Yesterday I was thinking about how knowledge was power, but with access to so much information these days we potentially all have the power today. Today I'm mulling over the question of how we can now all become writers. It's often asked whether or not the digital revolution is making us worse writers, or perhaps making too many people writers. This is answered here by Dennis Baron in an interview about his book "A Better Pencil".You don’t need an editor, you don’t need a publisher. All you need is a Wi-Fi and an Apple laptop and a place to sit at Starbucks and you’re a writer. And the funny thing is that you could put anything out there, and somebody is going to read it. Writers spend their whole lives looking for readers and now with the computer, readers are there. They’re just waiting for people to put stuff online. Does this dilute the quality? That’s a matter of opinion. Giving more people the authority to write – people are doing it and they seem to find things to say and they’re finding readers and that’s one criterion for successful writing: having an audience.
Photo Credit: Her Hands by Slaff
The instant audience is an interesting concept. What I love about it is the way that incredible writers that we wouldn't have heard before, now have a voice. That is amazing.
ReplyDeleteFor me having an audience had led me to post more. I'm more concerned about the quality of what I'm posting too. Clearly the same applies to our students - it can only lead to us all becoming better writers.
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