11 Twitter accounts that will make you a better writer
It’s noisy, brash and unruly but, with a limit of 280 characters, a Twitter feed is a great place to hone your skills – and learn how to to write effectively
1. Stephen King | @StephenKing
I’m usually too much of a wuss for horror stories, but even I’ve read Stephen King – and there is no doubt he’s one of the greatest storytellers of our time. On Twitter, it’s inspiring to see how King uses so few words to such great effect – and there are occasional writing tips, book readings and self-deprecating comments about typos. For the times in between, his politics, opinions and popular culture recommendations are hugely enjoyable. If you’re serious about writing, read Stephen King’s book, On Writing, a critically lauded, million-copy bestseller, in which King shares the experiences, habits and convictions that have shaped him and his work.
2. Susan Orlean | @SusanOrlean
The veteran New Yorker writer and queen of creative nonfiction, my favourite Susan Orlean is The Library Book, an unashamed love letter to the Los Angeles Public Library. Orlean’s love of words, books and indeed libraries lights up Twitter, where she dispenses all sorts of insights for her followers and would-be authors. This week’s musings has seen Orlean searching for a new word:
“I’d like to coin a word for when you want to continue watching something and you can’t remember which streaming service it was on. Suggestions?”
At the last look, “streamnesia” was winning... And while drunk Tweeting is usually a very bad idea, Orlean’s epic drunken Tweets were a comedy highlight of the pandemic last summer.
3. Teju Cole | @tejucole
Cole, a Nigerian-American writer, photographer, art historian and author, was brilliantly creative at bringing his wit and wisdom to Twitter. He mixed quips with poetry, literary quotes and timely one-liners to create an illuminating read. But he has now left the platform. As he told Vice at the time, “I don't think Trump would be President without Twitter”. But his timeline remains worth a browse.
4. The People’s Friend | @TheFriendMag
Take a guess who one of the most prolific commissioners of new fiction is? The somewhat surprising answer is People’s Friend (okay, so I haven’t exactly fact-checked that, but I have it from a very good source!)
People’s Friend is the longest running women's magazine in the world, famous for knitting, cookery and most pertinent to this list, fiction. And the people at People’s Friend are really pushing the envelope in their own way: authors stop by their office and they employ many established and debut writers. Weekly on Twitter they have the #pfwritinghour, usually a question and answer session (How often does your main character lead the story in an unexpected direction?) designed to bring writing communities together to discuss their art.
5. Michael Rosen | @MichaelRosenYes
The former children’s laureate is a Twitter behemoth – so much so that his return to the platform after his battle with Covid was reported in most British newspapers. Rosen excels at tweeting. Not only is he a wonderful purveyor of the one-liner, he also retweets stuff as good as his own hilariously on-point observations, publishes vignettes of poetry and muses questions such as what would your desert island poem be?
6. Dictionary.com | @Dictionarycom
I’m not sure any of my sub-editor colleagues would necessarily turn to dictionary.com (the first choice was usually Collins), but the digital dictionary is excellent on Twitter. The latest update includes 1,200 new words that reflect the evolving landscape of language; and there’s a slang dictionary, gender and sexuality dictionary and even an emoji dictionary (do writers need emojis?). It’s also the place to learn a new word every day – this week has included satori, integument, celerity and Fletcherize – and what aspiring writer wouldn’t want to do that, right?
7. Joseph Kimble | @ProfJoeKimble
A writing professor for over 30 years, Kimble is passionate about “the extraordinary benefits of using plain language”. This plain language approach is especially refreshing given his background in law (he was a staff attorney for the Michigan Supreme Court) and explains why so many of his avid Twitter followers are legal writers. But his feed is full of useful advice, the kind that we at Forthwrite advocate: don’t say “utilise” when you mean ‘use’; three words are better than five etc. His mantra? If you can’t say what you mean simply, it’s probably a sign that you don’t know what you are trying to say.
8. Granta | @GrantaMag
Granta magazine has been publishing intelligent, ground-breaking writing for 40 years (a yearly subscription is £31 very well spent). From Nobel laureates to debut novelists, international translations to investigative journalism, over the years it has featured Haruki Murakami, George Saunders, Julian Barnes, Maggie O’Farrell, Sally Rooney, Han Kang and many others. On Twitter, it’s mostly a portal through which to find their best long-form essays which, honestly, can be a minefield because they’re pretty much all exquisite (one of the current best is an essay on Ghislaine Maxwell). And, as to be expected, Granta masters the art of writing beautifully in only 280 characters.
9. Robert Macfarlane | @RobGMacfarlane
We increasingly make do with an impoverished language for our landscapes, our cities, our coastlines, shores and snowscapes. But on Twitter, as in his books, Macfarlane shows us it needn’t be that way in his exquisite writing about nature and climate, people and places. And you’ll come across many new words from aquabob (a Kent variant for icicle) as a zawn (Cornish derivation for wave-smashed chasm in a cliff). A masterclass in unusual and vivid language.
10. C Pam Zhang | @cpamzhang
Pam C Zhang’s How much of these hills are gold, sets the bar for the new American epic. One of Barack Obama’s novels of the year, it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Unsurprisingly, C Pam Zhang is fast becoming one of literature's leading voices and on Twitter, she muses literary questions, motivates writers, publishes extracts and constantly recommends interesting other authors. Plus she's funny, and down to earth and heart-warming, retweeting stuff like this.
11. Elle Griffin | @novelleist
When Elle Griffin finished writing her first book, she pitched it to more than 120 agents – and received 120 rejections. After discovering that 98 percent of books published in 2020 sold less than 5,000 copies, she went for another route and is now serialising her debut gothic novel – one chapter a week – on Substack. Visit Elle’s Twitter account to access her Substack group where writers share their tips, work and even co-write. Elle collects authors like other people might collect vinyl. If you are currently writing fiction on Substack, you will be on her handy Twitter list. If you harbour dreams of being a published author, this is a good alternative place to start.
If you would like to learn how to become a better writer, contact us at Forthwrite. We teach businesses and individuals how to write quicker, more succinctly and more effectively – with less time wasted on cluttered words and confused thinking. As an editor, journalist and adman we know how much valuable time gets squandered . Click here for details on ‘How to write productively’ and other courses.