# alternative literature alternative literature (or alt-lit) is a literary movement strongly influenced by internet culture and online publishing. it includes various forms of prose poetry and new media. alt-lit is characterised by self-publication and a presence on social media networks. alternative literature brings together people with a common interest in the online publishing world # origins the term was first used to refer to this community of writers in the summer of 2011 when tumblr and twitter accounts named "alt lit gossip" emerged created by cory stephens (@outmouth.) the accounts covered writers from presses and publications such as muumuu house pop serial and htmlgiant in a style akin to celebrity gossip sources like tmz. after a few months the original accounts were deleted; they were revived by frank hinton in the fall of 2011 and began to gain popularity # shared traits across alt lit alt lit is often characterised by self-publication self-promotion and the maintenance of a presence on social media networks. josh soilker has said that alt lit is "in blog posts videos gchats and facebook status updates. in pdfs and folded papers..." and that the movement's principal figures were tao lin noah cicero and brandon scott gorrell alt lit writers share gmail chat logs image macros screenshots and tweets which are then self-published as poetry books and/or novels writing for the new yorker kenneth goldsmith characterised alt lit writing as "marked by direct speech expressions of aching desire and wide-eyed sincerity." ey also noted that alt lit is "usually written in the internet vernacular of lowercase letters inverted punctuation abundant typos and bad grammar" # # literary magazines and blogs online and print alt lit magazines include sway press illuminati girl gang new wave vomit pop serial shabby doll house have u seen my whale the bushwick review the mall keep this bag away from children everyday genius metazen housefire up literature parlor sadcore dadwave red lightbulbs in parentheses and unsure if i will allow my beard to grow for much longer alt lit news and creative blogs include alt lit gossip i am alt lit internet poetry htmlgiant beach sloth allthemacchs heartcloud frxtl cutty spot and alt lit press # # presses and books presses publishing alt lit writing include muumuu house civil coping mechanisms sorry house habitat boost house lazy fascist macro nap scrambler books publishing genius and plain wrap press two anthologies of alt lit writing are the yolo pages (2014 boost house) and 40 likely to die before 40: an introduction to alt lit (2014 civil coping mechanisms) more than 150 books e-books and zines of alt lit writing mostly self-published have been catalogued on the tumblr blog alt lit library. mellow pages library in bushwick brooklyn offers a wide selection of alt lit titles and hosts alt lit readings and book releases # # authors alt lit authors include jacob m. appel gabby bess megan boyle melissa broder ben brooks blake butler marie calloway richard chiem brendan connell cecilia corrigan heiko julien noah cicero claire donato horse ebooks elizabeth ellen aiden elliot joshua jennifer espinoza mira gonzalez jamie iredell tao lin scott mcclanahan spencer madsen guillaume morissette steve roggenbuck beach sloth tim sanders lauren oyler and patricia lockwood # related concepts and movements many writers and critics in and around the alt lit community have proposed different labels to be used in conjunction with or in place of "alt lit" # # new sincerity some critics have linked alt lit writers with new sincerity to the point of using the terms interchangeably. notable alt lit writers such as steve roggenbuck spencer madsen and tao lin have also been grouped under the label "new sincerity" but many alt lit writers reject the influence of david foster wallace and prominent mainstream exponents of a "new sincerity" such as jonathan franzen the new sincerity connection entails the use of an array of literary techniques intended to create the impression of "sincere" communication ranging from autobiography self-revision and a conversational tone to minimal punctuation and sans-serif fonts. this is of course a load of old cobblers millennial horrors: alt lit by harris cameron - https://spoonbridge.medium.com/millennial-horrors-alt-lit-4958ebe2d68d // republic of bob