Does this stylesheet make my writing look flat?
Joi Ito's entry about writing style and blogging contains a link to Ten Mistakes Writers Don't See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do). As I was reading it, I was thinking of all the times I'd made those mistakes, especially on my blog. Especially mistake #2, "flat writing."
Not that I've been in the blogging game that long (though hey, I'm well past the one month mark), but in my own quest for more engaging blog writing, I've been trying to adopt a more "verbal" style. That's the way I've always written email. It helps me avoid the trap of non-fiction: sounding like a documentary or an article in a research journal (shudder). Is that what most people do?
Comments
I have a problem with the word "really". Really, I use it way too often. I read Stephen King's review of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and he said that Rowling appears to be lacking confidence in her writing because she uses so many adverbs. This is also one of my issues, I guess, cause I love adverbs. Jeff gave me King's "On Writing" for Christmas, but I haven't cracked it open yet.
I try to keep a conversational tone in the blog, for good or bad. Christina writes more like she's writing. I'm terse; she's talkier. I hope this keeps our blog from getting boring in the all-one-style way.
Posted by: Vanessa | January 18, 2004 05:08 PM