Three case studies of using Twitter for digital storytelling.

Twitter, a microblogging social media site, was launched in 2006, with the first Twitter novels appearing in 2008. The original character count was 140 characters per post. This was extended to 280 in 2017. This new medium tested brevity which divided critics. For some, the constraint forced greater consideration of what was posted which would improve articulation. For others, complexity was reduced to soundbites that fed into an algorithm. Since Elon Musk purchased Twitter in 2022 for US44 billion and rebranded it as ‘X’ it is no longer a credible medium and it is difficult to predict what will happen to it.

As a digital storyteller, I was intrigued by the possibilities to create additional layers of meaning through the embedding of images, video, and links that reinforced or enhanced the text-based statements. There was also the possibility of anonymity and, potentially, more freedom of expression. The Twitter timeline also provided opportunities for audience interaction, introducing an unscripted element to storytelling, as well as interaction between characters, should multiple perspectives be required.

Here are three very different examples of how I’ve used Twitter in literary projects.

‘The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner’ (1959) is a short story by Alan Sillitoe that features Colin Smith, an impoverished teenager who is sent to Borstal for petty crime. Running has always been a feature of his life, often from the police, and so while incarcerated he’s selected to run a race on behalf of the Borstal which will bring the governor the prestige he craves. Smith could win the race easily, but chooses not to, instead stopping at the winning line, creating one of the most iconic examples of rebellion in literary history.

Disgusted at Dominic Cummins flouting of lockdown rules when the rest of the population were stuck at home, I adapted quotes from Sillitoe’s story and applied them to a modern setting where an impoverished man, stuck in a flat, takes up lockdown running and performs his own rebellion.

The project pays homage to Tom Courtney, the actor who played Colin Smith in the 1960 film adaptation, and was started on his birthday. It was originally posted live and then posted backwards, so that it could be read sequentially when new visitors reached the site. Embedded links provided additional context to tweets, exposing the duplicity of the government at the time, as well as various images to bring humour to the story. I have also told this story on Instagram.

Various literary classics and novels have been told on Twitter. The key skill here is editing. When you reduce a 200 page novel to say 200 tweets, how do you maintain drama and narrative flow.

The Long Walk (1956) is a ghost-written book with Slavomir Rawicz detailing his extraordinary escape from a Gulag and subsequent journey to safety. The book caused controversy with some critics arguing it was a composite of numerous stories, questioning the validity of events.

Myself and a student placement used Twitter to tell his story for two reasons. First, it acted as a stand alone piece in a larger transmedia project called Dawn of the Unread, where Rawicz was one of the featured writers. Our hope in using Twitter was to draw in new audiences to the project. Employing a student created opportunities to learn more about close reading and editing. Second, we were interested in how images could enhance the story. The images were a mixture of historical footage to ensure events were represented correctly and humour, so as to appeal to younger audiences who may not have encountered Rawicz’s memoir.

The first-ever live 24-hour Twitter presentation of Alan Sillitoe’s Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. The novel was broken down into key locations and a series of tweets created for various characters. These were then scheduled through Hootsuite.

Arthur Seaton, the rebellious anti-hero from the 1958 novel, is belligerent, fiercely individualistic, subversive and rebellious. He has an opinion and an answer for everything, making him perfect for impromptu interactions with the public.

We created two Arthur’s. The original character and a modern day Arthur whose paths collide with varying effects. These were then shown on a split screen on a bespoke website (since closed) so that viewers could compare their reactions and assess how well the themes of the novel stood up to modern concerns, building on principles raised in a previous project with The Sillitoe Trail.