I have always been fascinated by the ways we communicate digitally. I can still remember the idiot thrill of typing stupid messages in AOL chat rooms in the 1990s. A/S/L, am I right?
Some of the best and worst things happened to me while typing on a computer screen. Whether it was an email, instant message, text message, or dm, communications in my life have lived or died by these methods. I wanted to capture that in some way as an homage to digital rhetoric and storytelling. When November came around, I decided to participate by writing a series of stories about digital communication.
Some of these stories are loosely based on my personal life. Some are complete fiction. One in particular plays on my biggest fears, and the anxiety that comes with using technology. Is it better to know everything in the palm of your hand. These stories won’t answer that completely, but they might invoke some discussion.
I thought about what I wanted to do with these stories. A few people asked me if I wanted to “publish” them. After I finished laughing, I thought a bit about it. I can’t picture putting myself through the humiliating process of: a. seeking out a series of rejections from publishers; or b. attempting to become self published on Amazon, which isn’t really published at all. In fact, it’s no different than doing what I am doing here: posting it on a blog.
As of now, there are seven short stories. Some are short, while a few are rather long. I won’t release all of them at once, just as I edit them. These stories might look a bit different. The words will be often oriented like a text message, Facebook message, Instagram DM, etc.
Stories:
Delusional Thoughts From Fantasy Island 