I know I’ve mentioned Twitter to you before, but it’s hit a new high. Seeing into the lives of your favorite characters one sentence at a time.
Twitter is a social network… I joined several months ago and now have 310 people following me and I follow 200. Twitter asks, "What are you doing?" and you just type in whatever. Some examples:
It’s 49 degrees here this morning. Gah!
right, off to my oh so boring lecture about POETRY (damnit)
Tonight we are moving our 2 year old from a cot to his own bed. Nervous to see how it goes. Any tips anyone?
Think I will reference in my WIP that the economy is starting to recover, as a sort of hope for the future! A new form of urban fantasy! LOL
This isn’t an excuse but all 3 cats are clustered in my usual writing spot, & will *not* give ground! Am too soft 2 move them on. They rule.
Did anyone watch Extreme Home Makeover last night? The preview for next week’s show was my niece and nephew.SO exciting! Can’t wait.
I’ve been following authors, agents, editors, friends, my son’s friends, family and now those crazy folks from the Emmy winning Mad Men. My son, Andrew, has been following the television series about advertising agencies that takes place in the 1960′s. The characters talk as themselves about the other characters in the cast:
Midge Daniels: On Broadway, signing petition to drop NY drinking age to 16. Why make em wait till 18? They’re going to get their hands on it anyway. ; )
Bertram Cooper: I’ve been called delusional before, but not by a man who thinks his imaginary friend works in MY mailroom. That’s a first!
Betty Draper: I’ve been thinking a lot about my mother lately. And my father. Wondering how they managed to keep a lot of marriage secrets away from me…
These are characters, talking about themselves and others in real time. People follow the conversations because they want to know more about the characters than they already do and have a chance to "talk" to them personally.
So I was thinking about how this could help an author stir up interest in their books. By creating personas of their characters on places like Twitter, where readers can interact with them in extremely short conversations, it would be almost like following a serial. What are they going to say next? And they sure wouldn’t want to miss a possible clue into the psyche of the character. It takes a lot less time then thinking of and writing a blog, plus the benefit of new readers and buzz about your book.
Bottom Line: After following the Mad Men characters for a while, I’m finally going to break down and watch the show. See, Twittering worked (on me anyway)
The good thing about Twitter is that everyone who is following you knows what you’re doing and where you are. The bad thing about Twitter is that everyone who is following you knows what you’re doing and where you are.
Liz
Liz, one of my favorite parts of Twitter is following your adventures.
One of the most fun things about Twitter is that there’s conversation among people who follow each other. More like IM than something static. I’ve added people to follow just so I can see both sides of a conversation. ~~Patti
One of the most fun things about Twitter is that there’s conversation among people who follow each other. More like IM than something static. I’ve added people to follow just so I can see both sides of a conversation. ~~Patti
I enjoy interaction, sometimes serious, sometimes silly. Makes the day go quicker.
I love twittering. It suits my ADHD, lol.
It’s the quickest way to check on on people and say hello to everyone at once. I love seeing what everyone’s thinking and doing.
I love Twitter because I get to “talk” to people I might not otherwise have such immediate daily contact with. The bad thing about Twitter for me is that people think being online or Twittering means I’m “at work”. The curse of epublishing. Being online doesn’t mean being at work. I don’t work at 11pm on a Saturday night! (most times). But I do love Twitter. I’d miss it if it disappeared!
Twitter interests me, read an article about it in the NYTx. But how do you know people respond? Does it come back to your regular email or do you need to get on the site? I’m thinking quick is where it’s at here. J
I resisted twitter at first but I love it now, it’s quick, it’s easy, it’s a fun way to feel in touch. And I got to meet because of twitter, my Gustav evacuation buddy
Sounds fantastic! I’ll have to try this.
I’d have to set up email addresses for each of the characters, but that would be fun to try for my next release. I just got back into Twitter after signing up and doing nothing with it — and I love it!
I signed onto Twitter, but I haven’t been using it. I don’t know how and haven’t taken the time to learn. I suppose I should.
“Twitter is over capacity.” It says sometimes. I wonder if that’s your doing this morning, Barbara.
I’m having fun.
Just started Twitter last week. SO much fun! : ) The idea about characters Twittering…hmm, that would be really interesting. Have to think about that…
I signed up, but I have trouble even finding time to update my myspace “what I’m doing now” status, answer messages there and still get any writing done. (Anything that takes me out of my story, well, takes me out of my story and then I lose time getting back into it.) So, I’ve admittedly been AWOL on Twitter. I have a friend who uses it to keep in touch with her college daughter, which is cool. (Though I’d think texting would work just as well.) For me it’s just one more time sink at a time I’m hoping to eventually carve out a bit of “me” time after working 7 days a week for the past 26 yrs. But, having said that, it’s cool other people enjoy it and just goes to show yet again how different we all are.
I love Twitter. I’ve met people I wouldn’t have ordinarily have met through other avenues. And it’s like a live, all day chat. For a writer who lives an otherwise solitary life, it makes the days a lot less lonely knowing there are other people out there.
I Twitter because BV made me do it
. Yes, it’s fun, but it’s also a distraction! I have to limit the number of times per day I check it or I’d never get anything done.
already 10 of you signed up for Twitter. Welcome! Have fun!
I’ve been using Twitter to promote a new Y/A cat fantasy book, Ratha’s Courage. I’ve been posting random comments from the cats as well as running a little Twitter-fic prequel in dialog. Check out ClanChirps. Username is ‘rathacat’.
Okay, I joined Twitter when it was the only way to stay in touch with writing bud Alison Kent during the hurricane but…true confession here… I don’t reeally know how to use it.
I’m new to Twitter too, but I wonder if anyone has been following the novels being written there? ReadWriteWeb had an article about it a few weeks ago. DailyLit–the digital publisher for which I work–has tried some reading group experiments on Twitter too (we’re mentioned in the RWW article, though they didn’t love our reading groups). In any case, it’s definitely an interesting space for publishers these days.
I’ll probably finally “twitter” in a few years when it is no longer as popular; only because I seem to be years behind any trends (be they fashion, technology or whatever). Thanks for the info. Barb!
I’m already a happy Twitterer. As any friend of Barbara’s is a friend of mine, feel free to look me up there at http://www.twitter.com/markdavidgerson.
I’m already a happy Twitterer. As any friend of Barbara’s is a friend of mine, feel free to look me up there at http://www.twitter.com/markdavidgerson.
I have it, only have 2 people, lol. I forget I have it.
Ooooh, I’m tempted. I love how you describe Twitter, Barbara, but… the time? I can’t imagine something ELSE to do each day. But… I’m an IM addict. Its like an addiction I know I’ll be diving into whether I want to or not.
I signed on to Twitter at the urging of a colleague but quite honestly – what’s the point? It’s bad enough listening to your own brain rattle on about nothing – listening to others? Not very Zen.
I refused to Twitter. I dug my heel in and said, NUH UH NOT ME! I finally caved. I love it. I’ve met new people. Learned things about old friends. Even gained new clients from it. Twitter works for me. The debate Twitter was probably the best Twitter Event. Enjoyed seeing the “common” people speaking out from all three POVs (Dem,Rep,Ind). Can’t get more grass roots than that!
I love Twitter. It can sometimes feel like talking into a void when it’s slow, but that’s not often, honestly. I don’t know what it is, but short little “The cat just headbutted my ankle, o_O!” entries make me laugh. And all my girls are there!
Now that I have unlimited Texting I’m using Twitter more… But what’s scary is that my car now has Sync Technology (syncmyride.com) and all the tweets can be read to me aloud in my car–and in digital format across my dash.
As I type this from my Crack-a-berry, I have to say the twitter reminds me of the early days of ICQ.I’ve been somewhat resistent to it but as a geek I’m starting to see a value in it as a more realtime tool to notify me of updates about others and to update others about me
As I type this from my Crack-a-berry, I have to say the twitter reminds me of the early days of ICQ.I’ve been somewhat resistent to it but as a geek I’m starting to see a value in it as a more realtime tool to notify me of updates about others and to update others about me
I’ve been on twitter for a while now (twitter.com [slash] cjewel) and I find it quite addicting. But it’s also a way to get quick answers to a question. News often breaks on twitter first — national and international. It seems silly and pointless even until you’re following a few people. Once you are, you have a quick way to scan for the state of affairs in your twitter-verse, and this is a quite wonderful and even useful thing. election.twitter.com was and is an absolutely amazing thing to watch. Publishers aren’t really leveraging twitter enough. GCP seems to be among the best. When my august book released, there were twitters from people who loved it and I expect those tweets were seen by others. I have made some wonderful contacts via twitter. I say check it out.
I love my twitter! It makes me feel important, like anyone actually cares what I’m doing, and I can keep up with what anyone else is up to.
I’m already there and am quite fond of the site!
Love it when I remember to check. LOL. One more stop on the internet express, but a really fun one! Must figure out how to attach it to my new phone. I am an electronics idiot. Make it idiot proof? They will invent a better idiot….me!
I love twitter. Its a very very delicate way to stay in touch with my clients without hovering, and it’s a great way for them to stay in touch with me without feeling like they are intruding. I also connected with someone I hadn’t seen in many years when a pal on twitter mentioned a name that looked familiar. Lo and behold, twas he.
Hello, you used to write excellent, but the last several posts have been kinda boring… I miss your super writings. Past several posts are just a little bit out of track! come on!”To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself.” by Sren Aaby Kierkegaard.
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