Friday, March 09, 2007
The Dramatical Urge
Pertinent to personal bloggers trying to communicate their own diverse interests, here's a useful article (via Arts & Letters Daily) that talks about how to write about obscure academic topics for a general audience.
The author describes the original opening passage of his book, and the dramatic confrontation with his editor that followed:
I just had to find something. Anything, it didn't really matter, as long as I don't disappoint the regular readers of this blog – and myself – by failing to post something during a calendar day. The afternoon was passing quickly, tonight was movie night, and if I didn't act soon I might not get another chance. It had to be now or never.
And there it was, on Arts & Letters Daily, a link to an article about writing clear prose in academic expression. I quickly saw the potential, that the academic problem of appealing to a small audience might also apply to bloggers trying to interest a wide range of people in personal musings on various topics. "But hold on," I thought, "There's nothing in here related to one of the top Technorati searches! How can I possibly interest anyone in an article about Gilgamesh?"
And then I realized. You don't necessarily have to write about Antonella Barba, Youtube, Dell, Myspace, Clay Aiken, Matt Sanchez, Baudrillard, Captain America and American Idol to have a successful blog. All you need to do is introduce a connection to a topic that people may not have thought about before, and you'll do fine. Maintain the element of surprise. Don't let anyone know what's coming next.
"Just shut up and press the 'publish' button already before you give away all of your trade secrets," said Ratt. "Let's go for a walk."
I pressed the button, and the blogosphere was safe for one more day.
The author describes the original opening passage of his book, and the dramatic confrontation with his editor that followed:
I had begun with a flourish, emphasizing the excitement created when a young curator at the British Museum first deciphered the Gilgamesh epic, with its seeming confirmation of the biblical story of the Flood: "When George Smith discovered the Flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh in the fall of 1872, he made one of the most dramatic discoveries in the history of archaeology." Sterling ran his pen along these lines, but instead of praising this bold beginning, he tapped the page and asked, "Couldn't you make this opening just a bit more dramatic?"Hmm. Maybe I should rewrite this opening to this blog post.
He was right. I had told the reader that George Smith had made a dramatic discovery, but I had failed to dramatize the scene at all.
I just had to find something. Anything, it didn't really matter, as long as I don't disappoint the regular readers of this blog – and myself – by failing to post something during a calendar day. The afternoon was passing quickly, tonight was movie night, and if I didn't act soon I might not get another chance. It had to be now or never.
And there it was, on Arts & Letters Daily, a link to an article about writing clear prose in academic expression. I quickly saw the potential, that the academic problem of appealing to a small audience might also apply to bloggers trying to interest a wide range of people in personal musings on various topics. "But hold on," I thought, "There's nothing in here related to one of the top Technorati searches! How can I possibly interest anyone in an article about Gilgamesh?"
And then I realized. You don't necessarily have to write about Antonella Barba, Youtube, Dell, Myspace, Clay Aiken, Matt Sanchez, Baudrillard, Captain America and American Idol to have a successful blog. All you need to do is introduce a connection to a topic that people may not have thought about before, and you'll do fine. Maintain the element of surprise. Don't let anyone know what's coming next.
"Just shut up and press the 'publish' button already before you give away all of your trade secrets," said Ratt. "Let's go for a walk."
I pressed the button, and the blogosphere was safe for one more day.
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