Change ... are you in a hurry? -- Mari Howard

 Empty window reflects the age of change..

People fleeing Twitter in response to Elon Musk’s purchase, and in the same week, though not for the same apparent reason, a number of fellow writers warning their readers that they are quitting blogging. 

 

Change. Not for the same reasons, though possibly change in one area of social media may influence some to think of changes they might make in another where they advertise their books? Mostly, it seems, either in order to develop some other aspect their writing, or because they feel their blog is making less impact on sales.  Meeting each other and joining this conversation in the group’s News Feed, these writers were agreed that ‘it’s time to move on’ from blogging, because, as everyone knows, nobody bothers to read blogs any more. 

Whether that is true of ‘everyone’, I’m not totally convinced: but of course a blog post takes time to write, and if the readership is unknown, or if followers are few in number, then, maybe it is time. For those writers. Although reading a well written opinion piece is, surely, a very different learning experience to watching a video, and the two methods of communication may be equally valid in complementary ways. A video on the practical problem of how to plumb in your new washing machine is far better than an article about how washing machines are plumbed in. Whereas a political or philosophical article will give you time to savour and consider the arguments, a video (with ‘talking head’) gives no opportunity to re-visit the argument afterward and consider what you think about the subject. 

Chain super-markets, however good...

Enough about blogposts: let’s consider the demise of the High Street. Change in our High Streets (and our local pubs) was slowly taking over before Covid, over the past few years, and due partly or even mainly to ‘lockdowns’ and ‘restrictions’, radical change in the High Street has visibly hastened. Small businesses have failed, causing locally-run shops to close down.

Our last locally-owned department store would likely have closed eventually, the family not interested in carrying on: but this shop seemed to disappear in the blink of an eye. So that, having been sheltering during the worst of the pandemic, next time I was in town the building was ear-marked with hoardings saying it was becoming a hotel. Like our historic Covered Market - upgraded from family butchers, greengrocers, and specialist delis, the Market is being made more appealing to the tourists - who will need to stay in the hotel…

Of course, the old shops would also appeal to the tourists, and probably did: the building, its decor, its layout, the way this particular building fitted with its setting in a particular town or city… as does the ‘traditional’ pub. Two of ours, appealing to the tourists through their connection to the ‘Inklings’ writing group, frequented by both J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, bit the dust during the pandemic. How sad that the Eagle & Child (known as ‘the Bird and Baby’) or the Lamb and Flag, will never be quite the same. And, what a loss of tourist industry appeal (along with various inconveniences of course, the dusty old furniture (if still left), the bar which Tolkien leaned on, and ordered his favourite beer! Rumour has it they may both open under new management,. We await seeing this, and what changes will be made. Will they somehow preserve the cosy old-fashioned-ness, which could just about nudge the visitors’ imaginations to visualise that, in the corner by the fireside, are gathered the authors of some books they love?

Up-Lit for relaxation in difficult times...

If change is all around in social media, and bricks and mortar, what about in the world of our writing? Fashions in book covers, as well as the chosen popular genres, by no means escape change. Popular culture (and its language) can seem to be taking over the subject of  a book ‘in progress’ before it has even been completed, let alone offered to a publisher. Last year, ‘Up-lit’ novels became popular (or fashionable), driven by a real, or promoted, public taste for light reading, in which possibly serious subjects move to a satisfying, happy ending. Noticeable were the colours of their covers, often favouring a light blue background. I was converted to these novels, as a contrast to the more serious political novels I’d been reading, and now own at least half a dozen books with lovely blue covers (some in matching shades,) ranging from Sally Rooney’s ‘Beautiful world, where are You?’ (young adults in Ireland) to Anne Booth’s ‘Small Miracles’ (three nuns who win the lottery) and  A.J.Pearce’s ‘Dear Mrs Bird’ (working for a magazine/volunteering in the fire service, in World War 2).

Beyond covers, and what’s popular to read (varieties of fantasy apparently) there’s the change brought about by sensitivity reading. This subject impacts us writers rather more seriously than cover designs and colours: the range of disallowed/replacement words moves rapidly onwards in a world of fast-paced cultural change. Descriptions that ‘you must not use’ (such as the change from ‘Asperger’s’ to ‘Neurodivergent’, or from ‘mixed race’ to ‘mixed (or dual) heritage’) need to be learned. Every work in progress is likely to need a thorough inspection for change before itself moving from the laptop to the publisher. And is it valid for us to write about some aspect of being human which is not ours?

Is change good?  Is the pace too fast? Are we happy when Facebook (for example) changes its basic presentation so the familiar can’t be found? Is this more significant change, driven by PR, advertising, and companies wishing to increase their profits, something useful to the writers and the readers of society? Should we make sure that ‘how it was’ remains known, so that each change stands on the history of how and why it might improve our lives?  As a writer, how do the literary-related changes make you feel, and do you follow them happily or with annoyance? Are you thinking that the time for blogging is past?