Remember way back when, before the internet even existed? Authors were kind of like rock stars, you know? Their ideas and what they believed in could stick around for ages after they were gone. Think about Shakespeare – we're still talking about his stuff! Back then, if a book was a hit, it could really shape how people thought for a long, long time.
And get this – there wasn't this crazy amount of stuff to read like there is now. You basically had books, maybe some magazines. So, when an author wrote something, a lot of people were reading the same things. It was a more shared experience, if that makes sense.
Then BAM! The internet happened. Suddenly, anyone could write anything and put it out there. The cost of making content went from being a whole thing to practically zero. Pretty wild, right?
But here's the flip side: now there's SO much stuff to read. It's like instead of one big crowd of readers, we've got a million tiny groups, each into their own thing. You've got your sci-fi nerds, your romance fanatics, your true crime junkies – everyone's got their own corner of the internet.
Now, even with all this change, what we think of as 'good writing' gets a little complicated, doesn't it? Back in the day, with a more unified audience, there were probably more shared ideas about what made writing 'good' or 'bad.' But now, with all these different niches and groups, what one crowd thinks is amazing might be totally snooze-worthy (or even considered badly written!) by another. So, 'good writing' isn't this one-size-fits-all thing anymore – it really depends on who you're talking to and what they're into.
Speaking of old classics, remember how some writing just blows you away with how beautiful the words are? Like that line from Shakespeare, "Now is the winter of our discontent"? Or "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" from Dickens? People used to really appreciate the skill it took to put words together like that. It wasn't just about the story; it was about the how of the story.
And now, hold onto your hats, because here comes AI! It's like the internet wasn't enough change, now we've got computers writing stuff. It makes you wonder what's going to happen next, doesn't it? Has literature changed? Absolutely! The internet flipped the script, and now AI is throwing another curveball. It's a whole new world for storytelling, and it's pretty interesting (and maybe a little weird!) to see where it all goes.
Remember When Everyone Read the Same Book? Yeah, That Was Weird.
