Exhibitions

August 26, 2010
Stacey Mason

In the era of social media, many of us have become accustomed to the performative nature of tweeting and blogging our thoughts and work. Writer Matt Bell is taking this to a whole new level, however, with an exhibitionist writing assignment: he’s writing a story live for an online audience over the course of a week .

Sunday he wrote:

Starting today, I’ll be working on a story that I started during this last “writer’s block,” a story that didn’t take off then but that I still think might be worth writing. Monday and Tuesday, I’ll be attempting to write a full draft of the story, starting with only a single paragraph already written. To make it more interesting, you’ll be able to watch as I write, seeing each of my decisions in real-time. The software we’re using—Etherpad—will allow you to see each word I write and delete and rewrite at the same time I do it, and the built-in chat software will allow you and anyone else watching to chat alongside my writing if you choose to.

But that’s not the end of it. Later in the week, Michael Kimball and Lily Hoang rewrite the story. Then Bell invites the audience to edit the work before Bell undertakes a final rewrite.

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