Alisa Miller

The Role of the Writer In a Changing World



Posted: Thursday, July 30, 2009

by
http://alisa-miller.com

We live in a world of online newspapers, online magazines and even sites like searchwarp where an incredible amount of information is simply online . You can't help wondering whether this means that the old-fashioned way of writing and the old paper-based model of publishing is still valid.

Seeing how I am a published writer who makes her living through print and paper you'd think that right now I would be the last person to be addressing the question in a really impartial way but you'd be wrong. Like most of you reading this now I am a child of the digital age (and our individual age does not matter here) and the question is of interest to me because in our digital world we are still evolving as far as communication goes.

Purists think that anything apart from writing on paper is ephemeral but I am not so sure. In the modern world the writer has a place in terms of expressing views, eliciting reactions and reaching as wide an audience as possible. Whereas writing on paper tended to be a strict one-way street, the writer wrote and the reader read and the two, it was ordained, were not really destined to meet. We have come so far now. Web 2.0 has made the whole medium interactive. A reader who reads turns into a writer and comments. Writers read what their readers have written and their own writing is informed in ways which would have been unthinkable. Viewed in this light the writer, who once could have been counted upon to be a true originator of information, now becomes a medium, a crucible of sorts where information is amalgamated, transmutated and served so that the process can be repeated all over again.

This changes the role significantly. Writers have always been crucibles where information accumulates and changes form but now the process has accelerated and become far more inclusive of the intended readership than it has ever been. With it writers and writing have changed and are changing. Given the blogging phenomenon and the ability of article sites to allow a ready-made means of expressing opinion and sharing knowledge we are in the midst of an explosion of writing and reading which, in the end, will only help our culture evolve further.

Is reading really declining, as it has been stated by publishers and newspapers? My opinion is that we are reading more than ever before, just not necessarily reading on paper. We are also writing more than ever before. Both developments which are great for readers and writers alike. How far that role will evolve and where exactly it will take us we cannot yet know but, I suspect, we will find out.
Alisa Miller is a relationship counselor and relationship author. Her articles on relationships and how to have the perfect marriage have appeared in newspapers and magazines all over the world. She is the author of the Ultimate Guide to the Perfect Relationship which is being translated into three languages and has been read by thousands all over the world. It can be ordered through Amazon or any good bookshop and it is available as an eBook from most quality online eBook outlets. She has written a guide on How to Talk to a Girl you Like  which is available to buy from every online eBook retailer as well as her own website, which she runs herself and which contains hundreds of articles with useful tips and advice. She admits that she spends more time online than she should.
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)
» left by Anonymous
 2 years 170 days ago.
I am looking to start writing as a sideline and I often wondered whether I came into it too late. Thank you for writing this. It has at least made me think just how I should be involved in it.
» left by Anonymous 2 years 170 days ago.
Anon, It is never too late in life to do anything. Allowing time to slip by and do nothing is the real culprit. This young author is heading in the right direction, but by no means does one have to start out in any endeavor at a young age. From an old Nike commercial - just do it!
» left by Anonymous
 2 years 166 days ago.
Love the article, quite thoughtful actually and brings the debate about writing and the writer right into the 21st century.
» left by Julian Price
 2 years 149 days ago.
59 fans. Follow Julian Price on twitter!
This is a really interesting and thought provoking piece. I tend to agree with you, at least from the writer's perspective. As for reading, I am not so sure we are reading more than ever. Many "how to write articles for the internet" articles instruct the writer to concentrate on lists "top ten this and that" etc. Why? Apparently because today's readers dont actually read at all, they only scan...skip to the tiny little bit that interests them and ignore the rest(of what could be quality and important content). Of course this is part of freedom and freedom of choice but does it encourage reading? Not sure. As for the youth of today, kids at school who are allowed to do all their essays and assignments and even exams on a keyboard with spellchecking tools automatically correcting their errors. I am witnessing really bright kids with a zillion qualifications totally unable to spell without the aid of some kind of "auto correction". Give them a pen and paper and they are lost. I embrace the technology, after all, here I am but I was lucky enough to straddle eras, where pen and paper came first and technology later. Pen and ink will be the stuff of museums in due course and there will be special classes and courses eventually to teach kids and adults alike "the ancient skills of writing by hand!" So the reader scans and the writer has to learn that the reader only scans and to write accordingly. Of course this is a generalisation but its another angle to consider. Really enjoyed your article as the length of this comment demonstrates! Nice brain juice! Julian
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