Writing Fiction On Tinder

Are you looking for the most prolific writers of modern fiction to be found in one place? Then it's Tinder you're looking for.

Sure they call it an online dating app, but the prose is pure fiction. Some may be non-fiction, of course. There's no librarian on site to sort through the offerings and put things on the proper shelf.

Are you sure this is Amy, 20?

Let's say you see a picture of an attractive blond female and you think that she is the sort of person you'd like to date. You follow the instructions and swipe left to arrange a date. You expect the person in the photo to show up, but if you swiped left on Amy, 20, she wouldn't be the one answering your response.

That's because this one is a work of fiction by some unknown catfisher.

The woman in the picture above is not Amy but Emma Nolan, and she didn't set up an account on Tinder. She didn't even know her pictures were out there, lifted from her Facebook page that she thought was set to 'private'. Someone made up this Amy character, just like any author would invent a character. There isn't much in the biography section, so clearly this author does not have a lot of words at his or her command. Maybe they were sidetracked by the NaNoWriMo business and went off to work on a full length novel instead of a short paragraph.

Ms. Nolan has no idea who set this thing up. How is she to have it taken down? Someone is going to fall for the trap, whatever it might be, and we all hope that some besotted male of the species doesn't get mugged when he thinks he's going to meet the girl of his dreams. Because it is just a fabrication that Ms. Nolan would like to see gone.

She can't expect much help from Tinder's CEO. Sean Rad is in a bit of trouble himself over a sexual harassment lawsuit involving two Tinder marketing executives. He's stepping down from his post as soon as a new CEO can be found. Maybe one with more maturity than the 27-year-old whose industry is filled with page after page of fiction.

In the meantime, a friend of Ms. Nolan's has swiped left in the hope of outing the miscreant who posted the faux Tinder offer.

It's caveat emptor in the Tinder world, and caveat anyone who has any pictures posted anywhere. Which would be just about everyone in the digitally connected universe.