I started my writing career before the Internet became widely available. It was only during my final year as an undergraduate that the University of Oregon School of Journalism started requiring students to learn to operate computers. My first computer was a Mac 512K, which was more or less a glorified typewriter. I conducted primary research by phone or in person and did secondary research at the public library. There was no dial-up Internet in those days, and the hardcover thesaurus my grandmother gave me as a graduation gift was almost always open on my desk. To wit, as a young magazine journalist, I delivered stories to my editors on 3.5-inch floppy disks, which I carried to the office by bicycle like a courier.
Recently, one of Projectline’s leaders asked blog contributors if we had any response to this story by Alissa Walker, a Los Angeles-based writer who points to the predominance on the web of bulleted “listicles”—a common editorial device used to draw in readers. If you haven’t heard of the listicle before, now you’ll see it everywhere. Your favorite regional lifestyle magazine will feature the following cover story: “Top 10 Fall Getaways in the Pacific Northwest.” This approach sells magazines at the grocery store checkout line. As Ms. Walker notes, “It had been proven somewhere (where?) that people love lists.” Blame David Letterman if you must. But don’t blame the Internet, because I’m here to tell you that I delivered listicles on those 3.5-inch floppy disks.
Ms. Walker, who is a fine writer, takes issue with the influence of usability and traffic data on prose writing for the web. (She does acknowledge, however, that when she writes on topics relative to web trends, it seems to increase her page views, which she likes.) She also criticizes the Huffington Post for purposefully misspelling “Superbowl” in a headline in an effort to optimize its place in search results. I agree with Ms. Walker on this: Disregarding editorial standards in the name of SEO is going too far, especially for a respectable publication. I’m grateful to any publishing entity that manages to churn out copy without hurting my eyes.
Regardless of the medium, and whether you call yourself a writer or a “content creator,” the goal is the same: clear, concise copy that has a compelling message or story. As Marshall McLuhan famously wrote, “The medium is the message.” That is, any medium affects society not only via the content delivered through the medium, but also through the characteristics of the medium. This doesn’t scare me at all. Good writers will always be able to use their skills—including improvisation—to take advantage of whatever medium they use. The English language is precise and versatile. All writing should lend itself to the mandate of editorial integrity. Indeed, whatever the medium, there are no real excuses for a writer; there is only the pursuit of mastery.
For Projectline blogs, I choose topics that are relevant to the company’s business practices and grounded in my experience. Being quite new to both Twitter and blog writing, I’m fascinated by the idea of skimming trending topics and writing a related piece. Like Ms. Walker, I enjoy seeing mention of my work in the ongoing conversation that is social media. For example, I just now went to my Twitter account @mollydeewrites. and noticed that Casey Hibbard, who wrote the book on customer evidence, tweeted a mention of my story on writing case studies. I’m thrilled!
Maybe someday I’ll write an Internet classic that’s referenced for years to come. In the meantime, I’m going to participate in the modern publishing paradigm—while doing my best every day to honor the old-school lineage of distinguished print journalists who taught me my craft.
I’d love to know—What helps you pursue writing mastery while writing for the web?
