David Mitchell publishes story on Twitter: write your own

Scroll down to read the full #c4novel: crowdsourced, written and published on Twitter.

He called it the “diabolical treble-strapped textual straitjacket” but author David Mitchell has nevertheless turned to Twitter to publish a new short story.

The award-winning writer of Cloud Atlas is unveiling his story tweet by tweet from the account @david_mitchell in short bursts at 7am and 5pm over seven days.

The tale, about a boy tripping on his mother’s Valium pills, began on Monday 14 July with the below opening line.

We get off the Number 10 bus at a pub called â??The Fox and Houndsâ??. â??If anyone asks,â?? Mum tells me, â??say we came by taxi.â??

— David Mitchell (@david_mitchell) July 14, 2014

Here at Channel 4 News we like a challenge, so we thought we would have a go ourselves in tribute. Our Economics Editor Paul Mason, a novelist himself, wrote the first line @paulmasonnews and we asked for our Twitter followers to write the next lines and send them in to Paul or @channel4news.

We picked our favourite lines and made a story, which you can read below. Our weather presenter @liamdutton even got involved, and our online producer @jriggers wrapped it up.

The story is below. It’s a little strange. Enjoy. #c4novel

A thump, then glass needles in her hair. She would have to miss her piano lesson. http://t.co/bfGns1D64g [#c4novel http://t.co/t9uNuzSSqk]

— Paul Mason (@paulmasonnews) July 14, 2014

@paulmasonnews Fate had searched, then found, a way to forgive her failure to practise chromatic scales. Found it on the bedroom carpet.

— Lily Caprani (@LilyCaprani) July 14, 2014

@Channel4News didn’t matter as much as who she married

— Dina Medland (@dinamedland) July 14, 2014

@Channel4News @paulmasonnews or rather what she’d married. She could hear it now in the garden pretending it was just another Day.

— Dot (@dottfair) July 14, 2014

Overwhelmed by emotion, she cried. Her head pounding like thunder and tears running down her face like a midsummer downpour. #c4novel

— Liam Dutton (@liamdutton) July 14, 2014

@Channel4News Suddenly the phone rang. She stifled her tears and picked up with a wobbly voice. “Hello?” she said. “Hello”… #c4novel

— Anneka Dalrymple (@IHEARTVEGAN) July 14, 2014

@Channel4News It was the voice she’d been waiting for on the other end. ‘Its time’, it said flatly #c4novel

— Hannah Savage (@Scoreceror) July 14, 2014

@Channel4News “I can’t, please not now, I’m afraid. I need more time”. She pleaded. Angrily he replied “No, today is the day we do this”.

— Sammy Bennett (@MissSpamula) July 14, 2014

@Channel4News Her heart pounded whilst the adrenaline surged through her body. She headed to where she knew it was hidden #c4novel

— Cheryl McGuire (@CherylMcGuirex) July 14, 2014

She took the lid off the piano in its secret corner. “All that fuss just to get me to practise,” she thought, pressing down C sharp #c4novel

— Jennifer Rigby (@jriggers) July 16, 2014