This is going to be a rambling post- when was I ever a focused one!
Anyway, I think I started out on the web a year back or sometime earlier. Having read some blogs, I wanted to do that, naturally. But then, if I start again, I will do some things differently.
One of that will be- I won't join a group blog. Don't mistake me, if I am not writing here, no one would read me, I am grateful to you, but when you do a group blog, you are writing with others in mind, anxious to keep in sync.
As I said in an earlier post, a blog should be the focus of your activity on the web. And when you do a group blog, it takes some time to focus properly.
What do I mean when I say that your blog should be the focus of your web-life?
For one thing, to state the obvious, it is a fantastic bookmarking tool.
All you need to do is, make some note when you come across something interesting, and then link it and post it your blog- giving it proper label/ tag.
When I say something, it doesn't mean any old thing. Any blog needs to have a focus, a central thread, and the problem is to find it. Unless you have it, which is to say, unless you find your voice, you will come across all confused and send out contradictory messages- people won't come back to see your posts.
In blogging, as in everything else, you need to raise some expectations, and fulfil them eighty percent of the time, at least.
I am not saying that you should try to be popular, and write the sort of content that you know will bring visitors to your blog (an easy way to do is to watch the trends, or do a blog search, and post whatever everyone is posting. But that gets dull after a time- you lose your soul, if you thought you had one, that is).
Now, whoever you are, you have some expertise, some special knowledge in something, or you are interested in something. Start out from there- keep yourself confined to this- at least eighty percent of the time.
This is what I mean when I say you need to keep the blog the centre of your activity. Focus. It is easy to fritter away time and energy in useless discussion, and useless sharing of content- I know, I've done both. But when you decide that there is a particular area of interest, and you are going to collect information, and organise it, make sense of it and communicate it to whoever is interested in that- it re-energises your life, your activity outside blogging.
I am not being specific, but then, as I said, this is the first post of a series of my thoughts on blogging. So let's take this as an introduction.
For a start, I will put it this way: your blog is a place to which you should bring in material relating to an area in which you are active, or about which you feel you should talk. Things happen that make you want to speak out.
Every one of us is a social creature, and we constantly share our feelings and concerns with whoever happens to be around us. It is not that we can't blog- we don't happen to see its place in our world.
And what could it be?
Any one of you have anything to add to this?
Read all your posts on blogging. These would be useful to initiate people to blogging. Sharing what they watch in the world wide web.
ReplyDeleteWhat about thoughts. Write ideas as they occur to you irrespective of the length.
Like an exercise. I must write daily 100 words of what comes to my mind.
Your words.
I am not in favour of setting targets and keeping to it- especially when it comes to writing, and creative writing at that.
ReplyDeleteIt would be a mistake to write for the sake of writing- though it certainly is a good exercise.
But there comes an artifice when you do that. If all I do is blog, then it is certainly a good idea to set myself to post one or two or even three posts of a certain length. But that would be like journalism (sorry for the pun!)
I think T.S.Eliot spoke of something called poetic sensibility. It is like the opening of an inner eye and seeing of the world a different manner.
The reason we are not able to write is that we don't have anything to write- seriously. We can't describe how cool the day is, or imagine a situation that would bring out a particular conflict, in a believable way.
What we should do rather, as a way of learning the art of seeing the world and living in it as a creative writer- is to do what zen advises us to do: look at a leaf or a dog or anything and describe it in particulars.
We can set ourselves the task of doing this at set intervals: for example, every thirty minutes or so- we might ask ourselves the question- what is in front of me?- and describe it viscerally- its colour, texture, odour, etc., and add with it, our reactions.
I think instead of words, if we say items- everyday I should blog about three items / three people/ three situations, and so on, taking care to describe all the particulars- especially as it is apprehended by the senses- we might do a better job at it- and enjoy the whole thing.
When it comes to fiction, I think first we have to get a story in the head, and in writing, beef it up through asking these questions:
What kind of a situation is the point of this story? (Circumstance)
This happens to what kind of a man? (Character).
And brings about what kind of a reaction? (resolution/ reaction).
I think these three elements are to be found, and are important to a story- though not always in the post-modern ones.
I am interested to know what you think about all this.
Sorry for the long comment.
I agree with you Baskar. But I don't see how this can't translate to at least 100 words a day. And those words need not become a post. They could be a window to something else.
ReplyDeleteThe experience of traveling at night. Nothing major or revolutionary. What may become tough is to compulsorily draw essence out of a simple walk.
yes, of course it is the same- but i was looking more in terms of training the imagination. I find it works better if I am specific about it: I think what we need is to learn to look at the world in terms of words and images without implicating ourselves into it. If we learn to do that, words might come easy.
ReplyDeleteDon't know, honestly.