After the success of popular twitter accounts like
@shitmydadsays,
@CobraCommander, and numerous fake celebrity accounts the medium has proved to be a great platform for representing and developing characters, not in the “140 character sense,” - but in the “ depicting a person in a narrative or dramatic” sense. A new form of story-telling is being developed whereby the plot can be revealed in real-time and the characters can respond to real events. I recommend following these five twitter accounts that are experimenting with this new narrative.
1. Dennis D. Bagley @SullivanBristol, London
Just a brilliant, young advertising executive working at Sullivan Bristol...in the 80's. I know how to get ahead in advertising.
Quote: “I've had an octopus squatting on my brain for a fortnight worrying myself sick about boils.”
Background: The 1989 movie How to Get Ahead in Advertising directed by Bruce Robinson is the story of a young ad exec who, struggling within the decade of corporate greed and consumerism, spirals downward in this dark and surreal comedy that is remarkably as poignant today as it was over 20 years ago.
2. William Kidd @William_Kidd, Museum of London Docklands
Captain William Kidd 1645-1701(c)Art Archive The most infamous pirate to be executed in London, featuring in Pirates: The Captain Kidd Story Opens 20 May 2011.
Quote: “I am arrested! Ye Lord Bellomont has seized upon my French passes with my cargo and declares me a rascal and pirate!”
Background: A major exhibition at the
Museum of London Docklands, reveals London’s links with piracy dating back to the 17th century, including the capital’s gruesome history as a place of execution for pirates. The starring character of this exhibit Captain William Kidd, shares insights gained from his journals and logs. This may not end well.
3. Bite-Sized Dracula @DraculaBites, New York, London, Transylvania
Follow the characters from Bram Stoker's Dracula in real time. (@JHarkerEsq, @RMRenfield etc.).Copyright © Michael Gordon, 2011. http://postdracula.wordpress.com/
Quote: JackSewardMD “Drugged @RMRenfield. Reading his notebook. His madness is unlike any I've seen. If only I could let it run its course. Who knows...”
Background: Bram Stoker’s Dracula told through several twitter accounts tweeting the events of the novel in this modernized, semi-humorous take classic horror novel.
4. Superman /Clark Kent @JerkSuperman, Everywhere
Last son of Krypton, Man of Steel, Earth's greatest hero, all round good guy. Jerk. Want to make a booking? Contact my agent: DeathStarPR@gmail.com
Quote: “I'm not saying it isn't a good invention Bruce, I'm just wondering what happens when they use the Bat Signal in the daytime?”
Background: the first and best comic book superhero (as superman would say), may have developed an unhealthy belief that everyone else lacks the capacity to successfully perform one or more tasks. Or as Beyonce would say “He's got a big ego, such a huge ego.”
Looking at some of these
vintage superman covers, you can see why.
5. Laura Ingalls Wilder @HalfPintIngalls, the prairie
I was born in 1867 in a log cabin in the Big Woods of Wisconsin.
Quote: “SO STOP DARN HOT OUT STOP STOP TELEGRAPHSTOP WIRES AR E MELT MELTING STOP ALSO CATTLE EXPLO DING EXCLAMATION POINT STOP SOTP STOP”
Background: Laura Ingalls Wilder, the American author who wrote the a series of children's books Little House on the Prairie. Step into the world these books about an 1880s pioneer family through this twitter account, a tribute to Laura Ingalls Wilder, and her hilarious butter-churning obsession.
So, Twitter can be a great playground for telling stories, however grammatically challenged these stories may be. You may have noticed on your Twitter page an option reading “Who to follow", a grammatical oversight made by the Twitter Team or perhaps, they did this on purpose to “de-posh-ify”, but no matter. To ease any grammatical angst caused by this, I’ve installed a
Chrome extension that corrects Twitter’s "Who to follow" to "Whom to follow". Ahhh, that’s better.
So I hope you like the twitterature accounts and the Chrome extension. I’ve enjoyed having diverse accounts to follow that tweet of things less mundane and more much more fantastical than, well, I do. I’m looking forward too more accounts like these. I’d love to see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with accounts! Just how long could the question game last on twitter?
Oh, and don't forget to follow my mundane tweets at
@maewills.
Well, I feel like a bit of a rabble rouser right now, but I am pretty shocked by the reaction I got to posting an image on Pinterest. 
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