How do you turn a Twitter account into a book? Today, we’re looking at two writers who’ve done exactly that. The first is Justin Halpern who writes S** My Dad Says. Two years ago, he moved back in with his cantankerous father, a retired doctor and Vietnam veteran. Halpern started posting his dad’s most outrageous statements on Twitter. They’re hilarious, though largely scatological. Here are three of the cleaner tweets:

“Pressure? Get married when you want. Your wedding’s just one more day in my life I can’t wear sweat pants.”

“You look just like Stephen Hawking…Relax, I meant like a non-paralyzed version of him. Feel better?… Fine. Forget I said it.”

“I need to change clothes? Wow. That’s big talk coming from someone who looks like they robbed a Mervyn’s.”

Apparently, Halpern’s dad never uses the Internet. But his thoughts are natural tweets, they’re concise, punchy and funny, perfect for bouncing around Twitter’s echo chamber. By 2009, Halpern had 1.5 million followers and he leveraged his Twitter success into a book deal and a TV show. The laugh-out-loud quality of his tweets translated well into print and the book reached the top of the New York Times’ Bestseller.

On the relevance of Twitter, Halpern says “the vehicle was unbelievably vital to the success of this.” It’s true. Halpern made his career from repeating what his dad says, and Twitter was the perfect avenue. He’s not a particularly interesting writer himself – just look at his rather tasteless blog, with articles like “The time I farted on Jennifer Love Hewitt.”

Another wildly popular Tweeter turned author is Babe Walker, instigator of White Girl Problems. She does satirical tweets like these:

“No matter what I do, I will never be as strong or thin as Gwyneth.”

“I have a dream that one day we will be judged not by the color of our Birkins, but by the character of their contents.”

“I keep forgetting to tell my therapist about my eating disorder.”

The tag #whitegirlproblems is always popular on Twitter and it’s entered young people’s lexicon as well. It’s a funny but effective response when a friend complains about finding a taxi or a new pair of shoes. White Girl Problems also satirizes the superficiality celebrated in TV and magazines with many commentators drawing links between Babe Walker and Carrie Bradshaw, or Cher in Clueless. It works, she’s got half a million followers and her book comes out in January. You can read the first chapter here, and it’s actually quite good.

Twitter success comes to strong personalities. Babe Walker and Justin Halpern did well because they translated the established types of the superficial girl and the grumpy old man into 140 character blasts. It remains to be seen if anyone can develop a new character through the medium. And if you must have a Twitter memoir, brief the Exchange.