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

[Edward Green]

Hi Vejas,

In books I've read that contain emails as a part of the story to a greater or lesser degree ("Duma Key" by Stephen King and "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" by Paul Torday), I seem to recall email addresses being given, at least at the start.

I can't remember about time stamps.

Cheers,

Ed
> On 12 Aug 2016, at 15:35, Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter via stylist <stylist at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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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