Great writing, tweeted.
(A deep look at some top tweets, and why they work so darn well)
Every once in a while, the disgruntled friend or frustrated client (who is undoubtedly upset with me because I made them revisit chapter 10… again) will say something like the following:
“People just don’t have attention spans any more. They don’t read as much. They’re stuck on their Tweets and Instagram and TikTok.”
This is, of course, a perfect cocktail of cognitive biases. Start with equal parts generational bias and “good old days” bias. Add a splash of illusory superiority. Shake until frothing (mad).
While it’s not unusual to gripe about the kids, it’s particularly hilarious to assume low-attention span writing is a new thing.
Consider Hemingway’s 6-word stories. Consider the haiku. Consider poetry in general, for that matter. If Shakespeare were alive today, he’d be an Instagram caption champion. Fitzgerald would be penning dynamite headlines on Business Insider. Jane Austen would be Elyse Myers on TikTok, spinning dynamic stories to captivate audiences.
And all the poets would be killing it on Twitter.
Despite its reputation for ignorant comments and raw fury (and there is plenty there), Twitter is home to some of the most exquisite sentences published.
When I’m bored and it’s rainy outside, I go to Twitter for comfort. This normal habit turned nerdy when I began to analyze and annotate some of the better tweets that cross my path.
Let’s take look at a few.
Parallel structure on Twitter
Parallel structure (a sentence or phrase with matching length and sentence type) reigns supreme on Twitter.
Usually, that parallel structure deploys juxtaposition as well, directly comparing two ideas, usually to show some sort of hypocrisy or irony.
Like so:
It can also be used in a less sassy way. You can roll out the old parallel structure + juxtaposition to drive action, not anger.
Like so:
Repetition in tweets
Remember: repetition helps you remember.
Here, repetition is deployed as an epistrophe (repeating a word or phrase at the END of a sentence or phrase.)
Epistrophe’s sister is the anaphora - repeating a word or phrase at the BEGINNING.
Symmetry on Twitter
Think this is trite, do you?
Might I remind you of a certain American president, who claimed that we should not “ask what our country can do for us” but instead “ask what we can do for our country.”
Chiasmus is a symmetrical flip of words. It’s hard to do. It’s dumb when you get it wrong.
But boy, is it effective when you get it right.
Sarcasm on Twitter
The “sassy takedown” is not new to the written word. Given a second chance at life and a Twitter account, Oscar Wilde would eviscerate everyone.
(For my lit nerds who feel the need to classify sarcasm as a form of irony, do so.)
Twitter’s future
While we’re on the topic of hypocrisy, anger, and sarcasm, it’s natural to bring up Twitter’s current owner, and the controversy surrounding him.
Elon is a polarizing figure. I get that.
If you can sort through the chaos, the wild tweets, and the 420 memes, though, it’s possible to see positive changes to the platform.
In fact, Twitter might soon be the BEST place for writers to be.
I don’t have all the details here.
Luckily, I work with someone who does.
My friend Tim Denning is leading a free workshop this Thursday called “How to Leverage the Twitter Revolution and Build an Audience in 90 days or Less.”
If you’ve ever thought about building an audience on Twitter, or if you just want to get your writing in front of more people, you’ll get a lot out of this session.