Tweets as microfiction: on Twitter’s live nature and 140 character limit as tools for developing storytelling skills

Barnard, Josie ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3616-6945 (2016) Tweets as microfiction: on Twitter’s live nature and 140 character limit as tools for developing storytelling skills. New Writing: The International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing, 13 (1) . pp. 3-16. ISSN 1479-0726 [Article] (doi:10.1080/14790726.2015.1127975)

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Abstract

For many years, the pedagogy of creative writing has been delivered primarily through workshops in which students critique each others’ work. Students only need their imagination and a pen and paper to begin writing a story. It has not been necessary for creative writing teachers to prioritise use of emerging technologies and in consequence, creative writing classrooms have remained largely ‘low tech and quaintly humanistic.’ This interdisciplinary paper explores from a practitioner-teacher perspective how social media can help develop theory and practice in the pedagogy of creative writing. It does so by presenting an account and early stage assessment of pilots conducted using Twitter with creative writing BA students at a UK University since November 2012. It is argued that the strict character limit of tweets, in combination with their live and public nature, can force critical enquiry into what comprises a meaningful narrative. Summary reflections consider how the Twitter pilots contribute to a new theoretical position that helps bring understanding to skills it is necessary for writers to develop in the face of emerging technologies in the 21st century.

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