Kristan Higgins preps for TwitterFiction Festival 2015

TwitterFiction Festival 2015 kicks off Monday (May 11) and runs through Friday. Plus, there'll be a live tweeting event on Wednesday in New York where authors such as Gayle Forman and Anna North will create their stories before an audience. A ticket is required. (USA TODAY is the media sponsor for this year's TwitterFiction Festival.)

And one of our favorite romance authors ever, Kristan Higgins (In Your Dreams), is a participating author in the festival (her gig is 2-4 p.m. ET Friday, May 15). She joins HEA to share what it's all about.

Kristan: The other day, I was minding my own business, secretly ogling the neighbor's window washer as I lay on the floor, covered in dog hair — you know, the usual — when I got a strange request from my editor.

Did I want to participate in TwitterFiction Festival?

"You bet your life I do! Absolutely! Count me in!" I said. "What is it?"

Well, it's pretty cool, turns out! In two-hour increments, the featured authors tell you a story in tweet form … that is, each installment is no more than 140 characters, and the entire story has to be told by the two-hour mark.

How hard could it be, right? Legend has it that Hemingway (that hack) wrote a short story in six words. Two hours of tweeting? No problem! In a nutshell, I'll be writing a story and telling it in 140-character installments with the hashtag #TwitterFiction. I'll be writing it as if the character is live-tweeting her night.

And what night is that? Well … Nora is single, disillusioned, but unable to kill hope completely. She's tried all the dating websites, begged her friends for fix-ups, even humbled herself before her mother and asked if she knows anyone, but it's come to this. A singles event at a grocery store that much resembles Whole Foods. She might run into her ex. I'm pretty sure she will.

Years ago, I wrote a singles grocery night in Just One of the Guys. Our heroine, Chastity, is strong-armed by her newly divorced mother to accompany her. Oh, I had the best time writing that scene! Also, my handsome and single brother-in-law works for Whole Foods, and I just love making fun of that place (and eating its food …).

I hope you'll pop over to Twitter to see this very cool way of telling a story. Some amazing writers will be participating — Margaret Atwood, Lemony Snicket, Jackie Collins, Sophie Jordan and Katie McGarry, to name a few.

Just look for the hashtag #TwitterFiction, and if you want to watch my story unfold live, I'll be doing my thing from 2-4 p.m. ET May 15. For more on the story I'll be writing, visit twitterfictionfestival.com.

As a thank-you, I'm giving away a book and a giftie to one of my Twitter followers, so make sure you're one of them! @Kristan_Higgins

Cheerio!

Find out more about the event at twitterfictionfestival.com. And find out more about Kristan and her books at kristanhiggins.com.