Interesting the effect that technology has on the world of writing.  The act of writing itself has been transformed beyond recognition by the word processor, which allows people to take for granted a process that until the 19th century people had to do by hand and in candle light, or more recently by picking at the keys on a typewriter, an invention which Jack London found tested the strength of a navvy of his acquaintance, who couldn’t sit at the thing for a few minutes without it hurting his back.  Now we take keyboards for granted, and spend hours perched at them, hopefully in ergonomic chairs with eyesight-friendly lighting.

‘Electricity has changed the world more than Marxism’, and if I could be bothered to look up the source of that quote the internet would trace it for me within seconds.  And it’s not just the means of production that’s changed.  The interconnectedness of modern technology has changed the whole writing world.  This blog is one microscopic example: it’s led to people getting in touch for script doctoring work, and the discipline of doing it has made me realise I’m perfectly capable of writing a book, something I’d never previously considered, and two of which I’m set to write this year.

The bigger picture is more interesting still, and I’m not sure I grasp the full implications myself.  But let’s look at books some more.  The nature of book buying has been changed by the existence of Amazon, which has challenged the high street retailers, who themselves had already cowed the independent bookstores into submission.  Now, the world of Print On Demand publishing is signalling a new trend: people creating books without the need for publishers.  If you’ve got a market, this is a way of satisfying their interest in what you do.

But books are still part of the older model of what writing is for, and I’m primarily a screenwriter, one with a copywriting background: two areas where writing is less apparent to the general public.  And technology has created another market for writers: computer games.  I had a run-in with this world last year, and had a fascinating time coming up with some demo material that the client loved, but ultimately didn’t go with because their project was growing in scale and their priority was to ensure that players had a satisfactory playing experience, without the embellishments that my input would have added.  Now though, with the games market rivalling the film business in terms of revenues, writers and games companies are taking each other seriously, as this piece about the inclusion of games writing on a university syllabus makes clear.

Another new academic course is a forthcoming one on Social Networking, following hot on the heels of the news that school kids will be taught how to Twitter.  For once I’m ahead of the curve, if barely, having been Twittering for a couple of weeks now.  It’s been entertaining enough, but I was wondering if anything of substance was going to emerge from Twitter.  It has.  Today, Twitterers are agog with the astonishing news that Amazon has made the impossibly homophobic move of not listing gay-related books in its ranks of adult materials, while continuing to promote any amount of mainstream hetero crud, not to mention material that others find equally offensive, eg Mein Kampf, manuals for training fighting dogs, and so charmingly on.

Amazon’s stance is a PR disaster of suitably Biblical proportions, given it’s happening over Easter.  And Twitter is right there, tracking every clumsy move the company is making and providing links to summaries of what’s going on, petitions, and the like.  Check out this letter for an overview, this piece about some of the writing affected by Amazon’s cackhanded bigotry, and though I’m not at all convinced by the effectiveness of internet petitions, here is where you’ll find a relevant one.  Me?  Fuckers won’t be getting any money out of me — and I’m a good customer — until they reverse their stance.  See if you can spread the word and persuade friends to do the same.