Technology News and Updates: Digital Literary Upsurge; Story-telling Through 'SMS'

Those who were born in the 90s have seen how technology has evolved with time. From radios to podcasts; from television sets to web live streaming; from bulks of papers and books down to a piece of a digital reading device, tools and innovations have really come a long way. But who would have thought that day-long sitting inside our bedrooms finishing 500-page novels may possibly come to an end?

In a report from Wired, "SMS series" readers are now addicted to stories created by Brianna Howarth, a 22 year-old who is fond of composing horror stories with the use of SMS-style writing. She uses an iPhone app to compose and compile original stories written completely in a form of text messages with characters virtually bantering to each other. Howarth says that creating it is just like how people normally do conversations "but with a new edge."

We can tell that by this new advancement, story-tellers are also diving into new trends of literary forms just as how businesses are dropping all their products into social media platforms to get more attention from consumers.

The iPhone app used by Howarth itself was invented by story-enthusiast and mobile entrepreneur Prerna Gupta, who first tried out writing short stories with her husband through a mobile app for about a year. By doing so, they found out that only 15 percent of the readers finish the chronicles they uploaded, even when these reads take only five minutes to finish.

Later on, Gupta tried uploading screen captures of stories told through text conversations and found out that more readers engage in this kind of reading style. This resulted to 85 percent completion of stories published. Gupta now has 9,000 stories, ten of which has reached 100,000 readers.

This new literary form is not only popular in the United States. In the Philippines, an '"SMS series" told in Tagalog, the country's main language, is getting new waves of social media attention. Because of this, Jenny Ruth Almocera, the author of a popular SMS love story titled "Vince and Kath," has already published and launched its first book last March 6, 2016.

This "SMS love series" has not only captured the interest of readers but has also grabbed movie producers by the collars. They are now about to release a movie adaptation of the story created by Almocera, featuring very popular Philippine Celebrities.

Readers are now used to clicking articles away on social media platforms, sifting from one headline to another. Almost everyone's attention span has shrank from 20 minutes to just eight seconds, challenging story tellers to adjust to the new upsurge of digital literary trend