But it is fiction, I assume, and therefore a novel?

http://twitter.com/jaynakamura

Seriously, though, this is a great article and thanks for writing it.

@Eli: The way we handle character twitters in The Peacock King is that characters’ tweets are timed roughly along with the story being posted. They talk about things that may not be focused on as much in the story itself, usually how they feel about certain events. They also chat with each other and with readers and with other stories’ characters. We try to keep most things humor-related, though there’s been some very interesting discussion between characters and readers in regards to world-building-related topics that just haven’t been explained in-depth within the constrains of the serial. The tweets themselves are not entirely in continuity, though – blackberries and iPhones don’t really exist in PK’s world.

Sometimes the tweets will be used to enhance reader experience a bit. For the Halloween bonus story we had the characters start hinting about events that wouldn’t be revealed until the next part would be posted. It really helped build up the tension, and got a lot more readers. …That could have been because we were killing readers off in the text of the story, though. Oddly, they seem to like that. Certainly generated some buzz!

I’ve also started up a regular Twitter feature for Mondays called #MannersMonday in which anyone can ask @LordWordSalad (The Poet King) a question about etiquette. Thus far he’s explained everything from how to avoid an awkward family Thanksgiving party to how to threaten someone politely while using a weapon. I notice features like that and the Halloween special help promote the twitter accounts themselves (got more followers for the characters then) and then more readers start coming in as word-of-mouth spreads. It’s slow growth, but it draws in people who are definitely interested in following the story and characters.

Otherwise the comments will just act as a distraction from the reading stage. (Although I do suppose you can argue for comments as a form of meta-narrative, if you’re into experimental postmodern fiction …)

Re: Dustrunners – I think the Spymaster site took quite a bit of time to code. I remember them being in invite-only beta for a couple of months not very long ago.

Re: Spymaster. Yes, actually, that was my proof-of-concept. To be totally honest, this idea is an extension of the ARG I ran in 2001 for the original Dustrunners show, where people got to play pirates and betray each other. I’m just adapting the concept to a 2009 medium :)

@MCM: That is a fantastic idea. Have you heard of Spymaster? It’s pretty similar to the game you’re describing.

Basically, it’s a Twitter-based Alternate Reality Game. You follow a special Twitter account, and it creates a persona for you… certain $$, assets etc. You have to work your way in to getting a dustrunner ship, and then you’ll learn about various missions. Coordinate with your peers to take on a set of freighters, meet at the assigned time (some missions won’t be practical, just as in real life) and fly. Speak too much about it in public and you might get caught. If you get caught, you might get “flipped” to join the authorities (of various types). Then it’s up to you to work your way up the chain to the top of the heap, so you can make a big bust and earn your freedom. It’s a role-playing game and Twitter mixed together in a crazy way.

On top of it, there would be news stories posted about the exploits (or non-exploits), and other rumours that float around that would make users paranoid. The ultimate goal is to pay off your fighter and retire.

Tying it all together: the plan would be that all this work would be foundation, or backstory, or part of the Dustrunners reality. Crystalline would reference the events, the characters, the adventures that happened on Twitter, as if they were real. It’s still not quite fully-interactive fiction, but it’s as immersive as I can think to make it. You could BE part of the problem. If you got good enough, you could be a legend Kani hears about.

I had so much of it worked out, but the logistics are just too big to fit into the time I have available. But yes. That’s something ELSE Twitter could be used for :)

It all depends though, #3D1D was very much a twitter oriented project, so I think readers who didn’t follow it on twitter too missed a huge part of the experience.

I also haven’t touched on twitter-fiction in this article, but there are loads of people twittering stories, and that is turning in a whole branche of web-fiction of its own. (For those interested there is a Squidoo page on the subject) If you aren’t on twitter, you are completely missing out on those.

I think it boils down to reading a book in your bedroom, or reading it and discussing it with a bookclub. It’s a completely different experience, but neither is bad or wrong or less.