[ this is writing ]

The Blank Slate of a Child

We, as writers, are now present to witness the birth of something completely new—unlike a fingerprint on writing, the new technologies emerging are something more. Imagine walking through a wooded cemetery with the dead, at night, and a hand breaks through the surface and you hear a door close—SLAM!—in the distance. You are suffused with fear; fright creeps into unused cornices of your soul. Yet, afterwards, some sort of elation breaks through those terrors, exuding from you as a newfound appreciation of your own life. This feeling, I believe, is where we are at in writing right now, with all the new mediums slowly exiting the internet’s womb. There is a new hand for the writer—there is finally a place for the collective conscious to gather, physically and virtually. Through blogs, Google Docs, Twitter and Facebook, the ability for any individual to transfer ideas from the mind to the masses is unlike anything witnessed before in human history. There is no down-time for publication, there is no morning-after to wait for the news, everything happens in an instant—a snap of the fingers, a blink of the eye—and information, opinion, and creativity are spread like ribbons across the metaphysical underpinnings of a world-wide database. Emerson’s theory of the over-soul is nearly tangible, manifested in a form that I think even he would not have imagined. The ability to connect writers of all creeds and the abilities for new genres and forms of writing is upon us. There is a renaissance for the writer, a reawakening, in these new forms that allow for comment and collaboration. How will you shape the conscious of this young child?

Speaking personally, this module and the unique philosophies presented by Professor Teston surrounding the online phylum of blogs, Google Docs, Twitter and Facebook, have inspired me to embark on a journey I have yet to witness any other writer set out upon. Prior to this class, I thought of Google Docs as just some piss-ant version of Microsoft Word and Twitter as a community for people to convey the facts produced by their dull lives—“Just went to the movies with Justin!!!” or “Had some amazing food at Ray’s Diner” or even “Shopping at Taylor’s!!!!! YAY!!!!” How utterly mundane. Anyway, this class really restructured my dull, piss-ant thoughts on something that is so important as to easily be revolutionary for the writer—that world of Google Docs and Twitter. With this in mind, and after reading some of the pieces assigned for Teston’s module, along with Tweedie’s and Courtney’s, my whole ideology surrounding online writing outlets changed and I was inspired in a way I had yet to feel myself so, previously. The idea was to start an online, collaborative novel through the medium of Google Docs. Yet, this shouldn’t be any novel, I thought, and I tried to structure the directions in a way as to make the piece become a semi-autobiographical account of people— stories from anywhere, and hopefully, everywhere. Like the new mediums surfacing on the web, this plan is still in its birthing process, but by getting the word out in the land of social media, I hope this experiment turns out to be something big—incorporating hundreds, maybe even thousands of individuals—and will be able to inspire other writers, showing them that the possibilities for something not-yet-attempted in writing is just a click and a thought away.

In a year or two, I hope to have this novel finished, with of course, the collaborative efforts of other writers. I want to make sure it’s good, that it’s not done in a half-butt manner, and that it has some impact on the writing community as well as the reading community. I hope that it becomes such a popular outlet that different collaborative novels begin springing up in all sections of the world—novels upon novels being written simultaneously—and that people finally feel a safe place to share their stories. Stories keep us connected, bring us closer to our humanity, and reveal to us that we are never painfully alone. I hope maybe that this becomes a therapeutic experience for people, or some sort of spiritual catharsis—I know personally when writing I feel something that comforts me no matter what the situation or circumstance is in my life. I want to show people that their stories matter, and that maybe hiding painful memories is not the healthiest way to live. Freedom, I think, is the big picture here. What comes from the mind and emotions into the matter of writings makes the surrounding matter of our lives matter more. It lets our eyes breathe again, shows us freedom down a road unnoticed and unpaved.

- Adam Toscani

23 June 2011 ·