Starting a blog

[ThreeWords]

I was taking to a friend the other day, and she told me about a blog she was writing. As I heard tales of the enjoyability of writing your thoughts out, and the semi-celebrity feeling of knowing people read it, I began to be interested in the idea.

However, despite being on this site for the last year or so, I am remarkably un-knowledgeable of the greater internet. I know little about how to go about blogging, which sites are worth using, what to write about, or bad habits to avoid.

This is where 'you lot' come in. Got thoughts, advice, stories, whatever? Please mention them here
[sup]And unlike those who write about relationship problems, with this I am asking the right people[/sup]

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

Make up a story involving several characters and one that has deep emotional connections between them. Then keep putting them in situations and tell what they do to get themselves out of the situation.

 

[RaphaelsRedemption]

Try Blogspot, it is fairly easy to use (I have contributed to blogs using that, so I have some idea of what I'm talking about).

Try to mix your media when blogging: text, music, photos.

Be disciplined! Write everyday, even if it's only one short story about something that happened to you.

And finally... blogs are easier to write if they have some sort of focus: gaming, cooking, relationships etc. It also gives people a hook, or reason to begin reading in the firsplace. Think hard about what's important to you, and write about it.

And good luck

 

[ThreeWords]

Well thank you, the pair of you. Pity more people didn't turn up, but hey...

 

[TheFacelessOne]

GREAT!

Except no one knows you.

Just by what you're telling us, it tells us that no one knows you. You have to have people who know you to give a crap about your blog. Otherwise, you might as well be writing to a wall.

I once made a blog for my youtube account with 200+ suscribers. Most viewers I got in one day was 14. OMG I'M SUCH A CELEBRITY.

Sorry, kinda ranting here. Good luck, hope you can get a following.

 

[aspher]

wordpress.com is a great blogging site offering a free wordpress blog, which is probably the best platform.

Blogs are best when there's a community attached to them. Starting one up on your own webspace for example means you have to peddle it around, but if you sign up for a wordpress or livejournal or a blogspot account where your account is linked making commenting easier, tags etc. it's much easier.

There's also microblogging sites like tumblr.com which are more like scrapbooks of interesting information you come across, pictures, videos, quotes etc.

 

[Daipire]

And finally... blogs are easier to write if they have some sort of focus: gaming, cooking, relationships etc. It also gives people a hook, or reason to begin reading in the firsplace.

Make up a story involving several characters and one that has deep emotional connections between them. Then keep putting them in situations and tell what they do to get themselves out of the situation.

Combining the two previous ideas, why not make up humourous little stories about lesser characters in video games?

Or if you were actually in a video game.

You could do a sort of review-y thing too.

 

[Mariakitten]

Huh I get the same semi-celebrity feeling when some one quotes or messages me on The Escapist, otherwise it feels like no one reads my posts.

OT: Id try Blogspot, or iweb if you have a Mac. or you could just code it if your a programer. Starting a blog is a fun experience.

 

[Daipire]

Huh I get the same semi-celebrity feeling when some one quotes or messages me on The Escapist, otherwise it feels like no one reads my posts.

I know the feeling, it's awesome, but usually just someone semi-flaming me...

 

[Mariakitten]

Huh I get the same semi-celebrity feeling when some one quotes or messages me on The Escapist, otherwise it feels like no one reads my posts.

I know the feeling, it's awesome, but usually just someone semi-flaming me...

Yay, I've been quoted and now you have too! well at least they read your post to be able to try and flame you.

 

[ThreeWords]

GREAT!

Except no one knows you.

Just by what you're telling us, it tells us that no one knows you. You have to have people who know you to give a crap about your blog. Otherwise, you might as well be writing to a wall.

I once made a blog for my youtube account with 200+ suscribers. Most viewers I got in one day was 14. OMG I'M SUCH A CELEBRITY.

Sorry, kinda ranting here. Good luck, hope you can get a following.

Do you reckon it's worth linking it to my Escapist account?

I'm sorta well known on the RP circuit, and there's a few there who might give enough of a crap to be a start...

Huh I get the same semi-celebrity feeling when some one quotes or messages me on The Escapist, otherwise it feels like no one reads my posts.

I know the feeling, it's awesome, but usually just someone semi-flaming me...

Yay, I've been quoted and now you have too! well at least they read your post to be able to try and flame you.

Quotes for EVERYONE!

 

[ThreeWords]

I have a blog [http://morethanthreewordsaday.blogspot.com/]!!!
However, as the first and only post says, I have yet to come up with a decent plan for what to write about.

So far, I have two plans; write about myself and my thoughts in a boring and unoriginal way, or write a continuing story about a number of characters.
Thoughts/advice?

 

[The Hairminator]

You should try reading others blogs, until you find something you'd like to write about. Maybe you could even write about different things from time to time, but that would require your readers to be interested in you and not your ever changing subjects.

You could also, y'know, think of an excuse for your absence.

 

[child of lileth]

I just write random updates every so often. Maybe a few months inbetween each one. I just keep it down to what I'm working on at the time, and if there's any events I want to mention. As for where, I just use the one provided on other forums I use.

 

[Tharwen]

Don't write it about yourself. People won't want to know. Only do that as a one-off which people may be interested to read to find out more about the mysterious blogger behind the other, non-personal updates.

 

[Good morning blues]

You should know what you want your blog to be before you start; nobody's going to want to read yet another blog by some nerd talking about insular, alienating topics.

That said, I'll throw another vote behind Wordpress.

 

[ThreeWords]

You should try reading others blogs, until you find something you'd like to write about. Maybe you could even write about different things from time to time, but that would require your readers to be interested in you and not your ever changing subjects.

You could also, y'know, think of an excuse for your absence.

[sup]I have a reason for my absence! I just didn't mention it yet[/sup]

I was grounded, and not allowed the use of the interwebs, for the last two weeks. I'm sorry to have abandoned you again...

You should know what you want your blog to be before you start; nobody's going to want to read yet another blog by some nerd talking about insular, alienating topics.

That said, I'll throw another vote behind Wordpress.

That is a fair point. Meditation seems to be in order, rather than the random starting of things before time.

Since people have advised against self-reference, I think I'll head down the line of story writing. I already have one idea, but I'm not sure how popular it would be.

It would be following the life of a teenager who i have yet to name, and his life in general. While I can't objectively say whether it will be interesting, it seems to promise some rather low sections. Things may pick up, I feel, when summer comes, but I have yet to plan that far ahead.

Also, many of the things I want to write about require some 'history' of past events, but they are too spread out to be worth writing about in themselves. Is it viable to write about them in passing as the main story advances, or is that overly pretentious foolishly complex?

[sup]These remarks are for everyone, not just Mr Blues[/sup]