Writing Literature for the 21st Century Reader

It's 2018. The age of computers has all but made the typewriter an ancient artifact lost to time as the dawn of a new, highly-educated populace rises into adulthood.

So why then does it feel like things have taken a step... err... backward?

For decades, the great American novel has been somewhat of a beacon for aspiring storytellers everywhere—a challenge suited only for the truly impassioned among us, driven to success and undeterred by the long, grueling process of editing a work. One would presume that as technology has continued to boost productivity in all facets of life that so, too, would it benefit the writers among us. Unfortunately, in case you've been living under a rock since 2006, I have some sad news for you. The novel is dead.

Kaput.

Deceased.

Gone the way of iambic pentameter, the sonnet, and even *shudder* the limerick (there is justice in the world).

Is it really any surprise though? Half the beauty of a well-written novel derives from the time and love that goes into its craft. Insert innovation and productivity into the mix and you have yourself a recipe for sloppy, rushed, and mass-marketed words that couldn't be reconciled by Shakespeare himself.

No, unfortunately, the age of Twitter has not done humanity well in regards to literature. All suffice to say, the internet and social media channels such as Twitter are not the problem. The problem is us. More particularly, the strain we put on ourselves to always be connected, productive, and linked in.

Plain and simple, we don't allow ourselves the time to read like we used to.

It's no surprise when you think about it. All art forms fade depending on how cultures shift. Romanticizing the death of the novel is the literary equivalent to trying to make fetch happen and it's never going to happen, Gretchen, so let's put it to rest. So what needs to be done?

The novel may not be sticking around but that doesn't mean that other literary forms haven't evolved. Emojis and meme culture have evolved into dialects of their own right. Meanwhile, blog posts and fan fiction have become the 21st-century diary. And whether or not you choose to believe it, people are reading more than they ever have before: emails, texts messages, news articles, status updates, and more.If you are serious about writing, then start looking toward solutions—after all, it's what we as artists do best.

If people don't have the attention span to read a whole novel, then write a novella. If nobody is reading physical books, then go electronic. If all someone cares to read is their Facebook timeline, then bring your story to them and post your work for the world to "share" as an image or video.

And if you want to write a novel, then fucking your f*cking novel. Nobody is telling you that you can't. But do it for you. Writing my first novel, Saints of the Paradise Valley, was and still is one of the greatest accomplishments of my life and the few dozen people or so that have actually read it make everything feel worthwhile. Now, I'm still toiling away at the sequel but I'm constantly thinking of new ways to share it with the world. After all, success is measured in different ways. It might not be a commercial success per say but whoever said the life of a starving artist was meant to be?

Still a fan of the novel?

C.E. Zulin is the author of Saints of the Paradise Valley, the gripping story of Starseed, a 17-year-old girl looking for answers in a world that provides none. Caught in between a war of religion and science, will Starseed succeed in finding her parents and at long last, Paradise?

Learn more here and look for SOPV in the Amazon or Kobo bookstores.