How you can apply it to blog writing: "A (blog) shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere," and "the (posts) of a (blog) shall be necessary parts of the (blog), and shall help develop it." In short, every blog needs a theme and every post needs to relate to that theme.
This is a writing blog. All the posts relate to writing. If your theme is any more complicated than that, chances are it's not very good.
Kurt Vonnegut's How to Write with Style: what a dude — at 115 years old, he was still touring college campuses and making female lit. majors swoon. How to Write with Style typifies his cool literary voice and provides true writing wisdom.
How you can apply it to blog writing: pity your readers. Don't use technical or unnecessarily complex vocabulary or references unless it relates to your theme (e.g., pwned—ok in a gaming blog, not ok in a writing blog). Limit paragraphs to a few sentences. State your point at the beginning of the post and stick to it.
And just because stream of consciousness is cathartic (note: stream of consciousness and cathartic—ok for a writing blog) doesn't mean it's being kind to your readership.
Ernest Hemingway's 5 rules for writing well (as told by copyblogger): I hated Hemingway short stories in high school. He's an acquired taste, for sure, but he's cited as one of the greatest writers of all time for a reason, and his writing tips are (intentionally or unintentionally) emulated by the most successful bloggers.
How you can apply it to blog writing: Use short sentences. They're more effective.
Jonathan Swift on style (as told by About.com): Jonathan Swift is the original Maddox and "A Modest Proposal" is the original smartass blog post, written 275 years before the internet.
How you can apply it to blog writing: Don't use cliches or common phrases, especially if they don't fit or you don't know exactly what it means. Nothing reads worse than 'fun and games,' 'fast and furious,' 'sick and tired,' 'short and sweet' or 'prim and proper.'
Say exactly what you mean—proper words in proper places—and if you don't know what you mean, then it's back to the drawing board.
George Orwell's six questions/six rules: Orwell's "1984" has inspired governmental paranoia, Janice Joplin and even 10 seasons of reality TV on CBS. He must be doing something right to create one of the most timeless and disturbing literary themes of all time.
How you can apply it to blog writing: break any literary rule if it makes your writing sound ridiculous.
No comments:
Post a Comment