Martin Hancock

Brief Shorts Martin Hancock

The digital revolution should have democratised the process of writing whereas, by virtue of the computer, it has only democratised the means of writing. The rest of the process is still largely in the hands of an elite that owes its existence to an era where writing was the preserve of those with an independent income. In a desperate move to avoid the chaos that the digital world has supposedly brought to the music industry, the fiction publishing world has become entrenched, and employs so-called experts in the use of English who are, themselves, entrenched. Unlike a music industry forever changed by the advent of rock and roll, the publishing world has wielded its secret weapon. Namely, the so-called rules of writing in the English language. Rules that, while useful for the factual world, are fake-facts in the world of fiction writing. While icons of the rock and pop world ranged far and wide, exploring everything and anything that might possibly appeal to our ears, the publishing world tries to standardise what we see with our eyes. Like a staid and haughty old aunt, harrumphing at anything that challenges the status quo. Had popular music suffered the expertise of the copy editor, then most song lyrics would have all the appeal of an instruction manual.