New bloggers sound like asshats.
In the beginning, they come off as proper and pretentious. This is for a couple reasons:
- Blogging expectations are gray. All other media is written by specific professionals under a specific set of standards we’re all familiar with (we know how a newspaper article should read; we know the tone of our favorite magazines). But anyone can blog. In any way. With no rules to follow, new bloggers fall back on the only way they know how to write, which brings me to my next point…
- Most of us developed our writing skills composing academic papers. We tried to sound formal, grammatically correct, more intelligent than we were, and as if we’d done more research than we had. This is the voice we have associated with our writer self, so when we start blogging, we do it in that voice. You know your professors were rolling their eyes as they read–your readers will do the same, but then they’ll click that little “x” and never come back.
Don’t sit down to blog as your writer self. Put that identity out of your mind. Develop a new one.
Here’s how to do it.
1. Identify Inspiration
For Alternative Badassery, I try to shoot for a voice that’s a combination of Johnny B. Truant‘s in-your-face, F-bomb-dropping directness, Melissa Heraldo‘s hilarious wit and sarcasm, Penelope Trunk‘s unapologetic honesty, and Emilie Wapnick‘s charming sweetness. I hear bits of my own voice in the writing of all of these people.
Choose 3 or 4 bloggers whose style you really dig and is similar to the way you talk to your friends (KEY!), and imagine what blending all their voices together into one would sound like. Write with that voice.
2. Define Your Audience
Profiling your ideal reader is, like, Blogging 101, but I’ve found it to be a difficult exercise, so do your best and try to revisit the exercise often. The main point is, you would speak to a 45-year-old man who spends his weekends hunting and fishing differently than you would a 13-year-old girl who is stressing over her outfit for Saturday night’s dance at the Teen Outback. So imagine the kind of person you’re trying to reach with your blog, and write in a way that would resonate with her/him.
3. Get Into Character
Beyonce used to have an alter ego, Sasha Fierce, which she embodied for performances. It was all about getting into a certain mind-set: Sasha Fierce was more dramatic and daring than Beyonce, so pretending to be Sasha helped her rock it on stage. I think this is awesome and brilliant, and can be applied to blogging.
Develop a character that is the new writer you. How does this person look, feel, act, speak? Nail down a description, then spend a bit of time on the blogs that inspire your voice to help you make a mental switch and put that person’s hat on. Then start writing.
4. Write When You’re in the Appropriate Mood
I peak in the mornings. The super-early hours are my most creative, followed by a period of exceptionally high energy that lasts until about 1pm. Creative and energetic are definitely the vibes I want AB posts to give off, so I do almost all my blogging in the first half of the day.
Figure out when you’re naturally in the mood you want your blog to convey, and try to do most of your writing then.
5. Write Like You Speak
This is probably the best item on the list. Imagine your ideal reader sitting across the table from you, and have a conversation with them. (Except you’re being a dick because you’re just talking at them, but you know what I mean.) With your post’s topic in mind, sit down to coffee in your head with your reader, and tell them about this subject. Write all that out.
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Discuss
Did you sound obnoxious when you first started blogging? (I did. For two years. AB is my third blog.) Have you established your blogging voice? How would you describe it?
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I think I’m just starting to find my voice, even though I’ve been blogging for almost 4 years. I heard somewhere that to find your voice, imagine yourself talking to your best friend. When I’m with my closest friends, I’m quirky and slightly inappropriate. I’m finally letting that come out in my writing, which I didn’t expect would make me feel a little more vulnerable than I’ve been before in writing.
And your advice on writing when the mood is appropriate is so spot on. My energy and “quirkiness” is the highest early in the morning. That’s when I do my writing now.
Mak, really related to this: “I’m quirky and slightly inappropriate. I’m finally letting that come out in my writing, which I didn’t expect would make me feel a little more vulnerable than I’ve been before in writing.” I could have written these exact words about myself.
And of course, I’m with you on writing in the morning.
Thanks for reading!
You’re welcome, Cassie. 🙂
Hehe, I suppose I can be “quirky and slightly inappropriate” too, I like that description. If I register on a dating site I’ll have to use it.
I’ve just written my first ever blog post for my new website and these 5 points sound like too much hard work! 😛
They all make sense though. I write without thinking about how I’m writing. I’ve just re-read that first ever blog and I don’t think I sound obnoxious, so hopefully I don’t. Though it reads a little bit like National Geographic and I’m not a big fan of their writing style. Come to think of it I think that first ever blog is more of an article, so perhaps it’s right that (apart from the occasional lapse) it is a bit more formal.
High five for your first post! Want to share the link? I’ll do some searching…
You won’t find it! And I fear that if I post a link here, Google will find and index it. It really is that bad! Actually, it’s because the website probably won’t be finished for at least another week, but thanks for asking. 🙂 It’s about a town that was once the most polluted in Europe (with lots of photos) so if you’re still interested I’ll try and remember to send you the link when it’s ready.
I’m going to use your tip #5 the next time I write something. One step at a time…
SEND THE LINK, for sure.
For your #1, I try to emulate a combination of Penelope Trunk and Johnny B. Truant too! I love blunt. But I also try to throw a bit of Havi Brooks into the mix. (She writes at fluentself.com and you need a glossary to understand her at first, but I love how freely she talks about her own inner world. She has a unique way of remaining private, setting up boundaries, and yet somehow being sweet, wacky, and open all at the same time.)
As for your #5, a useful way to get better at writing like you speak is to actually write by speaking. I wrote this very comment with the speech recognition software Dragon NaturallySpeaking! I’ve been experimenting with it for the past two days and so far I’ve loved it.
Will def be checking out Havi Brooks now–thanks for the info!
And I’ve heard of the Dragon software, but didn’t actually know anyone that had real experience with it until now. Very cool. Sounds like I should look into it further.
I like your site, great clean design, good writing. I just started blogging and am totally aware of what you’re talking about, I’ve even caught myself getting bored with my own voice!
So I’ve been listening to comedy podcasts just before writing, just to make sure I don’t get too uptight and start writing another ‘manifesto’ esque Nietzsche-inspired rant…
Not that I write about Nietzsche, but for awhile there I was copping his tone in my writing, and it was weird.
I feel you, Josh–there are still plenty of times that I’ll start editing a post and think, god, who wrote this? What a douchebag…
Listening to comedy podcasts before writing is brilliant!!
I agree with writing when you’re in the appropriate mood. For some reason my best posts comes when the ideas strikes me and I’m able to write it all down within the hour. And sometimes with no editing!
I like the alter ego idea. I might have to make a name up, like ‘Spunky Spukivich” haha..
I really need to do more of the “when the idea strikes me” writing, including the no-editing. Those are the pure passion posts–and they’re awesome.
Also, I’d totally be friends with Spunky Spukivich.