In an era of banned books, BookTok, and the constant questioning of whether authors should sanitize their work, writers are left with a huge responsibility: to create, to inform, to produce, and to evoke, among anything else they can muster. But what are the parameters of that responsibility? There’s no rule book to authorship, and if there was, the literary minds wouldn’t listen to it anyways. That’s the beauty of writing, and maybe the burden.
I, a humble English student, believe we are all literary beings. We consume and create literature whether we like it or not — an Instagram caption, a long winded text to your best friend — we all do it. We watch movies and listen to music (which was once just a writer’s dream brought to life), we doomscroll BookTok reviews, we take to Goodreads before buying the novel, and have most likely skimmed a textbook or two. We consume literature in one way or another; it is embedded in our daily lives with such ease that it is easy to ignore the true complexities of it all. We glaze over the purpose and responsibility the writer holds for the consumer to interpret and digest.
The writer works to provide for the consumer, whether it be news, romance, theories, or fantastical escapism. But these roles are sensitive in the fact that they are produced to speak to a sea of people ready to consume.
Banning books suppresses literary ideas and knowledge. A Bookish Brews article, titled “Book Bans: A Threat to Cultural Literacy,” acknowledges and discusses the significance of book bans and what they mean in our society. “Banning and challenging subjectively dangerous books suppresses cultural education and hinders young readers’ ability to develop their own free ideas.” Author Mikada Green emphasizes the importance of exposure to opposing views, which “is necessary to form well-rounded beliefs.” The article further explains that the initiative to ban certain books is typically politically motivated with conservative views as guiding voices in this initiative. The article counters the conservative voice by prompting that “protecting books with opposing views that are not hateful or obscene does not mean we endorse those ideas; we are giving all young minds a chance to find their truth.” It’s the writer’s responsibility to counter these voices, to prompt further and thoughtful discussion, as we are now in a new age of media. The writer must care.
Media alters our perception of the writer. Megan Eesley wrote an article for The Seahawk titled “Literature in a digital age and the effect of social media” which thoughtfully analyzes how we interpret literature in this digital age. Eesley discusses the complexities of media and its influence on authors. Social media, like Instagram and TikTok, influence the consumers to buy as it promotes the product. However, the media has made this process very difficult because of the randomization algorithms. It can be completely out of your control whether your voice is heard or not through social media platforms. Algorithms push the titles and authors to consumers, which can either work in favour of or against the writer. Publishers now consider popularity on social media platforms before taking on a project. Writers are now being weighed by their performance on social media as an added factor that needs to be considered before publishing. Social media can be a great form of marketing and building a platform as a young writer, but it can also be completely unpredictable.
As a brand new writer myself, it is scary, but the work the literary community does is so powerful. In the realm of book bans and social media there is a ton of unknown, but a lot of freedom to express and create as well. So, my advice is to be thoughtful and careful when producing as well as consuming. Read banned books, support local authors, mindfully boost BookTok creators, and maybe write for that student paper! Literature can be its own form of humanistic magic. Cheers to consuming!
