I was out for coffee last week, bouncing ideas off my good friend Leif and I came to the conclusion that we bloggers are a bit boring some times. Even the spiciest of us aren’t that spicy. We stick to first person. We tell stories and we tell our opinions. I am not blaming any of you. I do the exact same thing. I think there is room to spice up our approaches and add a little extra perspective to our ideas.
I am not talking about anything too fancy, but simple ways to bring new perspective to our writing that require just a bit more work. Basically, try this and you will lose ten pounds in five days1.
Joint Blogging
On Friday, Lee and I did our first ever joint post. I don’t know if this has been done before. I have never seen it. If it hasn’t been done then let it be known that it was my brilliance that thought of joint blogging and praise me for my creativity and genius—lord knows my self-esteem could use it.
The idea came from seeing many joint press releases going past my eyes. I think you could apply this in several different ways. For our first joint post, Lee blogged first and I blogged second. If you have a blogging partner then try this out. If you don’t, maybe instead of another guest post, write a post with another blogger. You could switch off like Lee and I did or maybe try alternating paragraphs. Or sentences if you really wanted a challenge. I think switching off words would just be ridiculous. Play around with it and I think you will find favourable results.
Character Blogging
There is a lot of discussion amongst writers about finding your voice. Finding and having a voice in writing and blogging is important. It gives consistency to your work. However, finding ones voice is not easy. In fact, it’s relative to going on a pilgrimage to the Vatican/Mecca/etc barefoot. Finding ones voice is generally a painful and confusing experience. I feel fairly confident in my blogging voice, but as far as writing is concerned I think I have a long way to go. However, in lieu of a voice, why not try character blogging?
Blogging in character is a lot easier. For instance, if you wanted to blog in the character of Hulk Hogan you just need to say brother a lot and talk about all the little Hulkamaniacs. The most famous character blog that I know of is Fake Steve. While working towards finding your voice, try on a character. Experimenting with other voices will likely help you find yours as well. Furthermore, I think we would often be tempted to start a second blog if we wanted to express a different opinion or topic. You should consider creating a special character to post on a different opinion or topic at the same blog.
Interviews
Interviewing, like joint blogging, can give some fresh perspective to a post that if it had been singular likely would have been very dry. The one thing I would encourage is to ask questions that directly interest you. The interviews that I enjoy best are by the interviewers that ask questions that aren’t generic. I think the interviewer and interviewee should both be excited by the conversation not just milking questions that the blogger down the road already asked. I know the temptation is to simply ask the basic questions, but if everyone is doing that, then why bother? I permit one generic question and then you need to go in for the kill and get the good stuff.
I know there are more ideas out there. What do you do to add a little spice once and a while? Something you want to try or haven’t yet tried?
1 Blogging has never been proven to increase anyones chances of losing weight. In fact, it probably hurts more than it helps… I am going for a jog.
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4 Comments
I like the idea of mixing up lots of different styles and taking a new approach to blogging each article. Not only does it keep your interest but it is also more of a challenge to write in a different persona or style. The pay-off of course is that the articles are (hopefully) more interesting to our readership too. My last post used a dialogue to introduce the subject I was discussing before going back into my natural voice to discuss the topic further. I thought this worked well for this posting and perhaps using a mix of styles for blog writing could liven them up even further. I know this example isn’t a massive juxtaposition but it could be fun to explore this.
That is a perfect example Kevin. It’s a great way to bring a very simple character into your blog. I especially like the idea of creating a dialogue. You don’t have to create a complex character, but it’s an easy and assertive way to get your point across. Plus, it really feels like a conversation and so I think there is more opportunity for commenting.
I just wanted to say, I’m really appreciating this blog. As someone who just started a blog about a month ago and is already feeling like everybody has lost interest because it is boring and very similar to every other blog, it is great to be getting advice on how to jazz things up a bit.
Thanks Ian. I am glad you are enjoying this place. I think often people think blogging as being really easy to keep up and keep people coming back, but it is a lot of work. Though I think you have certainly caught onto a lot of good methods already. I think you will find quickly what does and does not work with your audience.
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