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The Right Writing Style
Terry Freedman in News & views, Using and Teaching ICT Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 12:03AM Permalink 
My deskWhat is the 'correct' style for a blog post? When I first started blogging, I decided that my blog should be pretty serious. After all, one wants to be taken seriously, so it's logical that an article with a serious intent should be written in a serious manner.
But there are degrees of seriousness. If a blog post comes across as too didactic, it may prove useful, and may even be bookmarked for future reference. But it won't be enjoyed necessarily.On the other hand, some blogs go too far the other way in my opinion. Blog posts which use the occasional swear word may be funny, but you can't really share them professionally. I experienced something like this before blogs came on the scene. Back in 1998 I saw an hilarious diatribe against the internet by a British comedian called Ben Elton. I should have loved to have shown it at my next Ed Tech Co-ordinators' Day; unfortunately, the use of a swear word at a crucial point made it an untenable prospect.
One of the things I am growing weary of, when I read some blogs, is their underlying arrogance. In my opinion, blogs are meant to encourage conversation, but it's difficult to feel confident to start a conversation with someone whose tone already suggests that theirs is the only valid viewpoint. I have to say, it is almost exclusively men who have this trait in my experience.
In my own writings, I have become increasingly conversational in tone. I'm writing more and more often in a way that is closer to speaking than writing. I'm not sure if that is objectively good or bad, but it feels right for me.
And I think that is the crucial point. When it comes to blogs, which, after all, started their existence as personal web logs or journals, we need to find our own voice and our own style. Only if we enjoy the act of writing will others enjoy the act of reading it.
Surely that is the standpoint we must adopt in schools too? For example, should youngsters be asked to 'correct' their grammar or not to use text-speak in their blogs? Should they even be asked to correct their spelling?
If I were back in the classroom now, I think what I'd like to do is encourage my pupils to experiment in lots of different ways when writing their blogs. I try out different things myself, sometimes writing list-style articles, other times writing longer, more discursive pieces. Occasionally I even experiment with fiction writing. As far as I'm concerned, experimentation is fundamentally necessary, in the same way that exercise is necessary.
Let's make 2010 the year of trying out new ways to express ourselves in blogs!
This is a slightly amended version of an article I posted at the Technology & Learning blog yesterday.
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Reader Comments (8)
Hi, Terry,
Though a frequent reader, I am a first time commenter here and stopped by just to say, yes, write more simply, more accessibly. If I want a serious academic style backed up by research, I will go to the journals.
Blogs should be more personal and inviting of comment in a way journals aren't.
I should be able to hear your 'voice' here, in the same way I am hopeful my readers can hear mine.
And adopting an opaque and convoluted academic tenor will not increase credibility but may, in fact, decrease readibility.
Thx for your comment, Marisa. Yes, I think you're probably right. I know I go to blogs not just for the information/insights, but because of that person's unique voice and style. Thx for helping me to clarify this in my own mind.
Thank you for that thoughtful piece Terry, which, for me, reaches the right conclusions. I'd just add these thoughts, which are intended to be generally about blogging and not targeted specifically on you, because you're very experienced at it.
Since 1969 I've written about 15 books (get a different number every time I count) and thousands of articles, for publication and for money. Always I've had good editors. That's what's missing in a blog, so you have to be your own editor. Read your stuff with an outsider's eye, ready to say, "Come off it, Mate". Be ruthless about cutting. Whatever style you write, make it consistent. Every publication has its house style. You need yours, so you can ask, with your editorial hat on, "Is this the kind of thing I expect to see here?" (You've made a decision about swearing, for example) Get that consistent quality right and people will turn to your work with expectations. As you say, the besetting sin of this kind of internet publication is self-centred arrogance. It's too easy to fall into it. We all do. But if we're careful to put the editor's hat on we hould be able to spot it and knock it back, converting it to questions, floated ideas, thoughts attributed to others and so on.
One final thought. Time and again, when I write an article, I go back and cut the whole of the first para. That's because I've sort of used it to get up speed, and it ends up being quite redundant. The general point is that ruthlessness with the virtual scissors is essential for all writers. "Kill your babies" is oft-used saying -- i.e. don't be afraid to cut favourite lines. You may be the only one who thinks they're any good.
One of your most memorable posts for me was your comic! I love a bit of humor in posts I read. However, I also love passionate pieces. You're right that often top 10 this or that I quickly bookmark and will less like comment on, but I have used these posts at various times so just because I'm not commenting on them doesn't necessarily mean they weren't useful. I do know what you mean by angry posts but I tend to just not read that blog anymore. Sometimes, I like angry but when the views are aligned with my views. If it goes against my views then I'm rather bias.
@gerald Thx for those insightful comments. I agree with you about killing your babies, but it's incredibly hard to do. I've done it twice this week. Once, when I devised a brilliant opening para: it was brilliant, witty, erudite, and would almost certainly would have got me nominated for some sort of award (:-p). Unfortunately, it was too clever by half, and irrelevant to the article that followed!
Then yesterday, I wrote an entire article, but felt so uncomfortable about publishing it that I ditched it and started all over again.
Being one's own editor is hard.
By the way, I'm glad I'm not the only one who can never remeber the number of books he's published! LOL
@Shelly thx for yr comment! Glad u liked the comic post, and thx for reassurance that little commenting doesn't necessarily mean little notice! ('ve become aware of that before, in fact)
I don't like angry posts if they're not witty. If they're hilarious, that's OK, but if they're just negative, no thanks!
Just like Marisa, I like to hear the blogger's "voice". But whether your voice is a serious voice, or academic voice, I don't really mind, as long as it's yours and you feel at ease with it. I don't think there should be a particularly special way to write in blogs, really. But the comments should be taken into account of course, just like we take into account our students when teaching them : the feed back is very important, and it is immediate, visual and/or verbal in the face to face teaching situation : with blogs we only have the written asynchronic feed back.
Thanks, Alice. I agree with you that the writer has to feel at ease with it. And I agree with you about feedback, although I have to say that most of the feedback I receive for any particular article is to do with the content rather than the style - although I'm pleased to say that a lot of people have said they like the way I write.
The feedback in teaching and presenting is similar isn't it? You soon know when you've lost the audience; as you say, you don't know that at the time in the context of an article.
Thx for your insightful comments. Yours and everyone else's here have really given me much to think about.