Thanks to Michele Emrath for guest blogging for me today! Michele is a writer, freelance news producer, wife, and mother and hails from my home state of North Carolina. Her blog is http://southerncitymysteries.blogspot.com/.
The Internet.
Fact books.
The telephone.
E-books.
These are sources we cannot imagine living without. But they haven’t always been around, and people have been writing magnificent manuscripts for thousands of years.
Every generation thinks they are the first to discover something great. Did the Beat poets discover poetry? Did Casanova discover love? Did the Woodstock generation discover sex? Did Al Gore discover the Internet?
The truth is: writing came long before us and research predates our very modern ways. Stories predate the written word. So what would it be like to write a book without the benefit of electronic resources?
If I am stuck on a word, I speedily key in thesaurus.com and have a synonym within seconds.
If I need to know what type of weapons SWAT officers use in a meth house takedown situation, I peel open my well-worn copy of 
Police Procedure & Investigation by Lee Lofland. If I need to parse out some architecture facts I grab my ever-handy cell phone and call my father, Michael Hindman.
And the technology keeps coming. I mentioned e-books at the top of this blog. Personally, I like the smell of the glue and the feel of the pages. I like the color and myriad fonts of spines lining my bookshelves. But I see the future and it has the name Kindle. Downloading books at the speed of web-surfing! Forgoing the long trip to B&N or the local Indie and having a new read minutes after finishing the old one. (Or is this, too, naive? Will it be seconds?) Saving trees and money while doing it. And upping the amount of research books we can afford.
But is it all necessary?
At a recent writers conference I met an author who says she has never been to a single location about which she writes. She uses the Internet and various contacts gained through the Internet to gather her facts. This wouldn’t work for me: I am an emotions-based person. I have to feel it to write it. I have to experience the place to describe it to my readers. Besides, why would I write about Paris and not get the benefit of travelling there?
Furthermore, I think a lot is lost in the use of electronic media. I am an electronic media journalist by trade. I am very aware of its benefits, but I see books as emotional and as art. They should be as much labors of the heart for the writer as for the reader, and that cannot be done through a machine.
Several years ago my sister gave me a beautiful coffee table book, New York Interiors. It is filled with magnetic portraits of just that: modern lofts juxtaposed beside Louis XIV palace apartments (a la Trump). On page 108 begins a portrait essay on David McDermott and Peter McGough. The artists share a Brooklyn home and a lifestyle that they have chosen to set back about one hundred years. They walk everywhere they can, or, on rare occasion, drive their Model-T Ford. In their art they use original cameras and costumes. And in their home (a former bank built in 1896), they reject modern amenities like television and CD players.
Agatha Christie. Daphne du Maurier. Fyodor Dostoevsky. Giovanni Boccaccio. Homer.
They all did it. Can we?
Postscript: I referenced thesaurus.com five times while writing this post.
Michele Emrath
SouthernCityMysteries
www.MicheleEmrath.com
Oh, Michele, this is a tough one, as I sit here skipping around past midnight. I’ve had a day where I’ve been skating across the surface of things, doing email housekeeping, and the Internet is good for that—but, no, as a writer it doesn’t leave me satisfied.
Yes, we can write without electronic media, but I’m not sure we’ll be able to get our work distributed without it.
Research is so much easier online—at least superficial research—but from a deep reporting angle, googling is definitely not enough. Last weekend, Peggy Orenstein had a great essay about this in the NY Times Magazine. She says she’s signing up for the “Freedom” program to restrict her use of the Internet for portions of the day:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/magazine/25FOB-WWLN-t.html?_r=1
For a *portion* of each day, I could do it—and I’m thinking about it…
It’s all about change, isn’t it? I haven’t seen a Kindle yet (they’re not in Canada), but I’m with you. I couldn’t posssibly give up books. Although if I needed to travel by bus/subway/train… I’d love it for that part of my day.
Michele – You offer a lot of “food for thought” here. Like you, I belive the best books do have that deep emotional connection that comes in part from the writer’s experience. Internet research is no substitute for that. And yet, I depend heavily on electronic media as I write. I check my facts, get ideas, connect with other writers and express myself through today’s technology. I think that if writers stay true to the passion that drives us to write, then today’s technology can be a good servant. Just not a very good master.
Thanks, Michele, for this post. It intrigues me to think of life without our current techno-comforts. I lugged a portable typewriter up to the press boxes at ballgames back in the day. And I still write out my first three chapters by hand for my books. Yet, it would take some willpower to wean me away from the convenience of computers.
Yes, I remember you from the chilly rooms of Killer Nashville. Good to see you here.
There’s got to be some sort of subliminal communication out there in blog post composition land. My blog is all about research today, and parallels this post. I certainly prefer having things at my fingertips compared with my school days of having to go to reference books to find out anything.
But maybe it has gone a bit too far. Hubby is in the science field, and he’ll get emails from people saying, “I’m doing a paper. Send me everything you have about [topic will vary]. His reply, especially to school kids (or worse, their MOTHERS!) is, “Tell me what research you’ve already done so I don’t duplicate your efforts.”
Great info on {the topic of the blog}. It will guide many of the readers.
essay papers
No it’s not necessary for good writing, as evidenced by the massive volume of great classics that preceded all the current technology. But now that it’s here, it is practically indespensable. Good post and article – makes you sit up and appreciate all the tools at our disposal these days as writers.
Marvin D Wilson
If I had tried writing a manuscript before the age of computers maybe I’d be able to say I don’t need modern technology to succeed, but I honestly cannot imagine writing without using my computer.
Martha- you made my day beginning with “this is a tough one.” Thank you for the article link. It is on point and full of great imagry. I wish there was an app for my PC! My problem with the internet is, as Orenstein puts it, to “reflexively indulge every passing interest.”
Rebecca- I hope so!
Marvin- You make a good point about the article: the right conclusion isn’t necessarily that we need to get away from technology, but maybe that we need to appreciate what we have, and weed through some of what we don’t need. Sounds like what I tell my children every day!
Jane- I think it would be an interesting experiement. Personally, I find it exhilarating to write with good ol’ pen and ink every once and a while! While checking my spelling of exhilerating, I realized I hadn’t seen my aged, pocket Websters in a while. I bet the memories alone are worth keeping that beside my computer.
Jemi- Selfishly, Jemi, I hadn’t thought of subway commuters and the like. The Kindle is perfect for that lifestyle! I’m with you: I will never give up my books! (Let’s revisit this in 10 years…)
Crystal Clear- I agree with you on electronic editing. I, too, work in the editing business (in TV news). We just switched to a new technology that allows us to see the video, edit graphics, produce show lineups, and see news feeds all on one program. I LOVE this, but it is a lot of change fast for many people.
Elizabeth- Thanks for the opportunity. I remember typing on my father’s secretary’s typewriter and thinking it was the ultimate in technology. And when my parents got a home computer! That was amazing! Now laptops are included in grade school tuition…
Diane- Good for you for doing the leg work to on the research.
Margot- I think we have a lot in common, a lot about which to agree. Thanks for commenting.
Glen- I can soooo imagine you doing that! And I’d imagine the handwork allows you to connect with the book in a certain way.
Terry- read your post and I agree: it’s important to base your locations in fact (unless you’re creating a location, in which case you can ignore this statement). Electronic media is essential, but can also be a hindrance for learning. Your husband’s students obviously want others to do their work for them. Is this indicative of youth culture today, or of the result of the Internet on society? Or is it the same thing? Thanks, Terry.
Whew! That took me a while…And a lot of online research!
Michele
SouthernCityMysteries
When I was a kid-writer (meaning as a kid, I handwrote stories in my scribblers and self-identified as a writer) I snubbed my nose at the mere idea of a thesaurus. If I couldn’t come up with the word myself, I didn’t want it.
…now…?
Thesaurus.com, here I come!
In many ways it saddens me this “too-fast-to-keep-up-with” booming age of technology.
In my profession I much prefer electronic editing versus hard copy proofreading. However, I still want to hold a book in my hands to read it, and like you, see “the color and myriad fonts of spines lining my library.”
There are, without a doubt, many advantages to the advance of technology. Being able to reach and connect with so many people via the internet. How did we manage before? Things sure were different…
Some things I’ll miss, some I do already.
If only the pace would slow down a little to give us time to acclimate. I just learn how to navigate around a site, or figure out how to use my cell phone, and along comes new and supposedly better technology. Is it better?
Good post. Kind of like that double-edged sword. I guess when all is said and done, the good outweighs the “bad.”
Ha! Julia, I know what you mean! Do you remember how we loved to see our own handwriting? I didn’t include the subject in this post, but the ability to write – I mean physically WRITE – has gone down tremendously this century. I know I couldn’t write cursive if you held a gun to my head. Well, maybe if you did that. (Kitsch novel plot, anyone?)
Michele
Michele–Great post! And thanks for stepping in for me today.
I grew up in the typewriter age…and suffered! I was a writer even when I was a kid and so I was in English classes where I was expected to write a lot–that meant type a lot. With correction tape and carbon copies…ugh.
Editors have told me that the word processing revolution has led to the slush pile. That the pile of slush was never so huge as it is now…it took too long to type out a manuscript.
Great points and sure to engender some interesting discussion!
Technology does help with research and writing. However, I have visited most of the places of which I write and I hand write all of my novels before typing them into the computer. (I’m a slow typer, and it inhibits my creativity.)
I don’t like writing by hand; mainly because my handwriting becomes practically illegible as I try to keep up with my brain. Hurrah for computers and their word processing programs!
The internet is wonderful; I can access information from the British Library and look at views of the village near to where I’ve located my fictional house. There is also, of course, the marvelous online groups of writers.
Of course, in-person experiences are superior. But for people like me, who write stories taking place in another country (and in the past) the internet is almost essential.
Elspeth
Elspeth,
You point out the very obvious irony to writing this article on, perhaps, the most pure form of electronic media. I benefit everyday from the internet and I am so grateful to the dieas spread through various blogs, Elspeth’s and Elizabeth’s being two of them.
Michele
SouthernCityMysteries
I would love to be able to travel to the places I write about, but unfortunately that’s just not a reality all the time. The Internet comes in pretty handy! I do love writing stories out by hand, but typing is the only way I can keep up with my brain. Great post!
great blog! The know-it-all in me loves to have answers on demand, so I couldn’t live without wikipedia, google, espn.com and of course…imdb!
However, my perspective on this issue is much more as a reader than as a writer, and reading a novel is an experience! It’s not just collecting info to fill my brain, but rather an immersion into another world. And, the touch of the page is too intertwined into that experience for it to be replaced by a screen.
Having said that if it takes a Kindle to make reading “cool” and more widely embraced, I’ll take it. Just don’t stop the presses.
The Internet has made “writerly” tasks very efficient. Now I can procrastinate so much easier!
Nice post, Michele.
I remember how excited I was to get my first computer. Now I spend way too much time on the internet. It makes life easier as far as research goes, but it also makes life harder since it is such an easy way to find mindless things to do instead of the important stuff.
I used to write college papers by hand and meticulously transcribe the drafts until the final was complete and legible. Then I went to typewriters and white out. It was faster, better looking, but I felt less inclined to edit. I wrote my first manuscript on typewriter, all 450 pages, so I can honestly say I LOVE my word processor and never want to go back. It allows be to edit to my heart’s content. I also use Google Maps, youtube etc for research (I was able to find vids of Nevada silver mines, and exploding molotov cocktails to help with writing my last book) and, while I could live without the internet, I don’t want to. I still keep up my handwriting in the form of scribbled notes in the dark at 3 am, and I like to handwrite a personal letter in my Xmas cards. I think if technology makes the job easier, use it. When you want to slow down and enjoy (and if you have the time) then do it the old fashioned way, but don’t make it harder on yourself if you don’t have to.
Sometimes I think there’s too much. But I know I couldn’t live like the two NY architects. I’d rather deal with the abundance of media.
I love technology. Wouldn’t live without it. Can’t see why others would want to. I have a Kindle, but I still hang out at the bookstore, a lot. I buy most books electronically, but others cry out to come home with me and fill up shelves and sit on tables. My computer is my BFF.