OBSIDIAN: Episode 23 “Voices From the Darkness” VIDEO
August 28, 2008
Welcome to the fifth “Voices From The Darkness” video episode — a series of video stories created by 7th Son fans. This one, titled Obsidian: Blackout, was created by 7th Son fans based in Australia. How did these Aussies portray life in the U.S. during the two-week OBSIDIAN blackout? You’ll have to watch, to admire their creativity.
Obsidian: Blackout
Starring Matt Brooks, Holly Barker & Nic Barker
With support from Lachlan Brooks, Kathryn Brooks & Robert Mitchell
Excellent stuff, guys. Thanks so much for playing in my universe, from a half-world away.
OBSIDIAN Episode 22: “Voices From the Darkness”
August 27, 2008
Welcome to the fifth audio episode of “Voices From The Darkness,” a set of stories set during 7th Son: OBSIDIAN blackout. Voices From The Darkness is a series that is entirely created by you, and people just like you: 7S fans from across the globe.
I’ve been amazed by these contributions, and the experiment in fiction that they represent. Ultimately, VFTD reveals, at least to me, that a creator of a fictional world can successfully open up his universe for not just other authors — which is what OBSIDIAN’s short stories do — but to fans, and receive world-class, world-building, universe-enhancing entertainment from them. VFTD is remarkable in that it proves that the membrane between audience and author isn’t just flexible, it’s downright breakable, and that the roles can be reversed in a way that everybody benefits.
I’m delighted to be a spectator for the OBSIDIAN experience — for these episodes specifically — and I’m proud of what you have created here. And so, let’s turn the lights off, and once again dive into the calls from the blackout. Behold, the world that you and your fellow fans have created: a world where, when the power fails, chaos reigns…
–J.C.
Note: I will post contributors’ names and links in this entry next week, after return from Dragon*Con. Thanks for your patience!
J.C.’s Dragon*Con schedule
August 27, 2008
From tomorrow until next Tuesday morning, I’ll be hanging with 7th Son fans, knocking back booze with fellow podcasters, making new friends, and waiting patiently for elevators at Dragon*Con in Atlanta! This’ll be my third year attending the convention. It’s always a blast.
Continuing my tradition of being overextended and running myself ragged at the con (I always vow to “dial back” my commitments, but it never seems to work out that way), I’ve got lots of adventures-in-the-making this year. If you’re attending the con and want to meet me — because I most certainly want to meet you — here’s a list of the scheduled events I’ll definietly be attending.
Pimps and Hos Party II
Last year, I co-hosted this event with Scott Sigler. It was a night of mayhem and hella good times. This year, I’m content to bow out on hosting duties, but will be in attendance. I promise no pimp threads, but I will cut a rug with ya, if you ask!
Time: Friday night, in the Hyatt hotel (room TDB)
I Should Be Writing Episode 100 Celebration LIVE!
Award winning author and podcaster Mur Lafferty brings her I Should be Writing show to Dragon*Con to celebrate its 100th episode. Mur recently told me she might ask authors to help with the show, so I’ll be there to watch and assist, if needed.
Time: Sat 10:00 am
The Third Annual Parsec Awards
Join us for the Third Annual Parsec Awards hosted by some your favorite podcasters. The Parsec Award is available for Sci-fi & Fantasy Original Content, Speculative Fiction and a variety of other categories dealing with the new frontiers of Portable Media. My novel 7th Son, Book Three: Destruction has been nominated for a Parsec in the Long Form Fiction catergory.
Time: Sat 7:00 pm
Books & Blackwell Party
Meet authors Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine, and multi-talented artist J.R. Blackwell at this book launch, art show and costume party.
Time: After the Parsecs, in the Hyatt (room TBD)
The Art of Writing for Audio
Learn how to adapt your written work into a podcast or podiobook from the award winning folks who make it happen, and find out the special tricks of the trade podcasters use to make their podcast novel stand out. I’m a panelist.
Time: Sun 10:00 am
Babbling Writers
Come along and listen as writers discuss what it’s like to podcast about the subject that is nearest and dearest to them — fiction writing. They should be writing, but instead they’re talking about it. I’m a babbling panelist.
Time: Sun 7:00 pm
Podcast Peer Awards Ceremony
The Second Annual Podcast Peer Awards Ceremony celebrating podcasters nominated by their bretheren, hosted by Dave Hitt, LIVE at Dragon*Con. I will be accepting my awards for Best Podcast Novel (for 7th Son, Book Three) and Best Arts/Entertainment Podcast (for UltraCreatives).
Time: Sun 10:00 pm
Podcasting Into the Future
Where is podcasting going, where is it taking us? A look at the possible future of podcasting and how we can make sure to not be left behind. Look at the new technology and upcoming innovations. I’m a panelist.
Time: Mon 11:30 am
Talk Back to the Podcasters!
Are you a rabid fan of podcasting or even a certain podcaster? Come go all “fan boy” on the podcasters. No question is off limits. I’m a panelist. (And yes, there are mos def questions that are off-limits.)
Time: Mon 1:00 pm
Can’t wait to see you there!
–J.C.
OBSIDIAN: Epsiode 21
August 26, 2008
This OBSIDIAN episode features a comedic skit from musician and podcaster George Hrab and writer and podcaster Soccergirl. These artists are dangerously smart and talented, and it’s an honor to have them appear here in the OBSIDIAN podcast.
About George Hrab: Multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, producer and composer George Hrab has written and produced five independent CDs; published one book; performed for President Clinton; shared the stage with countless numbers of musicians and acts; and is the de facto President for Life of The Geologic Orchestra. He also does a mean solo acoustic show. Dude’s got charisma.
George also produces a weekly podcast called “The Geologic Podcast,” which has been nominated for a 2008 Parsec Award for Best “Infotainment” Cast.
About Soccergirl: One of the first podcasters ever, Soccergirl has written, starred in and produced nearly 300 episodes of her popular audio and video podcast, “Soccergirl, Incorporated,” reaching an audience of up to 80,000 worldwide. The show features free thinking moxie, the pluck of the ages and satirical social commentary via an eclectic mix of experimental fiction (much of it science-y), original music (including freestyle rhymes), fake news, interviews, the lusty interpretation of cartoon classics and comedic improvisation. She’s switchblade brilliant.
Learn more about George’s work at GeologicRecords.net, and find Soccergirl’s podcast and blog at SoccergirlIncorporated.com.
- Star Wars: Codename Starkeeper audio drama
Why 7th Son fans rock my effing socks
August 26, 2008
Words cannot describe how awesome 7th Son listener Helljack is. From a recent blog post:
“I’ve mentioned J.C. Hutchins a couple of times in the past. His three-fucking-book atomic bomb of a tale 7th Son is something that vaults the line well past genius. If you have never tuned into single retinal-dilating, heart-stammering, brain-crushing chapter…then you, my friend, must either have an inner ear condition that inhibits your enjoyment of audio bliss or a serious desire to live your life to only half its enjoyment capabilities. Heh…yeah, it’s that good…”
I bet Stephen King himself doesn’t get such killer write-ups from readers. Helljack, you and every other 7th Son fan out there rock my little world.
–J.C.
THE 3RD WAVE GIVEAWAY!
August 25, 2008
The 3RD WAVE GIVEAWAY has CONCLUDED. Thanks for your support, and expect a blog post about its success soon!
EEK! Due to the INCREDIBLE response, J.C. has to close The 3RD WAVE GIVEAWAY at 8pm EST, lest he go bankrupt filling these orders. But until then, the rules below still stand!
Please ignore Amazon.com’s foolish “Out of Stock” message. There are plenty of books to be purchased. Ignore the “Out of Stock” message, I say!
To celebrate today’s release of Mur Lafferty’s Playing For Keeps at Amazon.com, I’m hosting a promotion to drive sales of the book during the second half of the day. It’s the 3RD WAVE GIVEAWAY.
Here’s how it works: If you purchase TWO COPIES of Playing For Keeps today (Aug. 25) AFTER 5 PM EST (sales before this time don’t count, sorry), I’ll send you a 3rd copy absolutely free. UPDATE: This will be autographed to YOU by Mur Lafferty herself!
That’s right. I’ve got ten copies here, just itchin’ to be distributed.
If you purchase THREE COPIES of Playing For Keeps today after 5 p.m. EST, I’ll throw in that autographed copy of PFK and a copy of Matthew Wayne Selznick’s Brave Men Run, also absolutely free. UPDATE: This will be autographed to YOU by Matt himself!
If you purchase FOUR COPIES of Playing For Keeps today after 5 p.m. EST, you’ll get that autographed copy of PFK, one copy of Brave Men Run … and a copy of Tee Morris’ The Case of the Pitcher’s Pendant and Phillipa Ballantine’s Digital Magic absolutely free. UPDATE: These will be autographed to YOU by Tee and Pip!
If you purchase FIVE COPIES of Playing For Keeps today after 5 p.m. EST, you’ll get all that … and a hardcover copy of Scott Sigler’s bestseller, Infected. UPDATE: This will be autographed to YOU by Scott himself!
If you purchase SIX COPIES of Playing For Keeps today after 5 p.m. EST, you’ll get all that … plus an autographed copy of Expert Podcasting Practices for Dummies, signed by co-author Evo Terra. UPDATE: My only autographed copy of Podcast Practices… has been claimed! In lieu of that, I’m giving away autographed copies of Matt Wallace’s The Next Fix, signed to YOU by Matt Wallace himself!
Are you in? Do you have the cash to spare to support a new media author and help propel her book from the Top 20 to the Top 10 overall at Amazon.com? If you get generous, so do I — with free books! You can give ‘em away to friends, or keep ‘em for yourself.
All you gotta do is buy the books (the rules are clearly explained above) and send me an email of your compliance to 7thSonNovel@gmail.com. Your deadline is midnight, West Coast Time … today.
Remember to ignore Amazon.com’s foolish “Out of Stock” message. There are plenty of books to be purchased. Ignore the “Out of Stock” message, I say!
Drive Playing For Keeps up the Amazon charts even further — and get free swag for your support. Sales made only after 5pm EST count for this promotion. Get buying … and email me afterward! You’ll score free books!
–J.C.
OBSIDIAN: Episode 20
August 25, 2008
The black … is back.
Today marks the debut of the second half of 7th Son: OBSIDIAN, and it’s a frickin’ doozy thanks to this week’s powerhouse author. (If you’re dying to know why OBSIDIAN was on hiatus, listen to the intro of the most recent UltraCreatives interview with author/podcaster Mur Lafferty.)
Meet Matt Wallace. He’s as tall as a tree and as dangerous as Killdozer — because Everyone Knows a Machine Cannot Kill. Except the Machine. Ferociously talented, Matt is a Parsec Award-winning author — whose short story Delve is nominated for a 2008 Parsec for short story — and is best known in the podcasting community for The Failed Cities Monologues and countless contributions to the exceptional short story podcast, Variant Frequencies.
Matt is also a screenwriter, and is currently working on several short- and long-form fiction projects. His short story anthology The Next Fix, published by APEX Publications, is currently available for purchase. Try Amazon.com. It will make your head explode.
This week, Matt Wallace brings us Receiver. In addition to being a perfect representation of his gritty, kick-you-in-the-balls, tear-out-your-jugular prose, Receiver is also the first full-length short story that Matt Wallace has read in podcasting. The audio was produced by Rick Stringer, creator of the Variant Frequencies podcast. Learn more about Matt’s work at Matt-Wallace.net, and find Variant Frequencies at VariantFrequencies.com.
PROMOS:
FREE E-BOOK: “Playing For Keeps” + new short story
August 22, 2008
It doesn’t get any cooler than this, folks. To celebrate the upcoming mainstream print release of her superhero novel Playing for Keeps on Aug. 25, author and podcaster Mur Lafferty has released the full text of the novel — and a never-before-seen short story called Parasite Awakens — as a free PDF download.
The PDF also features original comic book cover-style artwork by Jared Axelrod, Natalie Metzger and me, and was assembled by Paul Fischer and Martha Holloway.
Podcast subscribers should automatically receive a dowload of this PDF to thier podcatchers. Folks can also manually download the file, below.
I’ve been promoting Mur’s work here on the site and in the podcast feed for a week now, and there’s a reason for that: it’s worthy of all the attention. Playing For Keeps both celebrates and satirizes the superhero comics genre. Defying expectations, Mur’s novel is an awesome exploration of heroism, the life of an underdog, and the corruption of power.
It’s pretty damned funny, too.
Here’s a synopsis of Playing For Keeps, from publisher Swarm Press:
The shining metropolis of Seventh City is the birthplace of super powers. The First Wave heroes are jerks, but they have the best gifts: flight, super strength, telepathy, genius, fire. The Third Wavers are stuck with the leftovers: the ability to instantly make someone sober, the power to smell the past, the grace to carry a tray and never drop its contents, the power to produce high-powered excrement blasts, absolute control. over elevators.
Bar owner Keepsie Branson is a Third Waver with a power that prevents anything in her possession from being stolen. Keepsie and her friends just aren’t powerful enough to make a difference. at least that’s what they’ve always been told.
But when the villain Doodad slips Keepsie a mysterious metal sphere, the Third Wavers become caught in the middle of a battle between the egotistical heroes and the manipulative villains. As Seventh City begins to melt down, it’s hard to tell the good guys from the bad, and even harder to tell who may become the true heroes.
It’s great stuff, so check out the free PDF, and please be sure to support Mur Lafferty’s rush on the Amazon.com charts on Aug. 25 by purchasing a copy of Playing For Keeps!
–J.C.
BONUS: “Gestalt” short story by J.C. Hutchins
August 20, 2008
As reported in my recent UltraCreatives interview with author and podcaster Mur Lafferty, Mur recently reactivated the Playing for Keeps “Stories of the Third Wave” fan podcast to promote the novel’s Author Sanctioned™ release date of August 25 at Amazon.com.
This anthology of fan-created content is astounding in scope; Mur told UltraCreatives listeners that she’d received so many stories for “…Third Wave,” she’s resorting to a daily release schedule just to keep up. How cool is that?
Even cooler (at least for me) is that Mur invited me aboard to write a short story set in her Playing for Keeps universe. I was flattered by her offer and concocted Gestalt, my contribution to the project. It was also a blast to get back in front of the mic and reading my own fiction again.
Longtime listeners of the 7th Son podcast know that 7S was originally conceived as a superhero story … but since I was (and to a degree, still am) convinced that believable superhero tales are extremely hard to tell in prose fiction, I abandoned that concept for a more realistic narrative. As I wrote Gestalt, I set to prove myself wrong — and I think I did just that. Your reaction as a reader may prove differently, but I’m very proud of this little story, and I hope I did Mur Lafferty’s universe justice with it.
If you’ve never heard the Playing for Keeps podiobook or the “Stories of the Third Wave” podcast, but like what you hear here, be sure to visit PlayingForKeepsNovel.com to subscribe to both projects.
And please help support Mur Lafferty’s work as she rushes the Amazon charts on August 25. Here’s a link to the book’s product page at Amazon.com — but please be a part of the community effort and wait to purchase Playing for Keeps on the 25th.
Stay super.
–J.C.
Ultracreatives Interview #17: Mur Lafferty
August 19, 2008
After an unexpected — and shame on him, unnannounced — micro-hiatus, J.C. Hutchins is back with a new UltraCreatives interview. This episode features the triumphant return of author and podcaster Mur Lafferty.
There have been some tremendous developments in Mur’s career since she last appeared on the show back in February. J.C. and Mur discuss her novel Playing for Keeps, and how it was recently purchased by indie publisher Swarm Press for mainstream release. Mur also chats about the reactivation of her “Stories of the Third Wave” podcast, her ambition to rush the Amazon.com charts on August 25 and much more. It’s a fun, fascinating interview.
Find Mur Lafferty on the World Wide Everywhere:
- The “portal” site for all her creative projects, Murverse.com
- The official Playing for Keeps website, PlayingForKeepsNovel.com
- The Amazon.com product page for Playing For Keeps (but PLEASE wait until Aug. 25 to purchase!)
In the intro to this episode, J.C. also explains just where the hell he’s been for the past three weeks, what commitments have kept him from releasing 7th Son: OBSIDIAN content, and when that content will return to the feed. (Hint: It’s goddamned soon.)
As promised, here are links to some important sites (including MINE, J.C.’s new pop culture blog project) and some writing he’s done in recent weeks.
- MINE, the new pop culture blog from Myxer.com
- What is MINE? MINE is yours
- Help spread the MINE meme
- Please help fellow Beta Clone and artist Carlos Weiser become a pro-published comic book artist!
- On Twitter, and the Great Unfollowing of 2008
- Learning from King and Whedon, and getting out of the ghetto
A fellow Beta Clone needs your help!
August 16, 2008
Red alert, everybody! Carlos Weiser, a 7th Son superfan and brilliant cartoonist and artist, needs our help!
Longtime listeners of 7S might remember Carlos and his magnificent contributions to the 7th Son experience. Last year, he created amazing comic book-style portraits of the seven Beta Clones, and I was so astounded by their quality that I gave Carlos his own “gallery” here at JCHutchins.net. His renditions of the characters — Kilroy2.0 in particular — were terrific.
Now we all have a chance to thank Carlos for his efforts and talents. Carlos is currently a Top 10 finalist in Platinum Studios’ The Comic Book Challenge. This annual competition brings the works of artists from around the U.S. (and possibly beyond) together, with one mission: to find the very best sequential storyteller of the bunch. Thousands enter. Carlos has made it into the Top 10.
With our combined generosity and voting, we can help Carlos realize his lifelong dream of having his comic art published. The Challenge’s finalist receives his entry published as either a comic book miniseries or a graphic novel to debut at a 2009 comic book convention, a cool interactive Cintiq monitor-tablet display, tons of software for coloring and digital production, and more. Here’s a thumbnail of his three-page entry for The Challenge:
Check out Carlos’ page at The Comic Book Challenge and please vote for him! Here’s an opportunity to not only showcase our combined Beta Clone power, but also give something back to a fellow fan. Thanks for your consideration, and please cast your vote for Carlos!
–J.C.
BONUS: Second Life Podcaster Meetup interview with J.C. Hutchins
August 13, 2008
My apologies to you amazing Beta Clones for not delivering a 7th Son: OBSIDIAN episode in nearly two weeks. Things have been ultra-hectic in these parts. What have I been up to? I put the final final edit of Personal Effects: Dark Art to bed, performed some “first reader” duties, wrote a short story for Mur Lafferty’s Stories of the Third Wave podcast (watch for its release next week, narrated by me), and have been putting a treeemendous amount of time and sweat into my new pop culture blog project, MINE.
That’s in addition to concocting promotional plans for Dark Art, wooing authors for blurb quotes, sniffing for a film agent, doing a few more UltraCreatives interviews before the series concludes … it goes on and on …
But I’m still alive — that counts for something, I hope — and I wanted to deliver something cool (and hopefully) interesting in the podcast feed as I gear up for releasing the second half of 7th Son: OBSIDIAN.
I’m proud to present this, a recent interview I did with several podcasters and fans at Podcast Island in Second Life. Podcast Island is the awesome creation of Gary Leland, “Itazura,” “Radar” and others at PodcastPickle.com. (Podcast Pickle is the very best place on the ‘Net to learn about podcasting, and become part of an amazing community of ‘casters and listeners.) Here, I was welcomed into an awesome “round table” style discussion, where anyone could ask me questions. The conversation started with us (appropriately enough) chatting about Second Life, but quickly veered into some fun, funny and deep territory.
The interview will soon be added to the Podcast Island Podcast feed.
This interview captures a lot of my perspectives on new media and podcasting, and reveals some details about my personal philosophies and life that I’ve never publicly shared before. It was a trememdous honor to chat with podcaster colleagues, and I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.
Expect the second half of 7th Son: OBSIDIAN to debut next week.
–J.C.
BONUS: Second Life Podcaster Meetup interview with J.C. Hutchins [1:06:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadEven Hitler’s pissed about Twitter
August 8, 2008
Proof that I’m not the only one fretting about Twitter. But with friends like these….
(For the record: I hate Nazis. In my home, I call them “Nazi fuckheads.” It’s true. Listen to my books if you want to know how much I hate the bastards.)
–J.C.
Via ParisLemon
On Twitter, and the Great Unfollowing of 2008
August 3, 2008
So there’s this fascinating service called Twitter. I won’t waste time trying to describe it, except to liken it to the world’s largest cocktail party. You — and the Twitter users who “follow” you, and the people whom you “follow” — are all assembled in one cavernous virtual ballroom, all with bullhorns, gabbing away. And the acoustics are so damned good here, you can hear every word everyone is broadcasting. It’s a helluva thing.
I love the service. I love the kind of instantaneous, worldwide, bite-sized communication it delivers. If you know Twitter and pause to think about what it does — bringing people of all types into a common experience where, in 140 characters or less, they can make friends, expose themselves to new creative work, and express themselves — it is thing worthy of awe.
The brilliance of Twitter is that it is “opt-in” all the way: You choose which people you want to “follow” — their communiques will be visable to you in your “tweetstream”. If you’re blessed enough to have people interested in “following” you and what you have to say, you can follow them back.
Following the natural logic, the worst-case Twitter scenario is that you have no followers, and you tweet into a void. Best-case scenario: You (and your friends) are awash in a stream of communication, back-and-forthing with conversation. It’s a hoot.
I was an early adopter of Twitter; my memory’s foggy here, but I believe I signed up for the free service before it became a monster meme at South By Southwest 2007. Not much was happening there at the time … but the thing caught on, friends came, chatter blossomed. The great Following began.
This was a good thing. It further lowered the barriers of communication between creative people. It was a far more direct avenue between me (a new media entertainer) and the folks who dig my work. It empowered me to talk “directly” to fans and vice-versa. Twitter is more immediate than email, and more convenient than messaging on Myspace/Facebook, or commenting on a blog. (In fact, I think Twitter is killing the art of blog commenting, but that’s the subject of another post.) Combine these facts with the understanding that on Twitter, everyone has deservedly equal conversational footing, and you have a mighty powerful form of free, nearly instantaneous communication.
During my first year of using Twitter, there was — and to a degree, still is — a pervasive popular philosophy of “Twitter karma.” The gist: If someone has put forth the effort and interest to follow you on Twitter, you respectfully return the favor. (There’s even a clever Twitter Karma service that allows you to manage such “following,” and a recent Twitter quasi-competitor called Plurk that incorporates this karma concept into its service.) It makes good sense, engenders goodwill and reciprocity, and levels the communication playing field. Accessibility is in. Gated community, begone.
I, like a great many folks on Twitter, followed everyone back. I benefitted from the relationships, made new friends, was exposed to brilliant creators, bloggers and fans. Twitter changed my life. It opened my eyes to a landscape of new media beyond the “ghetto” of podcasting (I do not use this word disparagingly; see this post for a better understanding), and has connected me to people whose work I admire beyond words.
And then more Twitter followers came. And more. At the time of this writing, I have more than 1,800 followers. This number is a drop in the bucket for more popular entertainers, but it’s significant, at least to me.
I continued to apply my personal rules of reciprocity and karma to Twitter, and followed a great many of these folks. Conversation thrived.
And as the months went on, more came. And more. And more.
Perhaps it’s my history with Twitter — and the memories of those early months when Twitter didn’t just feel like a small secret community, but by God, it was one — that influenced the way I’ve begun to recently view it. When you follow around 1,500 people and a great many of them are not connected to one another (but are connected to you), you are exposed to a flood of mostly-unrelated messages. There is no cohesion. Communication is happening, but it’s impossible to follow. The guest list of the world’s largest cocktail party has grown so large — and everyone’s voices can still be heard — that the result, for me, was a cocophany.
I hate myself for saying this, but it became noise.
Am I suggesting that the things people are saying now are any less significant than they were saying last year? Absolutely not. Perhaps there’s even more significance to what pours into the tweetstream these days, since its growing user base is using the service in more creative ways than ever. (Folks are tweeting fiction; they’re also using it as a platform to promote products or new creative endeavors. I do this relentlessly on Twitter.)
No, I’m saying that my personal experience began to sour. The messages being transmitted to my Twitterfic Twitter reader became too numerous to read, much less understand. The mostly-geniune and mostly-important conversation became an incomprehensible squall.
There are ways to cut through the noise — I call them Twitter “dog whistles” — and they come in the form of “@” replies (which show up in the public tweetstream) and “DMs” (direct messages, which only transmit to the intended recipient). These messages show up in special places on the Twitter site, or are are given special highlighted prominence in Twitter readers such as Twitterific. I enjoy receiving these messages, as they rise above the din and more easily get my attention. When appropriate, I reply in kind.
I hate admitting this, but for much of 2008, I’ve mostly been reading the “@” and “DM” messages directed at me, and not the unfolding conversation in the public ’stream. The Twitter service may be scalable, but my attention couldn’t keep up. I began to hate the noise, and felt guilty for hating it.
There are tremendously talented folks in the space who manage Twitter accounts with thousands upon thousands of followers, and follow these folks back. I presume that either their attention is more scalable than mine, or they perceive and use Twitter differently than me.
There are also folks who have thousands upon thousands of followers, but rarely follow them back. For many a moon, I considered these brilliant creators — Wil Wheaton, Warren Ellis and Xeni Jardin to name a few — to be hypocrites. What, you’ll use this thing to communicate with fans, but you won’t connect with them on the level that Twitter was built for? I thought. You’ll stand atop your mountain and evangelize your cause, but won’t let people into your Ivory Tower? What bullshit.
But now I get it. It’s the noise, man. It’s all the fucking noise. If you can’t parse the communication, you can’t participate in the conversation in any useful, meaningful, way. To me, that defeats the philosophical intent of Twitter … or at least, the philosophy I project upon it.
And so, today, I conducted The Great Unfollowing. I examined the list of the nearly 1,500 people I was following, did some voodoo emotional math (which I won’t share here), and removed most of them from my “following” list. It was draconian. It was a slaughter.
I am now following less than 200 people. I am certain this decision has hurt some feelings, but I’ve best explained how I came to it, and why it was important to me to follow through with it.
Have I become one of the social media starfucker hipocrites I spent months sneering at? Yes. Have I removed myself from hundreds of lively conversations? Yes. Do I feel like an asshole, particularly since I’ve built a reputation for being a very down-to-earth, accessible entertainer? Yes.
Do I think that, given my awe for this service and things I love most about it, this was a necessary deed, a “red phone” option that would rejuvenate my interest and enjoyment of Twitter? Yes.
I’ve said on numerous occasions that Twitter is an ephemeral thing; its experience is as varied as the people using it. I’m changing how I use Twitter, so I can better experience it.
Interestingly, The Great Unfollowing doesn’t mean I’m any less accessible. Folks can still send me “@” replies (which I always appreciate, and repsond to, when appropriate), and thanks to Twitter’s robust search function, I recieve aggregated RSS reports of relevant tweets about me and my work. When appropriate, I reply to these tweets, too.
Jaded Twitter veterans — or less naive users — probably see this post as the confession of a noob. Others might read it as the manifesto of a philosophical sellout. I’m neither of these things. I simply realized that the cocktail party was now too popular and spectacular for me to fully appreciate. I am still tremendously grateful to the 1,800+ people who follow me, and understand how blessed I am to have people interested in what I have to say.
I’m still at the shindig, just chillin’ a little further from the bar and dance floor these days. Shout my name, though, and I’ll probably bound over like a happy puppy.
We’ll put down our bullhorns and talk for a while.
–J.C.
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