Texties »Blog »March 15, 2019

Writing Chat Fiction: Dialog-Driven Stories

Self-publishing platforms like Texties Author are unique, beyond the fact that the style and the content of the story are completely up to you, stories written in this way - as texts between characters - are completely dialog-driven. It’s almost impossible to write a story on Texties any other way.

Even if the characters in the story aren’t actually texting, the Texties format encourages, or even insists on, writing a back-and-forth exchange between two or more actors. This is why we call it chat fiction.

It’s also what your readers, who come to the Texties app for chat fiction, will expect. Readers on Texties downloaded the app to immerse themselves in a story in a new, yet familiar way. They want to feel like they’re a part of the conversation, like a lurker in a group chat or an eavesdropper in the next room. There’s a voyeuristic aspect to their engagement.

Excerpt from Maybe by Hannah Delap

It’s up to the author (you!) to give them what they crave: a peek into someone else’s life. What follows is all of the drama, intrigue, mystery, terror, romance, and everything else they feel might be missing from their own lives.

Chat fiction is an escape from the real-world using real-world-style communication to tell a story (your story!).

Writers who understand this will write amazing dialogue for their characters, giving them life and a voice to tell their narrative as it unfolds. The tense is always present, and empathy is always necessary.

As with any story, it’s also important to set the scene. Using paragraph text in-between character dialog allows the reader to envision your fantasy world. So they can smell the earthy pine trees on the wind and hear the old wooden chair creak as your character sits down to rest.

But remember that your readers came to read chat fiction, so be sure to deliver your emotional thrill ride primarily through dialog. That’s how you really get ‘em hooked on your writing!

Genesis & Execution by,
Amy Kamin