Forum / Has blogging changed the art of [non-fiction] writing?

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    Marcus Speh
    Feb 26, 07:54pm

    Andrew Sullivan @bigthink: «Blogging destroys the future-oriented process of writing nonfiction and replaces it with a sense of constant presentness—everything you write is provisional because the facts, or your mind, could change.»

    What do you think?

    Source: http://bigthink.com/videos/how-blogging-has-changed-writing#

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    Ann Bogle
    Feb 26, 08:21pm

    Thanks for the topic.

    In blogging, when I edit, I note most changes in brackets, and I leave other documentary notes at the page. I think it is possible to contextualize the recent past in reading, if one remains mindful of time operations.

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    Gloria Garfunkel
    Feb 28, 08:07pm

    Blogging makes non-fiction writing more accessible and democratic. Anyone with anything to say can say it and that opens opportunities for a lot more creativity. I think it's great, even the crap.

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    Darryl Price
    Mar 01, 05:29pm

    Blogging is already a fact. You can't make it a target like it isn't. People don't like change. They challenge it as if there is some other better older world more beautiful that is in danger of disappearing forever from the path of anything new. You can't preserve anything in slush. Only dancing frees the moment to change and challenge what is. Why must we always demonize anything different? It's pathetic.

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    James Lloyd Davis
    Mar 01, 06:00pm

    Blogging's not going to change much. Many people blog as a way of gaining entry into larger venues. Some do it to advertise themselves, some to express an opinion.

    Unfortunately, for most, it's a whisper in the wind. Those who succeed in reaching ever-increasing audiences can and do move on.

    There's nothing revolutionary in its circumstance and it has limitations for anyone unable to express themselves in the dynamic structures available. These structures come only from internet savvy. Anymore, bloggers need multiple venues, incessant updating and daily maintenance of peripheral venues, such as Facebook and Twitter. Those who are knowledgable and motivated enough to use them and still write creatively are a rare breed.

    And vice-versa...

    Technology excites for a while, but it will be some time before libraries toss out their book and periodical collections in favor of electronic content.

    The one area where blogging is making an impact is in journalism and there, again, bloggers are striving for a large audience to parley their blog into syndication.

    The greatest change in all of this is the diminishment of compensation for non-fiction writers and journalists. In the race for acquiring an audience, the competition is fierce and the content is generally free.

    Times are chasnging, yes, but it will be some time before the media settles into productive territory. In the meantime, non-fiction writers would do well to concentrate on producing books and leave the blogs for a marketing tool.

    Just my guess...

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    Charlotte Hamrick
    Mar 02, 05:23am

    I can only speak to my own experiences with blogging. I started in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina as a way to express my frustration and dismay with the situation in which I was living. New Orleans, at that time, had a community of bloggers that came together to tell the real story of what was happening in our city and it worked very well. Although individual blogging seems to have dwindled as, I believe, a result of the rise of social media such as Twitter and FaceBook, there are still bloggers bringing local issues to the forefront that MSM either ignores or feels aren't worthy of their time. I know for certain that social issues and ills have been brought to public scrutiny in my city due to local bloggers.
    As for individual writers looking for an audience (poetry, fiction, non-fiction), I found mine via blogging. But, again, blogging alone won't grow your brand - you have to get out there in Twitterland, FaceBook, G+ and other social media and be willing to work it. Just because one writes on a blog doesn't mean one writes everything that comes into your head immediately. All of my work is written in journals or on Google Drive and pondered before I publish on my blog. I agree with Gloria in that blogging and the internet in general have leveled the playing field for writers and provided an audience they might never have had due to the literary establishment's strangle hold on publishing. Power to the people.

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