Ben Hammersley's latest Guardian column challenges the received wisdom that the Internet is killing off good prose:

Writing is dead, they say. The internet killed it: kids r writing SA n txt, grown-ups rely on spell checkers and stylish grammar is punished by green squiggly lines. In fact, listen to the critics and you would be forgiven for thinking the internet is not so much a cultural wasteland, but a vacuum - sucking the very essence of civility and art out of its users...

Readers are getting a good deal. But why is this? Cost, mostly. Until now, a free press has been anything but: paper, printing, binding and distribution all cost money that niche publications would never be able to find or recoup. But with the internet, one can be read almost anywhere on the planet, contributed to by strangers and influenced by writers who, only a few years ago, you would have never had the chance to hear of.

The unveiling of good writing is one thing, but how do you become a good writer in the first place? The internet helps out there, too. Writers' communities, where people offer advice, encouragement and read and review each other's work, are becoming very popular. Sites such as Zoetrope, the Short Story Group and, while offering no critique, sites such as ABCTales, will publish anyone who wants to show their work to the world.

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(Thanks, Rob!) [Boing Boing]