Some Reactions to “Some Contemporary Characters” by Rick Moody
All of you know that Electric Literature recently began tweeting what they are calling ‘an experiment in participatory ePublishing’: they are publishing Rick Moody’s story “Some Contemporary Characters” over three days/153 Tweets. They’ve invited anyone who’d like to RT ((re)publish?) the story along with them to participate. As far as I can tell, here’s who is participating: @WritersGarret, @vromans, @shyascanlon, @TheSchooner, @str1cken, @StephenBruckert, @skylightbooks, @skemptastic, @OpiumMagazine, @MWSchmutterer, @litdeathmatch, @FictionAdvocate, @coppernickel, @commongoodbooks, @breathebooks, @brazosbookstore, @blackclockmag, @a_m_kelly, @Andrew_Ervin, @lunaparkreview, @BOMBMagazine, and probably more.
After tweeting the story for today, Electric Literature posted this question on their Facebook page: “Is the Multiple Tweeting of Rick Moody’s Story Awesome, Annoying, or a Bit of Both?”
After the jump, I’ve tried to answer the question as best I could.
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NaNoWriMo Tips from Mark Sample
A little over a week has passed this NaNoWriMo, and though I am pretty much skeptical of the whole production, I have to say that I’m cracking up at some of the NaNoWriMo tips that Mark Sample sends out on his twitter feed. Follow him at samplereality (you’ll have to scroll through his feed to find his old ones) to get tips. Here’s a handful that I enjoyed:
#NaNoWriMo Tip: Reenergize your writing by changing your workspace. Move out of your parents’ basement.
#NaNoWriMo Tip: Rehearse for your imminent book tour by showing up drunk at a Borders and telling everyone “I’m here to sign my books.”
#NaNoWriMo Tip: Add tension by making the gender of your narrator indeterminate. This works for race too. And age. And number of nipples.
#NaNoWriMo Tip: Writing about a brilliant professor who solves 1,000-year-old mysteries? This is for you. Why does my cat puke in my shoes?
#NaNoWriMo tip: “Write about what you know” is good advice, unless you’re OJ Simpson.
#NaNoWriMo Tip: RT @wshspeare Take advantage of the rich tradition of stealing other writers’ ideas and words when you run out of your own.
#NaNoWriMo tip: Use foreshadowing to hint what’s to come. E.g., have the vampire say “I want to suck your blood” before he sucks blood.
#NaNoWriMo tip: Novelists should dress for success just like everyone else. Failing that, novelists should at least dress.
Jimmy Chen—
“Real” diary entries of a young farm girl in 1937 told on Twitter. Meet Genevieve Spencer.
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LITERATURE
a man named court merrigan emailed me a few days ago and asked me to comment on his blog, in a post about twitter, because he knew i had started a twitter website where made up accounts are maintained. i am interested in what other people think. i am not trying to get an argument going or whatever, i just think it would interest me to hear from other people. the tone of the comments seems to change by the last one and i don’t know why people get so defensive. but whatever, i am interested in hearing from other people. here is the article and the comment thread that followed is after the break.
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July 16th, 2009 / 6:39 pm
July 16th, 2009 / 6:39 pm
Ocho 24 is Twitter Poets
Didi Menendez’s OCHO #24, dually edited with Collin Kelley, consists entirely of Twitter-related poets and poetry:
OCHO #24 (The Twitter Edition)
You can buy a hard copy here.
See also: Didi on Twitter
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June 3rd, 2009 / 12:58 pm
June 3rd, 2009 / 12:58 pm
On (Fake) Steve Buscemi’s Twitter Feed
Sure, Twitter is kind of dull in the hands of most. (See my Twitter feed for an example.) I accept that.
Additionally, lots of ‘celebrities’ (single quote trademarked by Tao Lin, used without permission) have adopted Twitter so as to keep their fans updated on the dull minutiae of their ordinary lives.
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Booklyfe X, Return of the Booklyfe, Booklyfe Must Die
Really disturbing.
So much internet today. I don’t even know how to start. Let me say, though: There’s too much to here for me to distill & tease with quotes from the individual articles, so please have faith and click through to the pieces. It’s all very good. Let’s jump in:
Over at The Millions, the venerable Garth Risk Hallberg has posted the first installment of a three part series talking about the future of literary journalism, i.e. book coverage, titled Part I: R.I.P., NYT? This is a really smart piece of criticism; it defines ‘the problem’/offers solutions/peers into the future. I look forward to the rest. Plus, it includes shoutouts for The Rumpus and The Quarterly Conversation, two of my favorite sites, so, Word.
And here’s an interview with N Frank Daniels at Dogmatika. Really interesting interview. Daniels originally self-published his first novel, and marketed it creatively, and then was signed a two book deal with Harper Perennial. And I have to say: Dogmatika is housing some of the best author interviews I’ve read. Great job, folks.
More after the jump.
Fuck Twitter + Exploder
Hi, we’re on Twitter now.
Our bodies are changing. It is scary when our bodies start to change.
Like, your hair grows where before you just rubbed and rubbed
and ladies are more interested in you, and men,
and there is trouble brewing in the cistern
and you might bruise a knee if you cry too hard
yes, we are a changing
changing so hard everyday, it’s like pushups plus grease
i feel exploder
did you know i had a baby last year?
it’s what makes me angry and upset
i can sometimes do a post about how strong my back is
and sometimes i can post about Ricky Moody
to be honest, though, this website is just a hoax made of candy n paper,
designed to get Diane Wililams randy in her special spot
Diane Williams i think changes everyday too
though you never complained when she did that
Don’t fight! We came to make babies
and to eat those babies on crackers provided free of charge
by the goodwill of Cooper Renner and Lee Klein
and Restin Borstenseinsen
and Pimp C (RIP)
Crackerz! for Night Train Magazine!
Crackerz! for Ass Hi Books!
Crackerz! for Haypenny Magazine (RIP)!
Crackerz! for crackers like ya’ll bitches who all you wanna do is front
No really, tho. Let’s play Internet Publishing Mall Madness, n update what we eat on the Twitter, n buy a book sometime, with our monies
‘stead o’ just writin’ that shit all day n shit,
& like my friend Dave ‘future ex editor of NYer’ Shakur said, I get $$$ nigga
till I dead
** THIS POST SHOULD RECEIVE 200 COMMENTS, AS IT IS TRULY ABOUT ABSOLUTELY NOTHING **