Thursday, September 09, 2004
On Brevity
I like Blogger. I really do. And while I feel a bit ashamed for ripping it . . . I'm still going to rip it. Because today they posted one of their usual help articles. This one was on how to promote one's web log. And that's great, really. In fact, before I get into the problem, let's just celebrate what a wonderful service this company provides -- for absolutely free (even though a plurality would probably be willing to pay a small fee for their web logs). Amazing.
OK, enough celebrating.
Within the article, which mainly offered some helpful technical tips on how to get your web log out there, they also offered some tips on writing. Here's the one that caught my disfancy:
Keep your posts and paragraphs short. Note the brevity of the aforementioned post. People will come back daily to read your fresh new work but spare them the one thousand word diatribes. Strive for succinct posts that pump pertinent new information into the blogosphere and move on. Keep it short and sweet so visitors can pop in, read up, and click on. Think of youblog as a cumulative effect. This doesn't mean you should never practice some long form writing now and then, it's just something to keep in mind.
This is my only internet-wide complaint regarding web logs. Some can be great, some can suck, but more and more often writers' posts are short. And that's great: short and to the point is often all that is required. But for Blogger to promote this trend is to say that anything worth saying must be said quickly. I guess it's because I've read enough sites that hit the exact same format: short post, self-deprecating humor, done.
Shying away from a long post tells the audience you're afraid to write anything longer than the hit-and-run. It reminds me of a creative writing class, in which one kid could only write ironic, pop-culture-baiting humor. He was there for the laughs, nothing more. But after a while, it became predictable.
If a long post sucks, then the long post sucks. That's why there's a sidebar full of options to click to. What kills me about this is it's not publishing. It's the internet. Yes, I write to write for an audience. But this is a non-paying, tiny, anonymous audience. If I feel like writing against the grain, about something I don't even want to bother to explain to the audience, I should be able to do that, and the audience should have no further expectation. Come back another day. And if I don't win you over on that day, maybe I'll lose a reader. But maybe, just maybe, the writing will work for a post that's actually longer than a paragraph. Maybe the audience is sophisticated enough to make it that far.
OK, enough celebrating.
Within the article, which mainly offered some helpful technical tips on how to get your web log out there, they also offered some tips on writing. Here's the one that caught my disfancy:
Keep your posts and paragraphs short. Note the brevity of the aforementioned post. People will come back daily to read your fresh new work but spare them the one thousand word diatribes. Strive for succinct posts that pump pertinent new information into the blogosphere and move on. Keep it short and sweet so visitors can pop in, read up, and click on. Think of you
This is my only internet-wide complaint regarding web logs. Some can be great, some can suck, but more and more often writers' posts are short. And that's great: short and to the point is often all that is required. But for Blogger to promote this trend is to say that anything worth saying must be said quickly. I guess it's because I've read enough sites that hit the exact same format: short post, self-deprecating humor, done.
Shying away from a long post tells the audience you're afraid to write anything longer than the hit-and-run. It reminds me of a creative writing class, in which one kid could only write ironic, pop-culture-baiting humor. He was there for the laughs, nothing more. But after a while, it became predictable.
If a long post sucks, then the long post sucks. That's why there's a sidebar full of options to click to. What kills me about this is it's not publishing. It's the internet. Yes, I write to write for an audience. But this is a non-paying, tiny, anonymous audience. If I feel like writing against the grain, about something I don't even want to bother to explain to the audience, I should be able to do that, and the audience should have no further expectation. Come back another day. And if I don't win you over on that day, maybe I'll lose a reader. But maybe, just maybe, the writing will work for a post that's actually longer than a paragraph. Maybe the audience is sophisticated enough to make it that far.
