Is the Net Good for Writers?

To answer the question, it helps to define "good" and "writer." The net has helped reveal a broader distribution of talent (in any number of realms) than earlier distribution models made available. But that doesn't mean everyone writes as well as everyone else, or that writing is a single discipline as opposed to a means of expression with multiple forms and purposes. Factor in definitions of "good" that include "helpful in the feeding of one's family" and things get complicated.

From the article:

Erik Davis: "On and offline, I find the internet-driven pressure to make pieces short, data-dense, and crisply opinionated — as opposed to thoughtful, multi-perspectival, and lyrical — rather oppressive, leading to a certain kind of superficial smugness as well as general submission to the forces of reference over reflection."

Mark Dery: "Meanwhile, the sour smell of fear is in the air. Reporting — especially investigative reporting, the lifeblood of a truly adversarial press — is labor-intensive, money-sucking stuff, yet even The New York Times can't figure out how to charge for its content in the Age of Rip, Burn, and Remix. To be sure, newspapers are hemorrhaging readers to the Web, and fewer and fewer Americans care about current events and the world outside their own skulls. But the other part of the problem is that Generation Download thinks information wants to be free, everywhere and always, even if some ink-stained wretch wept tears of blood to create it."

Lots more at the link above.

Comments

[Jeffrey Sykes]

I've been thinking of ways to use the net to promote more of my own writing. Should I post fiction and poetry? Should I write three op-eds a week and post to my blog?

I think the net is great for writers. Maybe not journalists used to immunity from their audience.

Meanwhile, I disagree that "the sour smell of fear is in the air", given the quality of this multimedia reporting.

[Roch101]

"adversarial press"

I hadn't heard that term before. I like it. I puts a name on something I've been trying to describe as lacking locally.

[Billy The Blogging Poet]

Jeffrey,
Before you start posting fiction and poetry online please get in touch with me. Even if you choose not to use the various free services I offer I can still give you advice on how to avoid many of the pitfalls. Simply joining a "writer's site" starting another blog or using your current blog for creative writing can and does cause many writers problems in the long term. My MuseCrafters network has built in protections for some of these problems but I'd be happy to tell you how you can easily add these same protections to most any blog that allows you access to the template.

And those "writers sites"... They don't have a clue.

And if there are any other creative writers reading I'll gladly do the same for you. I've learned these lessons the hard way, lost publishing contracts and finally learned how to protect myself in the future.

To answer the question, "Is the web good for writers?" Yes, but there are pitfalls and you better know them before you go online with your heartfelt prose and poetry. Creative writing is a very different animal from journalism and punditry and should not be managed the same way.