Using Twitter as the platform for my social media short story created an unexpected mix of comedy and horror. The story follows a character experiencing something surreal and dangerous, yet she responds the way many people do today: by posting about it online instead of getting help. Twitter’s casual, rapid-fire nature made the story feel strangely realistic, the kind of impulsive, unfiltered reaction someone might actually have. The format added humor because the posts felt offhand and unserious despite the situation being frightening.
But Twitter also limited the emotional depth I could convey. To feel authentic, the posts had to be short and casual, which made it difficult to build a full range of tone or detail. The challenge was creating escalating tension in tiny fragments. Still, the constraints shaped the story in a way that made it feel very modern.
I chose to draw the visuals for the story because creating cute, simple characters on paper feels natural to me. I’ve always loved comics and character design, and drawing helps me tell stories in a way that feels playful and expressive. Using hand-drawn images also softened the horror of the narrative, creating a contrast between the cute style and the dark situation. It made the story feel more stylized and more “mine.”
The biggest challenge was translating emotion into such a minimal visual form. Because the drawings were small and intentionally simple, I had to rely on little gestures, expressions, or symbols to communicate fear, tension, or humor. Another challenge was matching the drawings to the Twitter posts — the timing, pacing, and tone had to work together. But ultimately, drawing gave the project a personal, cohesive visual identity.