Amelia Harper
The
Inspired
Homeschooler
Cyber Authorship:
Inspired
Writing for
the Internet Age
In Februaryof2012, a North Carolina father took a handgun and leveled nine shots into his teen daughter’s laptop, recording the whole event in
a YouTube video that went viral on the
Internet.
1 The crime? His daughter had
posted disrespectful comments (complete
with profanity) about her parents and the
chores she was being forced to do around
the house. This incident has ignited a firestorm of controversy about the situation,
but the father, an IT professional, made
the point that he intended: Anything that
you post on the Internet can have a far
greater impact than you realize.
For writers, especially aspiring ones,
the Internet can be a wonderful place
to hone your writing skills, publish your
thoughts in a public forum, and receive
feedback from others. So often, writers,
especially teens, are frustrated because
they do not have anyone to read their
words. By starting a blog, posting notes
on Facebook, or simply writing emails,
you expand your audience and your
purpose in writing. However, there are
several aspects of cyber writing that you
need to carefully consider first.
Anything you write on the
Internet may be read by others.
As the story of the irate father proves,
cyber writing can cause unintended con-
sequences. The daughter in that story
posted comments on her “protected”
Facebook page, thinking that her par-
ents would never see them. But it is often
possible for one person to take a “screen-
shot” of a protected page and forward it
on to someone else via email. Most pages
are not protected and can be linked by
anyone with a simple click of a button.
Friends, enemies, relatives, potential em-
ployers, and the media may be able to
Anything that you post
on the Internet can have
a far greater impact
than you realize.
gain access to comments that you meant
to be private. Therefore, you need to be
careful what you say in any Internet post.
You also need to be careful about how
you say it. There is a tendency to take
a lot of shortcuts in Internet writing
by reverting to cyber lingo, ignoring
punctuation and capitalization rules,
and relaxing your grip on grammati-
cal guidelines. While some situations,
such as texting, can require shortcuts
because of character limits in messages,
there is no real reason that most Internet
communication requires such assaults
to the English language. Yet we are
rearing a whole generation who think U
can only LOL with your BFFs in truncated
code. Your words on the Internet and in
emails are still a reflection of yourself and
deserve the same attention to excellence
that all of your writing deserves. The liter-
ary style of your blogs, notes, emails, and
posted messages can mark you as a person
of intelligence and wit while helping you
hone your developing writing skills.
Writing on the Internet may
help you build an audience base
for future publications.
The ease of distribution on the Internet
can be a real advantage for an aspiring
writer trying to build an audience or exciting an interest in his or her work. In
writing circles, there is much talk today
about “building a platform” for your
writing.
2 Agents and publishers prefer
writers who have already developed a
consistent following of people who are
likely to purchase works that you write.
This “platform” is not marketing in the
traditional sense; rather, it is built by consistent efforts to draw others to you and
your works by establishing yourself as an
authority—or at least the kind of person
whose opinion counts to your audience.
Blogging is one of the best ways to
build this platform, though there are
other ways, such as cultivating Facebook relationships and starting your own
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