Do you ever think that maybe you’re taking Tumblr a little too seriously, in artistic terms I mean? For all intents and purposes, this is merely a blogging platform. Not the HQ for the new golden age. I mean, I get your message. Yes, professional, and academic writing does require standards. Why? Because that’s a standardized industry (necessarily so because it’s a consumer driven market), and a convention based arena (necessarily so because it’s formally graded, and/or being used for research which benefits from a universal format).
I also understand the propaganda (“Let’s raise the bar, and be better writers!”), but I view Tumblr as a place to encourage new writers (especially young ones), and to exercise the freedom of expression. I view this as a playground, a space to unwind, and somewhere to share “works in progress”, or what I refer to as “living first drafts”.
Yes. Even a place to share thoughts and feelings. Not really the frontier for the future of literature. Have you noticed that even legitimate published authors tend to use their blogs as a space to decompress and connect with the audience on a personal level? Why is it so important to hold the Tumblr writing community to higher standards than the professionals?
Should everything be tagged as Prose, Poetry, or Fiction? Probably not. You’re right — but if someone choses to tag something as such… what’s the big deal? I could probably send a literary mag hundreds of letters about cheese. It wouldn’t be convenient to filter through those messages… but there’s no chance they will be published (which in this case realtes more to “featuring”, since we are free to publish what we want/when we want).
In some ways, your attempt to “save” Tumblr writing by guilting, nagging, snubbing, and shaming people that they aren’t “sharing their best quality pieces” 24/7, actually restricts the freedom of expression with unnecessary pressure and expectations. Also, I would imagine that no professional writer would ever post all of their best work, for free, on the internet…
No. Not all writers are equal, but we’re not competing. There isn’t limited space on Tumblr. That’s the point. We’re unlimited in our space, and unrestricted by convention. This allows us to flex our imaginations and write things that we may not normally write, explore formatting, methods, and techniques that we wouldn’t normally try… Which in the long run can help us to be better writers… as long as we don’t get hypnotized by own “Tumblr success”.
But unless they’ve convinced themself that they are ridiculously talented because they get a lot of hearts on their posts (and they act like spoiled prima donnas)… why is it so terrible to let people enjoy building their confidence, and feel like they are being heard?
That’s what I don’t understand about elitism. This is not “high art”, this is recreation.
Honesty, I know it must seem stupid for me to say this… because the fact I’m taking a moment to write about writing could mislead you into thinking I believe I know something about writing. I seriously don’t.
I just know that I like the act of creation, and I want to share that with the Tumblr Writing Community.
I don’t want anyone to be discouraged if they aren’t getting read as much as they would like to be, or if someone else is trying to make you feel like you don’t deserve to be here (on a free blogging platform) just as much as the next person.
Keep writing. Keep posting. Tag your posts how you want to… but remember that being popular/liked doesn’t put you on par with the professionals. It doesn’t give you the right to trash standards/conventions outside of the Tumblr platform. If your aim is to be a professional writer… you probably have a lot of work, and studying left to do. You can confirm/disprove this by submitting out your work.
But if you’re just here to write… Don’t worry about the elitists. You’re as good as gold. You’re as good of a writer as you need to be.
The only thing I have to add to this is that the people that want to raise the bar for tumblr as a whole, always waste their opportunity to impart wisdom.
Instead of telling us all how shit we are, why don’t you help us improve? You say “let’s all publish better material” but offer no insight as to how exactly we’re supposed to do that.
Those that preach about good writing and think they’re amazing, when they’re just losers with blogs like the rest of us, are always quick with a witty remark or snide comment when they’ve been given the opportunity. “Read more”, yeah thanks for that, that’s great advice fuckwit.
That’s why it’s a fucking joke. If everyone became as good a writer as what you think you are, you wouldn’t be “special” here, and you’ll never allow that and we all know it.
Oh, and I’d like to point out that some of the people you consider “good writers”, also self publish.
