Nahno McLein

The next few posts I want to share the process of creating my most recent short story, as it explores the dangers of social media. For those who have read my blog recently, it will be quite obvious that the idea came from my own experience, because I've previously published similar entries as my main character Amelie.

However, it’s a fictional story, for I integrated many aspects that didn’t happen to me. For instance, I didn’t have a stalker, but one of my blogger friends Apfelicious, whose blogger name inspired me for Amelie’s online identity, had one and was forced to change her URL. Initially, I just wanted to write a girl-meets-boy story and grabbed the plot from my recent encounter that was quite magical due to strange coincidences. My tutor Deborah said to us that using real events can help to start off and I proved that to myself with my last piece in Writing Place. It was immediate due to its real place and happenings.

Multiple reasons triggered the stalker-media design, one I mentioned already. In our module Writing Context, we explored New Media this year and I wanted to combine this knowledge with a normal short story. Then our tutors keep telling us how important using social media as a writer can be, especially as part of our careers week, but they miss lecturing us in detail about the risks involved. A visiting professional writer told us last year that she finds ideas by asking herself “What if?”. In this short story, I wondered what if I unwillingly invite a stalker with my blog? Tomorrow I will tell you more about the writing process.