As mentioned, I’m giving a talk next Tuesday at the Central Branch of the Minneapolis Public Library as part of their People’s University series.
As mentioned in that aforementioned mention, I am turning to you for help in writing that talk.
One of the threads is about how every writer/artist has to decide their relationship to technology.
Do you live in the cabin in the woods and pretend computers don’t exist?
Or do you embrace blogging, social networking, etc., but only for marketing purposes?
Or do you completely open yourself up to technology, allowing it to inform your work (i.e. by “crowdsourcing” research) and perhaps the very way that you think?
On a related note, does the form/medium/genre/etc. force this choice? (I’m thinking of science fiction, which seems to require a certain amount of transparency in dealing with fans.) Or is a matter of the writer/artist’s own temperament?
Any thoughts/examples/citations/links/references/opinions would be helpful. Also, if the comments section makes you feel shy, you can always e-mail me directly at dennis DOT cass AT gmail DOT com.
Thanks and take care,
Dennis
As is often the case, I’m not sure of this is really what you’re after, but here’s my two cents:
My relationship with technology pertains more to my life than it does specifically to my art- now. I started blogging and twittering and facebooking (ech!) because you’re supposed to create an “internet presence” if you’re a writer, but now I pretty much just use it to scew-off with other writer types. I do learn things from them, but it’s definitely fun, not purpose driven work.
ok– sorry, but I have to add that yes– I do use the internet for research etc. I guess it’s so intertwined with my life I don’t view it as a specific work tool.
I think it’s a fine balance between “informing” your work and keeping you from it.
That said, I can’t live without the internet. Writing is a lonely job and I sometimes need someone to talk to!
No sources this early in the am, but I might come back to it later.
Quick thought on genre informing relationship to technology:
The current group of heavy-hitters in literary fiction generally includes Toni Morrison, Cormac McCarthy, Philip Roth, Thomas Pynchon, Salman Rushdie and Don DeLillo… (I’m sure I’m forgetting some.) None of these writers has any sort of online presence, or even an official site. Most would fit the “cabin in the woods” model.
In genre fiction, the big names (Stephen King, JK Rowling, Orson Scott Card, Stephenie Meyer, James Patterson, Neil Gaiman) all have a significant online presence. All have official sites, many with large communities of fans.
Not sure yet what this means exactly, but I don’t think it is a coincidence.
as promised, a link. Cory Doctorow discusses this in the latest Locus:
http://www.locusmag.com/Features/2009/01/cory-doctorow-writing-in-age-of.html
As a person and a writer, I’m a big fan of technology. A lot of people talk/blog about how the internet kills attention spans, saps mental energy, is a distraction from your art, etc. But I find that my daily dose of blog-reading makes me feel MORE energized and creative. I’ve had days where I didn’t feel like writing … until I took a few minutes to read what other people had to say about craft, books, and the industry. For me, being a writer and being part of the community go hand in hand. Each endeavor feeds the other.
@Lars: I wonder if the next generation of literary fiction writers will make the same choices. Personally I find it sad when a favorite author like Don DeLillo isn’t online. The more people who read WHITE NOISE the better.
There is definitely a generational divide. I’m not sure the next wave of literary fiction canon-members will be able to avoid technology as successfully. Franzen seems to be off the grid, but others (Chabon, for example) are not.
I forgot Updike, btw… also no Web presence, and a healthy hatred of interviews/media.
Is the question less about technology and more about visibility… with the technologies in question simply being the simplest, easiest and newest ways to gain or sustain visibility?
I think it’s partly generational, but one of the most eye-opening things about teaching writing at the college level is that some of them really don’t get technology.
Worse for them: everyone expects them to love it/be good at it.
So I think it’s partially generational, but nature/temperament also has something to do with it.