Tell a tale to the Internet, and it will 'tell' you back. From the rise of social networks and blogs to the huge resource of all things reading, writing and exploring language, the Internet has made it so much easier to share your thoughts, no matter how small. In conjunction with World Literacy Day on September 8, we will be sharing our tale with you - a yarn spun from web-based writing competitions, free fiction, self-publishing, writing advice, downloadable free e-books, and those who tell it all over virtual spaces.

J.K Rowling was riding a train one day when Harry Potter came to her. She decided to pursue her idea and now she is the second richest woman in the United Kingdom, and Harry Potter is a global phenomenon.

Nobody believed in Beatrix Potter when she wrote a book on fluffy rabbits and cunning foxes, until she self-published 250 copies and changed the mind of a publisher. The Tale of Peter Rabbit, written back in 1901, is now the best-loved children's book of all time.

Yes, even famous authors have self-published at some point: Think Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, Rudyard Kipling, Leo Tolstoi, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Hardy, Bernard Shaw and a whole load of authors who believed in their stories, ideas and imaginations.

And yes, everyone has a story to tell. It could be something as small as your day-to-day life, your love of food, your love for movies or your wildest dreams. It could be about the real world or the imaginary world.

And today, everyone can tell anyone anything about everything these days -it's just one click away. Everyone can write a prize-winning story - there are websites that give handy tips on how to get started on your very own novel, after which other websites will help you self-publish your works. You don't even need to be a journalist, or a professional writer.

So, are you ready to be a world-famous novelist? You can be!

The Birth of Blogs

But if a book is too much for you to handle, the simplest act of keeping a journal or blog is the very first step to writing and expressing yourself.

Julie Powell was an unemployed 30-something who decided to tackle the best-selling cookbook of all time, The Joy of Cooking by Julia Child.   did she know she would someday have a movie made of her struggle to conquer the cookbook via her blog, in the 2009 movie, Julie and Julia.

Locally, bloggers such as Wendy Cheng (aka XiaXue), Kenny Sia, Cheeserland, Cindy Tey, Niki Cheong, Timothy Tiah and Vivy Yusof are all part of the Nuffnang network of bloggers who have turned the sharing of their lives into a profitable business. Advertisers now invite bloggers to events and launches to spread the word, and marketers have eagerly tapped on to this blogosphere as a way to reach the youth and, in some cases, the masses.

Some of them have even made up to tens of thousands of ringgit from advertorials, sales of ad-spaces or for sponsorships and partnerships.

But of course, starting a blog that can reach such success is never easy. For as many blogs there are that are successful, there are just as many who remain obscure.

Nevertheless, it is not the hits or the visits to the blogs that count - the very act of blogging and keeping your virtual diary is important as it chronicles ones' memories, encourages reading and writing and keeps the spirit of literary pursuits alive and well.

After all, blogging is free! Blogger.com and Wordpress.com makes it as easy as a three-minute sign-up process.

And blogs are just the tip of the iceberg. Forums, social networks, fanfiction sites are all avenues to perpetuate and nurture the simplest things about writing and reading. Even humour sites like CollegeHumour.com or Cracked.com can keep the wit and wonder of writing alive.

Authors also have blogs which readers can follow. Neil Gaiman, author of the acclaimed American Gods, has a journal he upkeeps, and a Twitter account that has 1.5 million followers. Elizabeth Bear, who won a Hugo Award for Fantasy for her story Tideline, makes her works readily available online for readers. Almost all authors of award-winning books have their own websites for fans to read new fiction or keep up with their latest books.

Reading and exploring the world of writing has never been easier. There is so much available to be read and experienced and everything is available on the Internet. The pages of a book are not the only place to delve into imagination and literature. The internet has done more than its fair share to encourage reading and writing.

The Art of Writing

Ever woken up from a dream thinking what a great story that could make? Ever had an idea that is bursting to get out from the confines of your brain? But if you really have no idea on how to set the wheels of your novel in motion, then websites like WikiHow.com, eHow.com, WritersDigest.com and Write101.com will help you on your way.

WikiHow.com and eHow.com are probably the only websites in the world that will tell you how to do just about everything, and that includes writing your award-winning novel. The advice is simple, to-the-point, and easy-to-understand for most part, since they are broken down into easy steps.

WikiHow.com tells aspiring writers to always start by reading good short stories or books - how can one write good short stories without first knowing what a good short story/book is? This website recommends reading short story collections by established authors in a genre one plans on exploring.

Yes, books cost a lot of money these days, but did you know you can read a tone of fiction for free online? A website called Fifty Two Stories (www. fiftwostories.com) puts up new short fiction every single week (hence fifty two) and authors such as Neil Gaiman have put their stories there for all to read. 

Next, keep a notepad with you at all times because you never know when inspiration might strike - from there, choose the one idea that sticks and plan the basics.

Start with good, believable characters and ensure that your story has at least these four ingredients: An exposition in which there is a story to lead up to a climax; rising action to bring about a turning point of the story; a climax; the falling action where your story begins to conclude itself and a resolution, which is a satisfying (or unsatisfying if you like) ending to the story.

After already planning out these basics, the most difficult task is to start the writing. Once you do, grab a readers' attention immediately and don't forget to limit the breadth of your story (or it will go all over the place). Decide on who is telling the story (your main protagonist? First person? Third person?) and no matter what, don't give up. Get second opinions, get editors to look over your work but don't lose your train of thought.

Another interesting tip from Write101 is this: Put a man up in the tree, throw some stones at him, then get him down from that tree. This analogy simply means to create a situation for your protagonist (put a man in a tree) in which could lead up to conflicts to be resolved later. Then present the problems and conflicts (throw stones at him) before finally resolving them (get him down from the tree).

Write101 also urges the creation of good characters, and more importantly, character dialogue. Every dialogue that comes out from the characters mouth should only add to the character, or flesh him out, or make the character more believable in some way. It should not be used to fill up pages.

The advice is similar to the advice given on Writers Digest, but Writers Digest also goes on to advice on the monumental yet deceptively quick task of choosing a genre, or mixing several genres together. Write about what you love and know, because then you would know the clichés or potholes to avoid in the particular genre, and know what the chosen genre's appeal is.

Articles such as the Ten Commandments of Fiction Writing (writersdigest.com) help outline the necessary ingredients to bake a perfect story, providing an endless source of information for anyone who seeks it out.

Avenues for Getting Your Work Out There - competitions, self-publishing, blogging

So you've got your story. You've got blood, sweat and tears poured into it. What next?

There are many avenues for aspiring writers to get their work published, and it has seen the emergence of the young and talented. Competitions such as the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Writer's Digest Popular Fiction Awards offer writers a chance to get acclaim for their work in addition to monetary reward, of course. There is also the NextBigWriter.com, Fanstory.com and NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

Locally, competitions such as the MPH Young Writers Award and the MPH-Alliance Short Story contest has helped young talent get published in addition to winning cash prizes, thus encouraging anyone of any age to submit their works. Be it a short story or an essay, the art of writing is one that has found many an outlet through such contests.

Above and beyond that, there are ways to get your works published for real - a website called Lulu.com is a print-on-demand website where works can be uploaded by the author, and then downloaded or produced upon request by a customer.

Lulu.com takes a small chunk of each sale (less than 20 per cent) of each item, while the rest goes to you. As an open publishing platform, Lulu.com boasts 1.1 million creators/authors, and 20,000 different titles of books, ebooks and much more. It's as easy as signing up and creating an account to get your work out there.

Similar websites include Café Press, Blurb, Create Space and Book Surge. All are free to use except Book Surge.

Café Press (www.cafepress.com) is a site that not only allows you to self-publish your works of literary nature, but also print and sell T-Shirts, audio CDs and other artwork. How it works is that CafePress will determine the base price, after which whatever you mark up will be your own commission.

Blurb (www.blurb.com) has a unique approach. Using the 'booksmart' software, an aspiring author can design his or her own book and see a preview of the outcome of your book. It's free to use, but they do take a cut to cover costs, and users are required to download the 'booksmart' software.

Book Surge (www.booksurge.com), on the other hand, is a member of the Amazon group of companies, so this gives self-publishers the edge. Works will be displayed and advertised regardless of demand. Tapping on the Amazon.com channel, Book Surge is now also goes hand-in-hand with CreateSpace, which is yet another free on demand publishing subsidiary of Amazon.com.

But before you think that self-publishing smacks of desperation, keep in mind that some of the most famous authors known have self-published at some time or other.

Leo Tolstoi, the author of War and Peace, considered by some the greatest novel ever written, self-published his book for less than one ringgit in our times, but it is now the magnum opus of literature.

Others in the who's who list of authors who have gone D.I.Y at some point: William Blake, Ken Blanchard, Robert Bly, Lord Byron, Willa Cather, Pat Conroy, Stephen Crane, E.E. Cummings, Alexander Dumas, T.S. Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ernest Hemingway, Stephen King, Rudyard Kipling, D.H. Lawrence, Tom Peters, Edgar Allen Poe, Alexander Pope, Beatrix Potter, Ezra Pound, Marcel Proust, Irma Rombauer, Carl Sandburg, Robert Service, George Bernard Shaw, William Strunk, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Henry David Thoreau, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, and Virginia Woolf.

Looking towards younger authors, Christopher Paolini was only 11 when he started writing a book called Eragon, before his parents self-published it when he was 15. Eragon is now a best-selling Young Adult series and has even been made into a movie.

And they did it in the times when the Internet didn't even exist, when websites such as Lulu.com didn't exist. What's holding us back, then?