Story Chat Online Literary Conversations

To chat is to talk in an informal and familiar manner or have online discussions in a chat room. Story Chat is comprised of a diverse set of original short stories published on the AlwaysWrite.blog. Stories include tales of prisoners who trained service dogs, neighborhood vigilantes, lives saved in the nick of time, mistaken surgeries and identities, practical jokes, odd jobs, healing from old emotional wounds, and much more. A small sampling of the comments has been included to add ambiance to the book club-type experience. More than a typical blog challenge that many bloggers enjoy, Story Chat is a unique online writing program. Twelve authors per year submit their short stories for publication on AlwaysWrite.blog for a community of bloggers to read and analyze together. Much like other forms of social media, a typical blog visitor will spend one minute or less reading another blogger's posts and might leave a comment like "Great story." Story Chat participants came back several times to read comments, reread the story and respond to each other. They shared vulnerable personal experiences and compared the author's short story to famous stories, movies, and television series. They argued with each other about obscure meanings, what should have happened, and advice, and finally gave praise to the brave authors. ¿Most full-length books have not been discussed in such depth. These are those stories.