hi, new member here!

id like to ask other writers about how the internet has improved writing? obviously there are many resources out there now, how has this helped to improve the writing process?

ive created a poll which you can view at:

http://www.misterpoll.com/3572773430.html

cheers

I would argue that the internet has been bad for writing. It has become easier to steal other people's work, and email has brought upon millions of people too lazy to type the word "You."

thanks for your comment, interesting what you say about it being easier to steal other peoples work. do you think the net could be used to do the opposite ie. promote 'better' writing? if so, how?

If you don't mind me asking what exactly is this for? Personal enlightenment or class assignment?

I suppose that forums such as this one where the people are very intelligent and don't mind typing "Big" words can increase one's vocabulary. And maybe the increased amount of typing can increase the knowledge of the English language.

In general, however, it is generally downgrading the way that many people write.

Speaking as someone who evaluates others' writing for a living, I can say that 'Net plagiarism is common and, sadly, easy to spot. I've had to fail 3 students in the last two semesters for blatant theft of ideas and/or outright plagiarism from the web.

I think the informal style that most people use for writing in chatrooms, on Forums like these, and other places, particularly when youunger writers do it, handicaps young writers. I'm repeatedly shocked at how badly students at the places I teach write. These are smart kids, future doctors and lawyers, but they can't string together a paragraph or make a thesis statement to save their lives. I can't blame it solely on the 'Net, but the informal of most Internet writing can't help.

Okay, I resisted all weekend, but I have to at least give you one good natured jibe that the internet certainly has not been good for proper punctuation and capitalization, ravravrav.

On the whole, I would like to say that the internet has been good for writing in that e-mail, forums, and chat mean more writing and practice is always good. On the whole, though, the immediacy of e-mail, forums, and chat seem to have discouraged proofreading. In addition to catching errors of grammar and usage, proofreading is good for fine turning ones arguement and can give one a moment to turn down the heat if necessary. Rushing to push the "send" or "post" button makes not only for sloppy writing, but can certainly have a negative impact on civility.

Oh, and I can say that 'Net plagiarism is common and, sadly, easy to spot.

Now Playing: NPR's "All Things Considered"

quote:

Originally posted by LinnTate:
Oh, and I can say that 'Net plagiarism is common and, sadly, easy to spot.

Brilliant! I laughed so hard, cranberry juice came out my nose on that one. Good one, LT.

thanks for the comments, i especially agree with what you say about punctuation etc. maybe this marks a change in writing in that how we speak defines how sentences are composed?
i wonder if anybody has actually found any tools online which genuinely have helped to improve the standards of writing? or on the other hand (as i guess some of you teach) what could be developed??

Personally, I don't direct my students to the web to learn how to write for two reasons:

1. Many of them would rather find sources to plagiarize after doing some easy searches on writing.

2. There's a lot of bad info on the net.

I direct all of my students to use the Writing Labs at the University, but I can't say that they don't refer students to web-based resources. I certainly would refer students to good sources online if I knew of them personally.

what do you all think of the subscription based services currently available? personally speaking i think the majority of such services, such as those for scripwriting, are based around US services eg. for Hollywood etc.
Do you think these services are useful?

quote:

Originally posted by ravravrav:
what do you all think of the subscription based services currently available? personally speaking i think the majority of such services, such as those for scripwriting, are based around US services eg. for Hollywood etc.
Do you think these services are useful?

I don't know anything about those services, but I wouldn't be inclined to refer students to subscription services if they had to pay for them. If they were available for free from the University, I might be willing to, but there are enough writing services available to students, I doubt I would refer students to an outside source on the web.

I'm curious as to your agenda here...what's the reason behind all of these questions about internet writing, ravravrav?

basically im a student myself and all my life ive been interested in writing, however its only thanks to the internet that ive managed to learn about such issues as correct formatting and the dos/donts when dealing with agents and publishers et al.
i was thinking of making my own website allowing writers to put their work online and get feedback (i know there are lots of sites which already do this).
another idea i had was to actually put useful tools online - by uesful i mean tools which aid in the writing process. so for instance i could create a tool which would help someone develop dialogue or better prose etc.
what do you think of this? does this make sense?

Commendable. I'm not sure what sort of "correct formatting" you're talking about but the stuff about dealing with agents and publishers is not something you learn in most college programs. It's not even something you usually get in most grad programs.

I think a clearinghouse website for information on writing might be useful, but I can't say I recommend a pay-for-use site for my college students. But if you can offset your costs via advertising you might be able to provide a useful service.

One huge problem you'll face in developing a stylistic tool system is the multifaceted field of professional and academic writing. The kind of writing acceptable in my field, philosophy, for instance, is very different from the kind that is acceptable in English Comp courses. Writing for the natural sciences is very different from writing in the human sciences. And so forth...

i plan to work on work on my project in small chunks so, as you point out, i dont expect to create tools which can be used for every field possible.
i totally understand that pay-for-use sites help to disuade many potential writers from joining. to be honest i was thinking of providing free membership to all students (possibly of any subject) - would you think this is a good idea?
with regards to 'correct formatting' i am talking about scriptwriting. so (im not sure if you are aware or not) there are various specifications for the writer to deal with before submitting work to the industry. i hope to eliminate all this headache away from the writer and let a tool on my website put things right.
most software is quite unreasonably expensive or just includes lots of features which are there to keep the price high.
any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

quote:

Originally posted by ravravrav:

i totally understand that pay-for-use sites help to disuade many potential writers from joining. to be honest i was thinking of providing free membership to all students (possibly of any subject) - would you think this is a good idea?
with regards to 'correct formatting' i am talking about scriptwriting. so (im not sure if you are aware or not) there are various specifications for the writer to deal with before submitting work to the industry. i hope to eliminate all this headache away from the writer and let a tool on my website put things right.
most software is quite unreasonably expensive or just includes lots of features which are there to keep the price high.
any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not sure about the software for scriptwriting, but usually students can get cheap deals on specialty software packs (I got EndNote as a student for $60, retail: $250!). I recall, when I was an undergrad taking screenwriting and playwriting courses, a few books were available to help aspiring writers. If you could provide that info on line it might be useful, although I don't recall the specifics of the screenplay format.

Providing the service free for students might be useful, but it might also be hard to authenticate.

I imagine you envision this as a site for fiction, film, and drama writers almost exclusively???

i think one way i was thinking of providing the service free to students would be to get in contact with schools and ask them how many people would like to join and then set that number of accounts up for them. they can then customise details for each student.

the site would be for writers, as you suggest i will first concentrate on providing tools for fiction/film/drama writers - and the reason for this is because i intend to use it myself as well (that was my main motivation in the idea).
over time and depending on feedback the aim would be to include tools and guides for all kinds of writing although i havent researched other types (such as technical writing you speak of) yet..

i take it your a lecturer/teacher, and if so what do you think students could do with?

hi, its gone awfully quiet in here...
well i am interested in hearing more from writers who use the net whilst developing and writing their stories. note that what i mean is writers who actually do the writing whilst online, not just to post work in forums for instance.

what are your experiences and have you discovered and benefits with this?

thanks

Hey folks I'm doing research on the habits of writers and also on who writers are. Don't worry that's not meant to be a philosophical question - I'd just like have an idea of who the people who visit these writing sites are...

So drop-in and post a little about yourself or about your experiences with writers elsewhere on the vast Internet.

Many thanks

I've frequently found the internet as a place of independence. Thats no different in writing. Of course, many authors are scared of copy-pasters, but so badly need to get their stories to the rest of the world. All stories are amazing, no matter how poorly written. Its just a piece of a person, mostly when its found on the internet (and in the appropriate places obviously) it is completely inspirational. Its like, the completely summed up reasons of what stories are.

All of the creativity you could ever want is available via internet. Thats all I have to say, without sounding TOO corny.

Hmm, I like that reply and have to say I agree with you. Generally speaking all stories on the net are little pieces of someones imagination (based on real-events or not) and it's genuinely inspiring when you find something which really touches you - whether a genius wrote it or not.
I don't agree that there is a 'typical' writer, only that certain groups are more inclined to/have more time to write than others. I think teenagers have many stories to tell, just the same as the older generations do - infact everyone does.
With the net we are now writing alot more, not only in terms of stories or technical writing etc. but also for basic communication - to our friends, colleagues, everyone.