that, for the consumer, their literature is easy to find.  Also, with the profile in reference to a specific interest, for example literature, once the author’s page is located it is simple for the user to discover other accounts that also promote similar content. Twitter is used as a tool by professional writers to publicise their work, but it has also been adopted by amateurs, who want to experiment with the form of short story fiction to entertain and provoke thought in their audience.

A popular example of the modernisation of storytelling is the Twitter account @VeryShortStory. The stories are written by @sean_hill, whose 280 characters or less attract an impressive 202,000 followers to his account. This content he identifies as ‘Twitter sized fiction’ with his bio confidently challenging followers to send in a noun and he will ‘use the ones that inspire creativity to produce a story’. Immediately, this fosters a relationship between the author and his readers, giving them the often covetable opportunity to be a working clog in the creative process of literature, something that would not be so immediately possible if he did not publish through a social networking site.

His timeline presents a selection of short stories, each one completely individual and engaging in its own right. Regardless of tone, each gained hundreds of likes and more significantly retweets, expanding the author’s readership further. Some were comical whilst others maintained a more serious narrative but the joint purpose, as can be seen by both of the below, was to engage the reader for just five seconds:

‘The coffee called to Alex from the kitchen. He obeyed, drinking his 5th cup. It was in control of his body now. There was no more Alex.’

740 likes/ 498 retweets

‘Wondering if I am real. Am I just a character in a story? My past seems vague, my future limited. Please, if you made me, let me know.’

679 likes/ 497 retweets

An immediate example of the advantage of using a social media platform for publishing, is the audience feedback and comments left on each tweeted short story. ‘This one was random and bitter’ – @ThatNicole commented on one of @VeryShortStory pieces. This allows the author the ability to gauge the success of each narrative, whether it received positive or negative feedback. Additionally, followers of these pages have the option of contributing to these tweets, adding comments that continue the narrative, inserting them into the role of the author. An example is seen after: ‘Wondering if I am real. Am I just a character in a story? My past seems vague, my future limited. Please, if you made me, let me know.’ followed by @BetaWolfAD ‘I made you. But now you make far better stories than I ever could. The resentment is too much; I cannot face it. Goodbye my son’. This enhances the reader’s creativity and engagement with the short story presented.

Twitter, as a platform for modern short stories, is successful due to the social networks popularity. Individuals spend more time on social media platforms than on traditional academic content so integrating literature into this platform is a great way of penetrating an often inaccessible market. This specific account also offers a printed version of its most popular tweets titled ‘Very Short Stories: 300 Bite-Size Works of Fiction’, available on amazon. The paperback boasts a customer rating of 4* with the reviews indicating consumers had been introduced to the author via social media and wanted to read more.

‘I’ve been subscribed to @VeryShortStory on Twitter for quite a while. His stories are considerably good and funny. I keep him on mobile update so I don’t miss a single story. It’s great tip have so many of his best stories on one place, what you can sit down and read them all easily. I’ve spread the word to many of my friend, and they almost always jump in and follow him as well.’

Phil Hill (Amazon review)

This demonstrates that Twitter, as a platform, has enabled the continuation of printed press and literature through an intermediary site.

The average person’s attention span is said to be roughly nine seconds, making the 280 character limit on Twitter the perfect delivery method for information. This short amount of attention may increase the popularity of the modern short story, given that the average reader reads prose at a rate of 250-300 words per minute, a tweet should take no time at all. In Twitter’s case it allows authors to publish their content in a matter of seconds to an attentive audience who can respond and comment on it immediately. This creates a symbiotic relationship from the audience to the writer, allowing them to improve and engage with their audience through collaboration and gain a measure of success.

As has been witnessed before, short stories are once again evolving to stay relevant in the twenty-first century, using social media as a platform to do so. Although a fairly new form of literature, this modern short story is embarking on a digital quest to success. Twitter, with its limited character space, fast paced timeline and user engagement enables this completely.

I would love to see some of your own ‘Twitter sized fiction’ in the comments below!

Author: Natasha Dingwall

References

Amazon (2018) Very Short Stories: 300 Bite-Size Works of Fiction. Available at: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1612430163/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=seanhicom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1612430163 (Accessed: 12 April 2018).

Avclub (2018) Twitter and short stories. Available at: https://www.avclub.com/twitter-is-getting-excited-over-a-short-story-of-all-t-1821182916 (Accessed: 8 April 2018).

Britannica (2018) Short story. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/art/short-story (Accessed: 6 April 2018).

Clark, M. (2018) Twitter Story: Tell a Story in 280 Characters – The Write Practice. Available at: https://thewritepractice.com/twitter-story/ (Accessed: 8 April 2018).

Foasberg, N. (2014) ‘Student Reading Practices in Print and Electronic’ Media. College & Research Libraries, 75(5), p. 705-723.

Goldhill, O. (2018) Authors are turning Twitter into a literary genre, 140 characters at a time – Quartz. Available at: https://qz.com/499698 (Accessed: 8 April 2018).

Goldhill, O. (2018) Is Twitter Fiction the New Literary Genre? The Atlantic. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/09/the-rise-of-twitter-fiction/404761/ (Accessed: 8 April 2018).

Maloney, E. (2018) You can’t speed read literature – The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/dec/14/you-can-t-speed-read-literature (Accessed: 10 April 2018).

The Modern Short Story (2018) Available at: http://www.scholarspark.com/the-modern-short-story.html (Accessed: 6 April 2018).                      

Twitter (2018) Very Short Story (@VeryShortStory) Available at: https://twitter.com/veryshortstory?lang=en (Accessed: 3 April 2018).