One Picture Stories – Stories Pictured and Written on an iPhone

One sentence description of #1picstory (originally tweeted here):

A story written within one picture, created on an iPhone from a very first idea to a very first tweet.

I started this new digital storytelling project at the beginning of a year. At that time people make resolutions. New Year Resolutions are good, because you can refresh your mind. I needed a refreshment, what’s more I desperately needed an upgrade. But I’m not good in resolutions of any kind. I just knew I had to try something new. This was not enough for a tasty blog post. So I’ve been scrolling through apps at iTunes to get inspired. Yes, if I want to get inspired I just take an iPhone and play with it. After 15 light scrolls and 4 fast ones I’ve found Type Drawing. This awesome app lets you paint with words. This is what I needed.

What? Yes, you’re right. I want to say, that the inspiration didn’t come from a noble philosopher who is dead for 400 years. My imagination was reloaded by a decent 1,59 EUR application which is still available at iTunes AppStore (good) and haven’t been updated for three weeks (bad).

Why I needed to try something new? There are a couple of reasons.

1. I’m one of those who know (far more advanced than “believe”), that soon a good book will have a diversified content. A written word will obviously prevail, but it will be supplemented by other forms, like audio, video and interactivity. Video? Yes, Vook! No, don’t expect myself to knock at Brad Inman joint venture’s door and say: “Hey, I sold my car and I need a short video to visualize a plot complexity at the end of a 1st paragraph of a 175th short story in my new collection of one paragraph stories.” In fact, I want to be the hell of a DIY author and I’m making preparations for the coming tools being available for self-publishers. If there will be movies embedded into books, there will definitely be an option to include pictures.

2. Technology is advancing. Creative people have to chase it. I just think it’s gonna be a usual thing to test new tools as soon as they appear. Invention is part of a process. Innovators win. There is absolutely no reason to exclude innovators from literature.

3. It perfectly describes what I am, and I am a guy who writes about absurdity of technology actually using this technology.

4. Very important – it’s fun. Working on a #1picstory is just a fantastic new experience, which combines what I want to say with what I need to learn. As long as a tool is a challenge I will shoot/paint/write the stories.

Yes, it’s fun for a creator. Opposite to Google-translated fiction, I’m not the only #1picstory guy at Twitter. A couple of fantastic stories were created by @kaolinfire and @presleysylwia. I think this can be fun for you too. Stay tuned, soon I’ll write a post with tips and tricks on 1picstory creation.

As this litexperimental project is originally developed by somebody who deeply relies on technology, you can expect some sort of technical specifications. Please find them after a break.

Check new one picture stories here »»»

Technical specifications :. #1picstory litexperimental project

Tools used :. Type Drawing – to paint a story over a picture (AppStore link); RetroCamera – to add style to pictures and make them looking cool (AppStore link); Awesome Note – to catch ideas on the go, so nothing is missed (AppStore link); MyPaint – to make color adjustments to pictures (AppStore link)

Development pattern :. To write down the story, to shoot a picture, to adjust a picture, to draw a story on a picture, to tweet a story. All the steps in the middle are interchangeable

Original Twitter account :. Freshly made stories hit @mobilefiction first

Original tweet service :. Mobypicture. I tested some services through which you can post pictures from Tweetie. Twitpic was a first choice, but I dropped it after I saw how terrible a TwitPic picture was looking on a mobile phone

Mobile friendly :. Yes, definitely

Distribution channels :. After a story is published at @mobileficiton, I’m putting it on my blog, which feeds two my Twitter accounts: @namenick (English) and @nizejpodpisany (Polish). I also upload pictures to galleries at my Facebook profile and fan page

Subscription :. Yes. You can subscribe to 1picstory category at this blog. RSS feed here

Next gen e-book ready :. Yes, I hope so

Refreshment rate :. Two stories per week; it may change due to unexpected circumstances, including new apps

Licence :. Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License

Price :. Free (for a limited number of stories only)