I'd beg to differ with you here, Chris. There is no one way to write
blogs, and what it is will depend on what it is for. My blog is one of
the most widely read independent - ie, not attached to a major media
outlet - theatre blogs in the world, and it's made me into the critic
of record here. And I write long essays, occasionally up to 3000
words. It's actually why people go there - in my blog, and a few
others around the traps, they can find the kind of in-depth analysis
they can't find elsewhere.
Just for the record, I have the journalism training - I trained as a
cadet (four years) on the Melbourne Herald and for decades have worked
all over the place in the print media, as a reporter, sub and now
critic. And in my small niche, what I do works very well.
xA
On Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 4:09 PM, Chris Jones <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Since I have been doing this blog thing I have a feeling that most blogs
> I have seen appear, shall we say, not really understanding the media
> format that they are using.
>
> What I remember seeing most in blogs are long pieces of prose, over
> several screen pages. From my perspective, including my formal training,
> this seems very much a mistaken understanding of the media you are
> writing with, in this case a blog.
>
> Blogs need shorter, single screen pieces. Blogs are more like news paper
> or magazine journalism, where even with feature articles, this can be
> broken up to screen size chunks.
>
> Not sure if this makes sense and of course to be fair most blog writers
> don't have the sort of training I have had access to. Long pieces of
> prose are the way most people seem to write in without questioning the
> form. Journalism works with small chunks of text pasted together, so
> requires a writing technique made available only to a few trained
> professional writers. There's a problem here but can't expand more.
> (Type out a short news article, that is a good way to get a feel for
> this style of writing. The inverted pyramid; where, when, what, how, why
> eeks hope that's correct. You delete from the end to fit around the
> ads.)
>
> --
> I have chronic fatigue syndrome so I may be delayed in my reply. Just to
> let you know, that's all. Chris Jones.
>
> Blog: http://abdevpoetics.blogspot.com/
>
--
Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
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