On the importance of Life
First, an apology to those of you who read my blog regularly. What can I say other than life got in the way. Also, I had a nasty cold, which everyone in the house also got and my wife and I had children to take care of.
That being said, the vacation is over and the writing will now resume.
I've read a lot of books recently that trend towards the "new adult" genre lines. Books that explore the emotional upheaval of going off to college or starting your career and being on your own for the first time in your life.
There is value in these kinds of stories, to be sure. It's a turbulent time and a rite of passage that all of us go through. That final push from someone's child to becoming your own person.
Many of the authors that I've been reading are "new adults" themselves. Most of them are indie authors, and I've discovered something: most of them don't understand real life very well.
A good amount of these books were written with one foot planted firmly in the internet. Short, staccato sentences aimed at instant gratification. Cliched situations, easy resolutions. Not much in the way of how actual people would react in real situations.
It's easy to understand why: the next generation is losing their ability to understand humanity.
I suppose that's a bold statement, and I don't have any hard and fast evidence to point to, but it is what I believe.
We talk about it enough in our society: being on the computer all the time, being addicted to our phones, the lack of personal contact.
These things are breeding a generation of writers that don't understand simple human interaction. That is a frightening thing.
At its core, writing is merely telling a story with words, but it's also about expression your slant on the world around you and the people in it. When we sit down at the computer to type our story we have something to say. Sure, there are books that's main motivation is to entertain, but even they have something to say about the world.
The problem is in order to write convincingly about the world and about people you have to experience those things. Young writers are not getting enough experience with having an actual conversation.
My suggestion is that those of you who are aspiring to be writers leave your phone at home for a day. Go out into the world and have a conversation with someone you meet. Unplug just for a little while. Discover people around you. Think of it as research if you have to.
We can only find the humanity in ourselves when we open up to the humanity in those around us.
The big, bad technology that will destroy us is already here. It's google, it's Facebook, it's the internet. But it won't end humanity because it becomes self aware and we can't control it. It will destroy us because we can't control ourselves.
That being said, the vacation is over and the writing will now resume.
I've read a lot of books recently that trend towards the "new adult" genre lines. Books that explore the emotional upheaval of going off to college or starting your career and being on your own for the first time in your life.
There is value in these kinds of stories, to be sure. It's a turbulent time and a rite of passage that all of us go through. That final push from someone's child to becoming your own person.
Many of the authors that I've been reading are "new adults" themselves. Most of them are indie authors, and I've discovered something: most of them don't understand real life very well.
A good amount of these books were written with one foot planted firmly in the internet. Short, staccato sentences aimed at instant gratification. Cliched situations, easy resolutions. Not much in the way of how actual people would react in real situations.
It's easy to understand why: the next generation is losing their ability to understand humanity.
I suppose that's a bold statement, and I don't have any hard and fast evidence to point to, but it is what I believe.
We talk about it enough in our society: being on the computer all the time, being addicted to our phones, the lack of personal contact.
These things are breeding a generation of writers that don't understand simple human interaction. That is a frightening thing.
At its core, writing is merely telling a story with words, but it's also about expression your slant on the world around you and the people in it. When we sit down at the computer to type our story we have something to say. Sure, there are books that's main motivation is to entertain, but even they have something to say about the world.
The problem is in order to write convincingly about the world and about people you have to experience those things. Young writers are not getting enough experience with having an actual conversation.
My suggestion is that those of you who are aspiring to be writers leave your phone at home for a day. Go out into the world and have a conversation with someone you meet. Unplug just for a little while. Discover people around you. Think of it as research if you have to.
We can only find the humanity in ourselves when we open up to the humanity in those around us.
The big, bad technology that will destroy us is already here. It's google, it's Facebook, it's the internet. But it won't end humanity because it becomes self aware and we can't control it. It will destroy us because we can't control ourselves.
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