Do twitterfiction and microfiction have a place on AFF.net?

[temp_anon]

There's a topic on how long a fic can acceptably be, but what about styles that focus on brevity? Twitterfiction attempts to tell a complete story in 140 characters or less while a microfiction does so in less than 750 words. Do either of these have much of a place on a site that specializes in erotica, where a fairly lengthy description is more proper to post?

Edited July 26, 2009 by temp_anon

[Guest jj19]

I try to make my chapters 1000 words plus.

Could you post some of this twitter/microfiction? It is a bit hard to to add my opinion if I don't have any examples.

[Melrick]

There's no limit on what the length of the story must be. If you're going to make it 140 characters long then it would be a good idea to make it clear from the start that it's meant to be only 140 characters long, otherwise you could get puzzled reviews. lol

Mind you, on saying that, I think we'd have problems if the "story" was 3 characters long.

[JayDee]

I sure hope not.

[windofthenorth]

If you're going to post twitterfiction/microfiction (aka "drabbles"), I strongly suggest you post multiple stories on one page, or many many many chapters of such stories. Insanely short "stories" are the ultimate anti-climax.

[Faymore]

I'd have to say that one of these stories would annoy me due to lack of description and content. Yes I can see how it could be a challenge for a writer...but that only gets them to learn to write sloppily in my opinion.

[DemonGoddess]

A good drabble is fun to read. I think what the one person suggested, about putting several on one page, as a chapter, rather than several chapters, would probably work best.

[temp_anon]

I try to make my chapters 1000 words plus.

Could you post some of this twitter/microfiction? It is a bit hard to to add my opinion if I don't have any examples.

Yeah, there's a little site for twitterfiction that inspired me to make this topic. http://twitter.com/twitterfiction

There's no limit on what the length of the story must be. If you're going to make it 140 characters long then it would be a good idea to make it clear from the start that it's meant to be only 140 characters long, otherwise you could get puzzled reviews. lol

Mind you, on saying that, I think we'd have problems if the "story" was 3 characters long. B)

Well, I don't actually plan to post up any twitterfiction, but I did put up some microfics that seemed to do decently, at least as far as the Rate system goes.

[JetKL]

Personally I greatly dislike those stories with a propensity to have less than 1000 words in a chapter. Mine are usually 2500 words or more, with rare exception. I find less than that, and chapters become a hassle to read, there is little or no point to defining a chapter from simply a few paragraphs, and ultimately I stop reading rather quickly.

Occassionally I'll enjoy a short one shot or something of that nature. As a general rule I find that those fictions with tiny chapters tend to be childlike and redunat.

The less words you use the more precise your language and description need be. Every word counts, something quite a few writers forget when posting short chapters with an 'I'm sorry this is all i have ad I haven't posted in forever' comment.

If your going to post 140 words... why bother at all unless there is really a lot of meat there.

[Guest jj19]

So I tried reading some twitterfiction, it really is awful in my opinion. I'm sure that some genius could make something beautiful from it, but why waste a genius by making them do something like that?

On chapter length, 1000 words is my minimum, 3000 my maximum. Most hit 1500 or more with ease, and intros I try to keep around 1000 words max

[Mourningstar]

Microfics or drabbles are fun to write and, when done well, incredibly awesome to read. Personally, I'd rather read a hundred words that pack a punch, be it humour or emotional, than thousands upon thousands of poorly thought out, pointless and trailing words. "When done well" is the one condition to any sensible reading, unless one is just itching for an argument anyway.

So I tried reading some twitterfiction, it really is awful in my opinion. I'm sure that some genius could make something beautiful from it, but why waste a genius by making them do something like that?

"Why waste talent on writing fanfiction when writing original fiction would make one a real author? Why write that pairing when this would be so much more popular?" I hope you're not deliberately being rude...

[Guest jj19]

Microfics or drabbles are fun to write and, when done well, incredibly awesome to read. Personally, I'd rather read a hundred words that pack a punch, be it humour or emotional, than thousands upon thousands of poorly thought out, pointless and trailing words. "When done well" is the one condition to any sensible reading, unless one is just itching for an argument anyway.

You can pack a great story in a little bit, but I feel twitterfic is too small.

Think of it like salt, too much and you ruin the food, too little and you ruin the food. Just right and you make a nice dish. Word count is not everything, but you need to have some words up there to make it a story.

"Why waste talent on writing fanfiction when writing original fiction would make one a real author? Why write that pairing when this would be so much more popular?" I hope you're not deliberately being rude...

Think of it in painting terms,

twitterfic=fingerpainting, sure with a great artist you can do a lot with it, but wouldn't you rather see that artist put that work into a medium which allows greater control and depth. Watercolors (fanfic or eroticfic) may not offer the depth of oil paintings (original fic), but they are both are mediums that can you can do great work.

I am not talking about painting different vistas (pairings and the like) but of mediums (styles and word lengths)

I hope this makes more sense, I am not trying to be rude. I just don't like twitterfic from what I have seen so far

If you want to do an awesome twitterfic story and blow me away, go right ahead.

[Mourningstar]

If you want to do an awesome twitterfic story and blow me away, go right ahead.

I'd love to do that, but frankly, I'm not the person with the skills to do that. There are tons of LJ communities dedicated to drabbles and I'm sure you could find something to make you consider revising your statement. What I saw of those twitterfics, I'm reminded of Quizilla. If one's first introduction to fanfiction were the fics there, most prominent being poorly written and horribly spelled My Chemical Romance or Naruto (or whatever the kids are digging these days) daydreams, one might be rather hasty to draw the conclusion that all fanfiction sucks. As a venue it wasn't meant for stories, so most of the people with the talent for telling good stories tend not to wander there to tell them.

I'd love to go for more whacky similes but I'll limit myself to one. A shot of whiskey or a keg of beer; it's all alcohol just like drabbles and epics are all stories. And belittling someone because they prefer the other is hardly cool.

For the record, my short fics will stay up until such a time that I delete them for my own reasons or the site creates a rule about minimun lengths. Their lack of artistic value has *nothing* to do with word count, anyway.

[Guest jj19]

Alcohol does not work because it is not a creative medium (however it is a medium that inspire creativity, but that is another story )

I am pretty sure you could do a masterpiece with fingerpaints, the problem is the medium is so limiting, only the best authors can really do something inspring, but why should I look at all the mediocre fingerpaintings to find the one gem that blows me away?

I prefer the oils and watercolors as they provide greater chances to quickly find compentency. With watercolors (our fanfics) we first find a genre we like and then sift through the stories, within time a good one is found (normally by looking at the summary, does the idea/vista intrigue me? Do I want to read more, has the author taken the time to write proper sentences?). I start reading, if I like it I look at other stories by the author.

With oils (professional fiction) they provide another problem, the complexity that goes in them makes it hard to really get a quick grasp, and if the writer is not skillful you are soon left with page after page of crap.

Asimov talked about writing, novels, short stories and novellas. He compared the short story to a blowgun, it fires one idea at you, it is focused and therefore loses complexity for the sake of delivering this one idea. We are talking about a short story not a twitterfic. Twitterfic strips away all of the excessive parts of said short story, but at what point does your focused idea become just a pinprick of annoyance?

Everyone is entitled to their personal opinion and I believe that twitterfirc sacrifices too much in its pursuit of shortness that it only hurts itself. Doubtless people can work in the medium (hell, people make art with jelly beans and toast), but not everyone can.

On the other side, should a minimum character length be enforced?

I believe no, restrictions dampen creativity.

But I personally don't want to see it.

But beyond this thread I will do nothing to hamper them.

The shortness of the pieces can lead to a spamming of them, engulfing normal and long fics in a sea of short messages, drowning them out with snippets of thoughts.

However, I believe the mods will come up with a good solution if this occurs, maybe a different section or something else.

Shortness is a virtue in certain types of stories, my intro to "Sister of Nurgle" is 934 words long, but it serves its point. It shows you a glimpse into what the character is going to be and it draws you in (or puts you off). It is simple and to the point.

For the record, my short fics will stay up until such a time that I delete them for my own reasons or the site creates a rule about minimun lengths. Their lack of artistic value has *nothing* to do with word count, anyway.

Do whatever you want with your stories and have fun writing them. If you really think you have one that is great send it to me and I will take a look.

Artistic value has nothing to do with word count OR medium, but I know what I like. Watercolors are nice, with some oils here and there.I won't go out of my to look for fingerpaintings, but neither will I do anything to stop them. And if you really like one, show it.

I hope I made myself clear here.

Edited July 31, 2009 by jj19

[Mourningstar]

(hell, people make art with jelly beans and toast)

That's a new one, and I'm used to trying to see the point in likes of most Turner Prize winners. xD Google time!

[WarlordEnfilade]

I don't mind flash fiction/microfiction. (500-1000 words). I think you can get a racy little tidbit that's fun to read in that short space.

I do, however, think that one overarching collection with lots of little chapters is more appropriate than posting each one as a separate story.

I'm less certain about twitterfiction. 140 characters is not a lot of space to convey a plot. Twitter is really better used to make updates on a person, and while a series of twitter updates could constitute a story, that wouldn't really be twitterfiction, it would be a story written in a form that mimics twitter. On the other hand, if someone wanted to write twitterfics, as long as they made one entry for all their twitterfics and didn't spam the board with each one as its own entry, I wouldn't mind their existence.

[Guest jj19]

I tried it out, here is my first stab.

http://games.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=600084781

Micro/Flashfics seem long enough to get a quick story in, but I really doubt twitterfics. Once you get to a certain level, you have to strip so much off what is the point?

I also did try some twitterfics, but it takes a lot of effort for little reward.

[Guest jj19]

I wrote another microfic, I do like them, a little short story snippet of sorts, but are best kept as separate chapters in a single story, lest AFF get flooded. I think I will write one here and there for fun.

[Satai Delenn]

QUOTE (hell, people make art with jelly beans and toast)

That's a new one, and I'm used to trying to see the point in likes of most Turner Prize winners. xD Google time!

At one of the colleges I attended, we had to make food art. It was interesting. I made a mosaic of Jesus (which was an interesting choice, considering I'm Jewish, lol) out of graham crackers, peanut butter, and M&Ms. It was back when they had the original color M&Ms so it was really fun and easy to make... two colors of brown (the light and the dark), the orange, the red, the yellow, and the green. It turned out really well with the two different colored browns, and wouldn't have faired as well if I'd had to use the new M&Ms with the blue replacing the light brown.

Yeah, I'm rambling. Sorry.