....  one tweet at a time.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/entertainment/books/very-short-and-tweet/story-e6freqkx-1226370121183

ENJOY a quick read? Is 140 characters at a time quick enough?

The New Yorker magazine is tweeting a short story by novelist Jennifer Egan one tweet at a time. Each day for 10 days, the magazine's twitter account NYerFiction tweets 60 lines of the story.

The story began with the tweet: "People rarely look the way you expect them to, even when you've seen pictures.'' If that doesn't get you in, then call me Ishmael.

Egan wrote the story with Twitter in mind, sticking to 140-character-long paragraphs in her spy story. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Visit from the Goon Squad said she liked the challenge of trying to write fiction in a way that could be serialised on Twitter.

It's quite a big step for Egan, who up to this point had only written six tweets in her two years on Twitter.

The serialisation of novels isn't new - just ask Charles Dickens, who wrote several of his novels so that his audience read them when they were published chapter by chapter.

Even this Twitter serialisation isn't unique, with authors R.L. Stine and Neil Gaiman having experimented with story writing via tweets.

If you ask us, the idea is a cracker. But let's take it a bit further. Who has time to read 600 tweets to get to the end of a story? Here are 10 classic books we can imagine in 140 characters or less.


1. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Orphan wants more but gets less. Becomes artful appreciator. Falls in with Fagin but dodges Bill Sykes. Tale with a twist.
#ByDickens

2. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
One-legged sailor seeks single white whale.
#Revenge

3. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Don't panic. Bring a towel. Be nice to mice.
#42

4. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
One for all, all for one. Frequently leads to bad movies.
#Bromance

5. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Man spending plenty of "me'' time until Friday comes.
#Where'sWilson

6. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Boy moves out of closet to play with his wand. Going to school nearly kills him.
#Magic

7. The Stranger by Albert Camus
It's such a hot day that someone has to die. BTW, Mum just passed away. Whatever.
#Existentialism101

8. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
It's party, party, party until we all crash.
#Onlytherichdieyoung

9. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
Now you see me. Now you don't. Plot's good but character development is full of holes.
#Hollowman

10. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Road trip with friends who are weighed down with bad bling.
#Hobbitforming