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Twitter junkie writes novel —one tweet at a time


Persistence is a virtue: a California-based radio reporter is patiently at work on a novel, but writing it tweet by tweet. Doug Sovern said that the Twitter-themed novel, aptly titled "TweetHeart," is written entirely on Twitter and published 140 characters at a time. "There is no rewriting, so TweetHeart is raw, live and rough. Expect a few tweets each day, some days more than others, usually in the morning hours. The story began on 1/11/11...and will end on 11/11/11. I hope that's enough time to send all of Zoe's tweets and tell her story!" he said on his website. Sovern said the novel centers on Zoe, a bright but troubled young woman living on the streets of Berkeley, California. Zoe becomes estranged from her family and friends, and starts communicating with them again only through Twitter. Through the micro-blogging site, she shares her experiences through a real-time, online diary. Sovern said the novel is a fictionalized account of a "spiral of substance abuse, mental illness and homelessness" his "longtime significant other" fell into. Why a twitter novel Sovern said he got the idea for "TweetHeart" in a dream while he was laid up with broken ribs. He noted similarities between the Twitter novel and "cell phone novels" that he said are quite popular in Japan. "I've been an aspiring novelist since I was very young. When I was nine, I was grounded for three days by my mom, so I wrote a novella, but it was only 40 pages long and written with Bic Bananas. I tried again when I was 12, but I kept killing off my characters and gave that one up after 65 pages (at least it was typed)," he said. But several decades later, he said he had become something of a Twitter junkie. "I may be too A-D-D to finally sit down and write a novel in a conventional way, so this seems like it might be the ideal approach. I love the idea of integrating the medium, and its technology, into the story itself. Besides, I don't think they make Bic Bananas anymore," he added. Not first time However, tech site TheNextWeb said that this was not the first Twitter novel, as the distinction goes to "The French Revolution". "What’s interesting, and unique, about how Sovern is putting the novel together is that it’s entirely spontaneous. He has no outline, no prepared script, and more often than not, he has no idea what’s going to happen next. Not until he’s tweeting it. Sovern describes it as a 'live draft,'" it said. — TJD, GMA News

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