Andrew Fitzgerald: Adventures in Twitter fiction

翻译人员: Sophia Liu 校对人员: xuan wang

So in my free time outside of Twitter

在推特之外的闲暇时间

I experiment a little bit

我对在线讲故事

with telling stories online, experimenting

做了一点实验，

with what we can do with new digital tools.

看看我们能用新的数字工具做些什么。

And in my job at Twitter,

我在推特的工作，

I actually spent a little bit of time

实际上是花了一点时间

working with authors and storytellers as well,

与作者和讲故事的人合作，

helping to expand out the bounds

一起扩展

of what people are experimenting with.

人们正在实验创造新媒介的疆域。

And I want to talk through some examples today

我今天想谈一些

of things that people have done

人们在网上所做的事情，

that I think are really fascinating

我认为那实在是够吸引人的，

using flexible identity and anonymity on the web

人们在网络上运用灵活的身份或匿名

and blurring the lines between fact and fiction.

使事实与虚构之间的界限逐渐模糊。

But I want to start and go back to the 1930s.

但我想先从1930年代开始。

Long before a little thing called Twitter,

在推特这件小事发明之前，

radio brought us broadcasts

无线电带给我们的是广播

and connected millions of people

它以单点广播

to single points of broadcast.

连接了数以百万计的人们。

And from those single points emanated stories.

而从广播中播放出来的故事，

Some of them were familiar stories.

有一些是我们熟悉的故事。

Some of them were new stories.

有一些是新的故事。

And for a while they were familiar formats,

有一段时间这些故事是以熟悉的方式来述说的，

but then radio began to evolve its own

然后电台就开始进化成

unique formats specific to that medium.

自己独特的模式。

Think about episodes that happened live on radio.

想想在广播电台现场直播发生的情节。

Combining the live play

结合现场表演

and the serialization of written fiction,

和书面小说连载的模式，

you get this new format.

就变成了一种新形式。

And the reason why I bring up radio is that I think

我以收音机作例的原因是我认为

radio is a great example of how a new medium

电台是证明一个新的媒介如何

defines new formats which then define new stories.

运用新形式去讲故事的很好的例子。

And of course, today, we have an entirely new

当然，今天，我们有全新的

medium to play with,

媒介可供使用，

which is this online world.

那就是互联网络世界。

This is the map of verified users on Twitter

这是使用推特的认证用户

and the connections between them.

以及他们之间是如何连接的地图。

There are thousands upon thousands of them.

有成千上万的人。

Every single one of these points

每一个点

is its own broadcaster.

都是自己的广播站。

We've gone to this world of many to many,

我们已经来到了一个很多人需要发声的时代，

where access to the tools is the only barrier to broadcasting.

对连接彼此介质的使用权成为了广播的最大障碍。

And I think that we should start to see

我认为我们应该开始看到

wildly new formats emerge

随着人们学会如何在这个新媒体上讲故事

as people learn how to tell stories in this new medium.

许多新模式正在应运而生。

I actually believe that we are in a wide open frontier

我相信我们是在广泛开放

for creative experimentation, if you will,

创新实验的前沿，

that we've explored and begun to settle

我们已经探讨并开始定义

this wild land of the Internet

互联网的这个广阔的土地

and are now just getting ready

并要开始准备

to start to build structures on it,

在互联网上建立框架，

and those structures are the new formats

而这些框架就是互联网使我们创造

of storytelling that the Internet will allow us to create.

新的说故事的模式。

I believe this starts with an evolution

我相信这起源于对

of existing methods.

现有方式的变革。

The short story, for example,

短篇故事，例如，

people are saying that the short story

众人所说短篇故事

is experiencing a renaissance of sorts

因为电子书阅读器和数字市场的产生

thanks to e-readers, digital marketplaces.

正在经历一种复兴。

One writer, Hugh Howey, experimented

作家Hugh Howey试验了

with short stories on Amazon

在亚马逊网站上

by releasing one very short story called "Wool."

发布了一个非常短的故事叫"羊毛"。

And he actually says that he didn't intend

他说他实际上根本没打算

for "Wool" to become a series,

把"羊毛"变成一个系列，

but that the audience loved the first story so much

但读者那么喜欢第一个故事

they demanded more, and so he gave them more.

他们要求续集，所以他给了读者续集。

He gave them "Wool 2," which was a little bit longer than the first one,

他又写了“羊毛2”，比“羊毛1”篇幅长一些，

"Wool 3," which was even longer,

"羊毛 3"更长一些，

culminating in "Wool 5,"

最终在"羊毛 5 ”达到顶峰

which was a 60,000-word novel.

一个 6万字的小说。

I think Howey was able to do all of this because

我认为Howey能够做到这一切都是因为

he had the quick feedback system of e-books.

电子书的快速回馈功能。

He was able to write and publish

他能在相对较短的时间内

in relatively short order.

撰写以及发布。

There was no mediator between him and the audience.

在他和他的读者之间没有中介物做阻碍。

It was just him directly connected with his audience

他和他的读者

and building on the feedback and enthusiasm

通过读者给予的回馈和热情

that they were giving him.

直接连系起来。

So this whole project was an experiment.

所以这整个项目是一项实验。

It started with the one short story,

它开始于一个短篇故事，

and I think the experimentation actually became

我觉得实验实际上成为了

a part of Howey's format.

Howey模式的一部分。

And that's something that this medium enabled,

这就是这一媒介所赋予的，

was experimentation being a part of the format itself.

并在成为这一个媒介的一部分。

This is a short story by the author Jennifer Egan

这是Jennifer Egan的一个短篇故事

called "Black Box."

叫做"黑箱"。

It was originally written

它起初是

specifically with Twitter in mind.

明确与推特有关的故事

Egan convinced The New Yorker

Egan 说服纽约客杂志

to start a New Yorker fiction account

启动一个纽约客小说帐户

from which they could tweet

在这个账户里他们可以通过推特发布

all of these lines that she created.

所有她撰写的故事。

Now Twitter, of course, has a 140-character limit.

推特当然有140个的字符限制。

Egan mocked that up just writing manually

Egan直接用手写的方式在

in this storyboard sketchbook,

写生簿上涂写

used the physical space constraints

运用这些方框里

of those storyboard squares

物理空间的限制

to write each individual tweet,

写入每一个独立的推文，

and those tweets ended up becoming

而这些超过六百篇的推文最终都变成了

over 600 of them that were serialized by The New Yorker.

纽约客杂志上的连载。

Every night, at 8 p.m., you could tune in

每天晚上八点，你都可以调到

to a short story from The New Yorker's fiction account.

纽约客小说账号的短篇故事。

I think that's pretty exciting:

我认为这是很令人兴奋的：

tune-in literary fiction.

收看文学小说。

The experience of Egan's story, of course,

Egan的故事，当然，

like anything on Twitter, there were multiple ways to experience it.

有很多种方法来实现它。

You could scroll back through it,

你可以回看它，

but interestingly, if you were watching it live,

但有趣的是，如果看这个故事的直播，

there was this suspense that built

它本身造成了一种悬念

because the actual tweets,

因为当你阅读他们的时候

you had no control over when you would read them.

你是没有办法控制这些推文的。

They were coming at a pretty regular clip,

他们在一个平均的剪辑速度上进行，

but as the story was building,

但是随着故事逐渐的推进，

normally, as a reader, you control how fast you move through a text,

通常，作为一个读者，你可以控制阅读文本的速度，

but in this case, The New Yorker did,

但在这种情况下，纽约客杂志所做的是，

and they were sending you bit by bit by bit,

他们给你一点，一点，再一点，

and you had this suspense of waiting for the next line.

让读者有悬念并且期待下一行。

Another great example of fiction

另外一个在推特上关于小说和短篇故事的

and the short story on Twitter,

一个很好的例子是，

Elliott Holt is an author who wrote a story called "Evidence."

作家Elliott Holt， 他写了一个故事叫《证据》（Evidence）。

It began with this tweet: "On November 28

这个故事始于这则推文：“十一月二十八日，

at 10:13 p.m.,

晚上十点十三分，

a woman identified as Miranda Brown,

一个女人，认定为米兰达布朗，

44, of Brooklyn, fell to her death

四十四岁，来自布鲁克利，

from the roof of a Manhattan hotel."

从曼哈顿酒店屋顶坠楼身亡"。

It begins in Elliott's voice,

开始是Elliott的声音，

but then Elliott's voice recedes,

然后Elliott的声音褪去，

and we hear the voices of Elsa, Margot and Simon,

我们看到的是Elsa, Margot和Simon,

characters that Elliott created on Twitter

这些Elliott在推特上特别创建的角色

specifically to tell this story,

专门来讲述这个故事，

a story from multiple perspectives

故事从许多个视角进行讲述

leading up to this moment at 10:13 p.m.

最终引领读者到达了晚上十点十三分，

when this woman falls to her death.

也就是这个女人坠楼身亡的时间。

These three characters brought an authentic vision

这三个角色使这个故事从多方视角进行述说，

from multiple perspectives.

给读者带来了一种真实感。

One reviewer called Elliott's story

一个批评家说Elliott的故事

"Twitter fiction done right," because she did.

是“名符其实的推特小说，” 因为她做到了。

She captured that voice

她捕捉到了那个声音

and she had multiple characters and it happened in real time.

并且她有许多角色， 这个故事也发生在真实的时间内。

Interestingly, though, it wasn't just

有趣的是，这不仅仅只是

Twitter as a distribution mechanism.

将推特作为一个发布故事的机制。

It was also Twitter as a production mechanism.

也将推特作为一个产生故事的机制。

Elliott told me later

Elliott后来告诉我

she wrote the whole thing with her thumbs.

她用她的大拇指写了整个故事。

She laid on the couch and just went back and forth

她在沙发上坐定，也就只是

between different characters

在不同的角色间来来回回

tweeting out each line, line by line.

一行一行的发推文。

I think that this kind of spontaneous creation

我认为这种同步性创造

of what was coming out of the characters' voices

故事中角色们的推文

really lent an authenticity to the characters themselves,

赋予了这些角色本身的真实性

but also to this format that she had created

并且也对这个她在推特上创造的

of multiple perspectives in a single story on Twitter.

用多重视角讲述一个故事的方式赋予了真实性。

As you begin to play with flexible identity online,

当你在网络上运用灵活的身份，

it gets even more interesting

并与真实世界开始互动的时候，

as you start to interact with the real world.

它变得越发有趣。

Things like Invisible Obama

就像在2012年选举期推特上出现的

or the famous "binders full of women"

“隐形奥巴马”（Invisible Obama）

that came up during the 2012 election cycle,

或者著名的“装满女性简历的档案” （罗姆尼竞选时回答男女薪金公平性的引语，被推特、脸书上的网名调侃）

or even the fan fiction universe of "West Wing" Twitter

甚至是“白宫风云”（电视秀）在推特上的粉丝专页

in which you have all of these accounts

在这里，你能找到在"白宫风云"里

for every single one of the characters in "The West Wing,"

所有角色的推特账号，

including the bird that taps at Josh Lyman's window

甚至包括在某一集里

in one single episode. (Laughter)

停在Josh Lyman窗口的一只鸟。（笑声）

All of these are rapid iterations on a theme.

所有这些都是关于一个主题的复述。

They are creative people experimenting

他们是一群有创意的人

with the bounds of what is possible in this medium.

对于在这媒介上可能性的探索。

You look at something like "West Wing" Twitter,

你可以看到在“白宫风云”推特上

in which you have these fictional characters

这些虚拟角色

that engage with the real world.

与真实世界进行互动。

They comment on politics,

他们对政治进行评论，

they cry out against the evils of Congress.

与国会的邪恶进行抗争。

Keep in mind, they're all Democrats.

请记住，他们都是民主党人。

And they engage with the real world.

他们与真实的世界进行互动

They respond to it.

做出反应。

So once you take flexible identity,

所以一旦你采取灵活的身份，

anonymity, engagement with the real world,

匿名，与现实世界互动

and you move beyond simple homage or parody

你就超越了简单的敬意或模仿

and you put these tools to work in telling a story,

而把这些工具都用来讲述一个故事，

that's when things get really interesting.

事情就变得有趣起来。

So during the Chicago mayoral election

所以在芝加哥市长选举期间，

there was a parody account.

有一个模仿账户

It was Mayor Emanuel.

就是Emanuel市长。

It gave you everything you wanted from Rahm Emanuel,

这个账户给你所有你想要 从Rahm Emanuel那里了解的事情

particularly in the expletive department.

尤其是以脏话调侃的形式。

This foul-mouthed account

这个满嘴脏话的账户

followed the daily activities of the race,

追踪竞选的日常活动，

providing commentary as it went.

随着活动的进行给予评论。

It followed all of the natural tropes

它一开始还遵守着

of a good, solid Twitter parody account,

一个好的推特模仿账户该有的守则，

but then started to get weird.

然后就开始变得很奇怪。

And as it progressed, it moved from this commentary

随着它的进展，它从评论性演变到了

to a multi-week, real-time science fiction epic

一个多周的、 实时的虚拟小说

in which your protagonist, Rahm Emanuel,

在这里面主角，Rahm Emanuel，

engages in multi-dimensional travel on election day,

在选举日期间去各种旅行，

which is -- it didn't actually happen.

这是— — 实际上不会发生的事。

I double checked the newspapers.

我翻阅了报纸新闻。

And then, very interestingly, it came to an end.

然后，非常有趣的是，它结束了。

This is something that doesn't usually happen

这是一个推特模拟账户

with a Twitter parody account.

通常不会发生的事情。

It ended, a true narrative conclusion.

它结束了，一个真实的叙述性结论。

And so the author, Dan Sinker, who was a journalist,

所以作者，Dan Sinker，是一名记者，

who was completely anonymous this whole time,

在这段时间内，是完全匿名的

I think Dan -- it made a lot of sense for him

我想对于Dan来说，这是很有意义的，

to turn this into a book,

他想要把这变成一本书，

because it was a narrative format in the end,

因为它是以一种叙述手法画下一个句点的，

and I think that turning it into a book

而且我认为，把它变成一本书

is representative of this idea that he had created something new

代表着他创造的一种新形式

that needed to be translated into previous formats.

被转化到了前一种形式。

One of my favorite examples

一个我最喜欢的例子之一是

of something that's happening on Twitter right now,

现在在推特上正在进行的事，

actually, is the very absurdist Crimer Show.

实际上就是那个荒诞的Crimer Show.

Crimer Show tells the story

Crimer Show讲的是一个

of a supercriminal and a hapless detective

超级罪犯和一个倒霉侦探

that face off in this exceptionally strange lingo,

像在上电视节目一样，

with all of the tropes of a television show.

进行着一些非常奇怪的对话。

Crimer Show's creator has said that

Crimer Show的主创说

it is a parody of a popular type of show in the U.K.,

这是对英国的一种流行表演的模仿，

but, man, is it weird.

但是，老兄，这可真奇怪。

And there are all these times where Crimer,

Crimer，这个超级罪犯，

the supercriminal, does all of these TV things.

做的这些个电视行为。

He's always taking off his sunglasses

他总是拿下他的太阳镜

or turning to the camera,

或是转身对着相机，

but these things just happen in text.

但这些事情只是发生在文本中。

I think borrowing all of these tropes from television

我想借用这些电视上的行为

and additionally presenting each Crimer Show

放在每一集

as an episode, spelled E-P-P-A-S-O-D, "eppasod,"

Crimer Show里面

presenting them as episodes

并将它们视为情节

really, it creates something new.

真的，它在创建一个新的东西。

There is a new "eppasod" of Crimer Show

每一天推特上都上演着

on Twitter pretty much every day,

Crimer Show的新一集。

and they're archived that way.

并且以这种方式存储下来。

And I think this is an interesting experiment in format.

我认为这是在对于模式的一种很好的实验。

Something totally new has been created here

一个全新的模式出现了，

out of parodying something on television.

模仿电视上发生的一切。

I think in nonfiction real-time storytelling,

我认为在非小说类作品中实时讲故事，

there are a lot of really excellent examples as well.

真的有很多很好的例子。

RealTimeWWII is an account

RealTimeWWII 是一个

that documents what was happening on this day 60 years ago

记录60 年前的今天发生了什么的账号，

in exceptional detail, as if

它记录的格外详细，

you were reading the news reports from that day.

就像你在阅读在那天的新闻报道一样。

And the author Teju Cole has done

作者Teju Cole

a lot of experimentation with putting a literary twist

对于将新闻事件的文学性报道

on events of the news.

做了许多实验。

In this particular case, he's talking about drone strikes.

比如说，这里他在讲无人机轰炸。

I think that in both of these examples,

我认为，在这些例子里

you're beginning to see ways in which

你开始看到人们运用非小说类作品内容

people are telling stories with nonfiction content

在说故事

that can be built into new types

这可以以一种新的虚构故事的模式

of fictional storytelling.

来进行。

So with real-time storytelling,

所以有了实时讲故事，

blurring the lines between fact and fiction,

事实与虚构之间的界限逐渐模糊，

the real world and the digital world,

真实的世界和数字世界，

flexible identity, anonymity,

灵活的身份，匿名性，

these are all tools that we have accessible to us,

这些我们可以使用的工具，

and I think that they're just the building blocks.

而我认为他们只是其中的一小部分而已。

They are the bits that we use

他们是我们

to create the structures, the frames,

构造结构、框架的一小部分，

that then become our settlements on this

它将会成为我们在之上建立的

wide open frontier for creative experimentation.

创新实验的广泛开放前沿。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）