ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 explores how stories can be told through fragments, arguing that a range of narrative approaches are available to storytellers. The first part of the chapter argues that some narrative practices on Twitter closely resemble chronicles – chronologically ordered lists of events which do not constitute cohesive wholes. Drawing on Heidegger and Croce, I propose that this must be understood as a distinct rhetorical strategy based in the voiding of the narrativity inherent to ordinary, storied existence. The second part examines three major approaches to storytelling through fragments. In vertical storytelling, multiple fragments gradually accumulate over time into something approaching a traditional text. In horizontal storytelling, individual fragments imply complex wholes without relying on specific other fragments. In ambient storytelling, many users contribute to large but loosely defined narrative constellations.
