By Valorie Stokes
What is it like to write in the here and now? What is the writing ‘zeitgeist’? Well, in order to talk about that for the next few minutes, we first need to think about some adjectives that describe either the writer, their communications or the environment in which that “writing” is occurring (and I use the word “writing” here somewhat loosely because, as we’ll get to in a few minutes, the forms that writing is taking now aren’t necessarily all in the traditional vein).
Here are a few adjectives and some representative associations I came up with while I was thinking about writing now:
Instantaneous: (Wireless Fidelity [WiFi], IMing, Blogs, and RSS Feeds)
Immersive: (No doubt you have experienced or witnessed someone become wholly/thoroughly engaged or deeply absorbed or engrossed in some mode of communication lately; why else would such things as Massive Multi Player Online Roleplaying Games or virtual 3-D online societies such as Second Life be so popular? We have even taken to “embedding” our journalists in Iraq and Afghanistan-hoping to avoid the “parachuting in” syndrome in those instances (but likely missing the mark there all in all).
Peripatetic: (Hypertext in general and Hyperfiction in particular allow for that roaming about and moving around in a non-linear, non-sequential fashion either as a writer or a reader, but still (usually) learning something along the way.
Reflective: (Digital Storytelling/Composing and Blogging)
Reactive: (E-mailing, Text Messaging, Blogging, Social Networking)
Destructive: (Social Networking and Blogging)
Paradoxical: (I know you did not fail to notice that blogging, for example, exemplified several of the adjectives-as could some of the other items noted-but it is probably the classic example of just how paradoxical the nature of writing seems to have become in the here and now).
(Audience Participation Prompt #1: Before we move on, it’s your turn: Quick, brainstorm some adjectives you would use to describe writing now)
While one could argue that writing has always had that paradoxical nature-as simultaneously a force for evil and a force for good-some of the changes that have been taking place over the past few years-in forms, in means, even sometimes in audience composition and in writing’s stylistic elements, have served to emphasize that paradoxical nature.
Changes in forms (the products of the writing, if you will) and the means by which we do the writing have been perhaps the easiest to observe:
They’ve changed in delivery; think of this continuum to get a quick idea of what I mean: FAXes, e-mails, webpages, instant messages, blogs, digital stories, podcasts, and wikis. The speed of publication, the language used to write in some of these forms and the content of some of these forms itself is decidedly different from traditional written forms. For example, not so many years ago, the average Joe or Jane could not easily post or upload their thoughts, ideas or whole papers anywhere with the immediacy and ease they do in digital forms now (unless you count slapping them on a campus bulletin board or leaving behind some bathroom graffiti) and get immediate commentary back on them from a circle of their peers, let alone an audience of strangers, mere acquaintances or someone half the world away.
Moreover, in this age of omnipresent cell phone and personal computer use even such an innocuous activity as passing notes to friends has morphed into practically indecipherable text messages-at least for those not in the know-on screens both large and small. In addition, some of the forms are more collaborative and interactive in nature such as podcasting or digital composing which, in turn, requires writers in those realms to adeptly navigate those inherent qualities and exploit them as much as possible to help effectively communicate their ideas.
Which brings me to the aspect of audience; at least some of these forms force the writer to think of audience in a less traditional way. The concept and composition of audiences for some of these venues of writing has sometimes changed exponentially and unexpectedly from one person (like a teacher) or small group (like a class or a group of friends or relatives) to literally hundreds of possible readers/listeners/viewers/critics/responders ala Tom Friedman’s flattened world. And while one could make the argument that novelists and newspaper or broadcast journalists have always had that same potential for global audiences, those are professionals who got into publishing and journalism for the express purpose of reaching a broader audience. The qualities that separate professional writers’ global audiences from say an articulate adolescent blogger’s are the immediacy, spontaneity and sometimes downright virulence with which those audiences have the capacity to respond to what that young blogger writes. In other words, potential audiences seem to be ubiquitous and quite powerful (and that can be both a blessing and a curse) Just ask Barack, Hillary or Joe Biden.
All the while there has been (and probably always will be) that struggle between substance and style, but it has become more “hydra-sized” in that when those of us who come down firmly on the side of substance feel like we have thoroughly addressed a shallow and/or manipulative style temptation from the palette of those that are readily available, one or two new options pop up to take its place.
(Audience Participation Prompt #2: Your turn again, take a quick minute or two to write about a composing incident from your life in the past year. What were you writing? To whom? What means did you use to write it? What form did the product take?)
All of this leads then to the third point I’d like to address: Why has what it is like to write now changed quite significantly, at least in some ways, over the past few years? Well, as is abundantly obvious from the territory I have already covered, changes in technology have had an awful lot to do with it: the various Web 2.0 tools, the proliferation of mp3 players and cell phones and the amazing storage capacity of computer hard drives, zip drives and flash drives allow for creativity, portability and communications that just weren’t possible a few short years ago. But popular culture influences--think savvy satirical TV shows such as Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and The Colbert Report; social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, LiveJournal and orkut; the explosion in the popularity of anime and manga and the spectrum of reality TV offerings-all seep into our collective subconscious enough, too, so that a book like Max Barry’s Jennifer Government populated with characters who have their employer’s brand names as their own surnames or a Cartoon Network promotion that simultaneously goes comedically and terroristically awry in Boston reflect just how much we have absorbed and accepted an ironic sensibility and a blurring of the lines between the real and the virtual or the fantastical worlds in many of our communicative forms. Meanwhile, shifts in media usage and consumption that reflect the coming of age of you, the “digital natives,” and the emergence and power of open source, participatory journalism all factor into why what it is like to write now amounts to a pretty dizzying and different scene than even a decade ago.
(Audience Participation Prompt #3: Once more now it’s your turn. Quick, write about how, if any, of these changes or influences has affected you as a writer. Have you tried to write or communicate using any technological innovations of the past few years? Is there anything in the popular culture that influences or creeps into your writing/communicating? Do you have certain preferences or inclinations in regard to how you compose your thoughts and ideas? Why?)
About now, as we’re moving into the homestretch of these remarks, you may be thinking: Isn’t there anything about writing that’s the same as it has always been? Happily and confidently I can respond, you bet!
Good writing still has to consider and connect with its audience (no matter how large or small that audience might be)
Good writing still has to communicate its message clearly and effectively (one of my journalism professors passed along this piece of advice to me when I was an undergraduate at MU and I have found it holds true just as much today as it did twenty years ago: write to express instead of impress and you will meet with much more success)
Good writing still has a clear, discernible voice (even though that voice probably has to work overtime to reach above the din of voices vying to be heard in both the real and virtual worlds now) and…
Good writers still need exemplary, quality models to inspire and guide them in developing a stylistic identity of their own because I haven’t yet met a writer whose style, like Athena’s birth via Zeus’s head, flowed from their pen or keyboard already fully and entirely formed.
(Audience Participation Prompt #4: Quick, it’s your turn once again, who or what are some sources of inspiration or quality models of writing that help guide your writing? How do they do that for you?)
And finally, in this address I have given you just some of the big picture factors and forces that shape the current writing scene. I hope, at the very least, you understand a little better why writing nowadays can have such a paradoxical nature, can quite easily and speedily spawn both the reflective and the reactive, the constructive and the destructive, the superficial and the substantive. Now it is your turn to give us one more window on your own writing world if you so choose.
Audience Participation Prompt #4: You tell us:
What’s it like for you to write now in the classroom? Beyond the classroom?
In an ideal world, what would you prefer it be like for you to write now in the classroom? Beyond the classroom?
Each High School Writing Day has a unique theme, which ties into an opening session, led by a National Writing Project teacher consultant. From there, the students attend two writing workshops of their choice. At least ten workshops are offered that appeal to a variety of writers, dealing with issues like poetry, horror writing, journalism, and narratives. At lunch time, the high school students are rewarded for their efforts with door-prizes donated by Missouri Western organizations and area businesses. The day closes with a open mic reading, where students have a chance to share their newly created works with their teachers and peers. The event provides an educational and fun experience for students, teachers, and pre-service teachers.
