[stylist] Writing a Story in the Form of Emails and Texts

[Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter]

With literary writing, really anything goes these days. What you're
attempting is a modern take on the epistolary style of telling a story. If
the entire story is told via text or email, it could become laborious to
always include time stamps and email/text addresses. You do need to note who
is speaking, so perhaps including the email address of sender would work,
but readers will understand that these messages are coming through emails,
so we do not need a constant reminder of that unless something serves a
purpose. For example, maybe the time stamp signifies an important detail
about time or date, but otherwise, it would be unnecessary information. And
always remember to have a narrative voice. Even in stories told in letter
style or diary style, you need a narrative. Don't just tell but always keep
in mind to show.

Good luck.

Bridgit

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Vejas
Vasiliauskas via stylist
Sent: Friday, August 12, 2016 1:37 AM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Cc: Vejas Vasiliauskas <alpineimagination at gmail.com>
Subject: [stylist] Writing a Story in the Form of Emails and Texts

Hi All,
Awhile back, I had posted a fragment of a story in second person.  
I wanted to try this format.
I have decided to forgo this format, but keep with this story idea.  The
main premise of it is that there are 2 friends, Emma and Kelly, who have
attended the same training center, but are at different points of their
lives emotionally.  One graduates first and they still stay in touch via
texts, but I might start creating emails because you can't really tell a
full story in a text.  (Well you can, but the other person would get bored).
So I was wondering your thoughts on a couple of things:
Do you recommend I use time stamps for all the texts, or does it not matter?
Sometimes when the other person is busy it takes them a little while to
respond.
For the emails, do you think I should always put each person's email adress
at the top for the "from" and "to" field?
Thank you for your thoughts.
Vejas

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