I happened upon a post in Fred Gallagher’s personal blog, wherein said member of the webcomic aristocracy discusses Twitter and its application to the online writer. The crux of the matter is this:
When it comes down to it, Twitter is just another way to create content. The problem is that it can really impinge the other content creation you should be doing. It’s not just the constant distraction it can be, but the fact that it’s too easy a way to throw out some of those random ideas and thoughts that you really should be saving to pull together in a far more thoughtful and meaningful way.
I think this is why I have had even less of an inkling to write rants than i used to. You only have so much time in a day, and so much attention. I really need to be more selective in how that attention is spent. Twitter, as good as it is, is not really the kind of content i want to be producing. It’s like throwing out one liners rather than writing a full story.
This is relevant to my fairly recent structuring of my content production. Fred sees Twitter as a distraction, insofar as it tempts the writer to throw out undeveloped ideas, and thereby “waste” them. I look at it more as the first step in a writing process that goes something like:
Twitter (brainstorming) –> pontif.us (drafting and annotating) –> Super Fanicom (relatively polished final products)
If a comment is too long for Twitter, or seems to warrant elaboration, I’ll go into more detail here; if I’m working on a post here that goes over 600-700 words, I’ll move it over to Super Fanicom (which is what happened with my last post). I haven’t had much time yet to give this process a thorough testing, this site being so new, but it’s coming together in bits and pieces. I suppose I have two reasons for doing things this way: I’m interested in seeing what good could come out of using the internet for full (or nearly full) disclosure of the writing process, and I figure it’ll help me later to have these brief notes to draw upon and refer back to when I’m writing longer and more complicated posts.
I’ll leave you with this: if you use Twitter, how would you say it fits into your writing process, if at all?
Still an experiment too, but I’ve been spamming twitter with my impressions and notes of particular moments (particularly for the Mobile Suit Gundam Movie Trilogy). These entries serve more as notes and memos to myself that save me the trouble of researching (and screen capping) anime series that I want to write about.
Also, I remember mentioning this in a recent IRC conversation with coburn: I like how it keeps me honest. I notice that impressions I have at the end of a show may be startlingly different from my impressions while watching. Not that these feelings are inauthentic, but I do want to consider them when I do write a post. The public nature of the note is what makes it compelling. Never mind that so few may pay attention to the note when it was made, but the fact that someone can always link to it in an argument makes it a good check.
I’d say it’s somewhat similar to what you’re talking about, although it’s more of an easy way to let off steam for me. Instead of filling my blog with a bunch of useless and low content posts, I can just post a few comments on Twitter and leave it at that. It’s a good way to get things off my chest without having to post every little thing on my blog.
And, similar to what you said, I’ll post maybe a comment or two on Twitter, but if I feel like I have more to say, I’ll shift it to my blog and go from there. It’s similar, in a way, to leaving a comment on someone else’s blog. If I have a bit to say, I’ll leave a comment. If I have a lot to say, well then I might decide to shift that to my blog and leave a trackback instead. Twitter is like that, only generalized, for all types of comments.
For example, Maria Holic doesn’t really warrant a post from me about how much I laughed my ass off at it, so I can just make a quick comment or one liner and put it on Twitter so I feel like I got it out of my system. Sometimes it has nothing to do with trying to create quality posts or anything and is just more of a way for me to vent off frustration or shoot off a quick thought. And really, not everything warrants a blog post. There are times when all you need to say is a few things and that’s it. That’s what I use my Twitter for.
Like you and ghostlightning, I do use it as a For Later/stream-of-consciousness sort of thing. It’s hard to examine your thoughts about a series viewed by means of marathon if a series is mind-crushingly good , and Twitter, like MAL’s little blogging service, helps all the more in getting those fleeting thoughts across in the midst of all the action, drama, tears, and boobs.
In other words, Twitter is like the Add Star function in Google Reader–I may or may not return to it one day, but it’s helpful to know that it’s there if I ever need it.