Nearly every aspect of the world of writing has been affected by the popularity and accessibility of the internet and technology. From the plot of current fiction to the diction and writing styles of different authors, the content of everything from published books to blogs and articles has adapted to the internet. This is true for any time period: diction and voice will adapt to the conversation of the times, plots will develop to include the newest technologies and science, etc. However, because the 21st century is so fast paced, we see new technologies introduced daily and colloquial speech adapt at the drop of a hat. The whirling chaos of the internet has created another facet of daily life that authors and journalists and writers in general can’t ignore and have to take into consideration.
For those of us who grew up reading fantasy series or classic novels, the absence of current technology was never very noticeable. We were so bought into the lure of the time or the enchantment of the made-up setting that the fact that no one had a computer or phone or even knowledge of one didn’t even cross our minds. This omission of modern technology is something that we won’t see in today’s general fiction because it is something so intertwined in everyone’s everyday lives. What makes this so different now than it might have been even fifteen years ago is the total saturation that now exists of everything related to technology. The majority of the population has daily access to the internet whether through a computer or a smart phone.
A great example of how this affects the world of writing was explained by Rainbow Rowell in The New York Times article asking authors how the internet has changed writing. She explains that “there’s nothing worse for plots than cell phones” (p. 2) and talks about how it is less likely for characters to get lost or to suffer from communication failure with the prevalence of cell phones in society today. This is just a tiny aspect of how technologies and the internet has affected writing, specifically in fiction works taking place in the modern era, but the truth of the times we live in is that it is difficult to rely on the same plot devices, lingo, etc. that we are used to reading. The world of writing is ever changing and now more than ever it is a challenge to catch up to the norm of today’s technology and creatively and effectively use it to our advantage while crafting an engaging story. We are the pioneers of a new world of fiction.
Sources
Rowell, Rainbow. "Writing Bytes." The New York Times. The New York Times, 02 Nov. 2013. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.