Epistolary

I've read back through a number of old iChat transcripts recently, some entertaining, some pointless, some heartbreaking. Even the dull ones occasionally capture something wonderful and intriguing.

IM conversations have a character of real chatter about them, fleeting and disposable, unregarded; but the artifice of typing intrudes as well, adding that tiny hint of performance. It can be tedious drivel, but it can also take flight. There are delirious soliloquies and crackpot, sparkling interplay and moments of pure, affectless honesty. I wish I could make that stuff up.

So watch out, my chat buddies: one day I shall turn you into fiction, and your dialogue will be so painfully true to life that our readers, yours and mine, will be mortified, longing to hide their eyes but unable, compelled to read on...
Posted by matt at September 9, 2004 12:45 AM