Short Forms

I'm in the middle of Creative Nonfiction: Researching and Crafting Stories of Real Life by Philip Gerard, a mercifully short and informative survey on writing as a craft. I've been blogging for a couple of years now and feel a sudden urge to figure out just what the heck I'm doing here. The writing, I mean. Blogging is nothing more than a steady, open-ended writing project that, hopefully, some people read over your shoulder. You might define it differently, but never-ending writing project really doesn't sound like something to get excited about, yet some of us do. So what gives?

Sorry, I can't really get my hands around the question of why writing clicks. That's like asking Why art? or Why sailing? If you really have to ask, there's not much hope of grasping an explanation. Why blogging? It's cheaper than a sailboat and I can't draw.

Anyway, there's a section where the author describes the Short Form genres, basically the set types of article in the 500 to 6000 word range generally published in magazines. It helped me to see the range and diversity of short form writing that can be adapted to blogging, which is essentially self-publishing in abbreviated short form, say 100 to 500 words. I'm going to just list the genre categories he reviews (at p. 103-06) adapted, in some cases, to blogging terminology. Then, for fun, I'm going to find a prior post at DMI, BCC, or BT that more or less matches each genre. This is sort of a writer's workshop type of exercise, I suppose. Maybe you can post links in the comments if you have a couple of particularly good examples at your own blog.

1. Idea Post - explores intellectual, philosophical, or doctrinal ground.
2. Travel - destination piece or, more generally, any journey motif.
3. Informational Post - documentary intro to a subject; a basic news story.
4. How-to, Health, Fitness - a step-by-step guide to doing some task.
5. Nature - relates nature, society, and human nature to the reader.
6. Science/Tech - which includes techie computer and software subjects.
7. Issue Post - explores any topical issue.
8. Public Event - a public happening, like a conference.
9. Political Analysis - plenty of that under the LDS umbrella these days.
10. Investigative Exposé - here, tends to bubble up from historical sources.
11. Review - critique of book or movie, a staple of my blog diet.
12. Personality Profile - short, fluffy bio of known person, with quotes.
13. Arranged Interview - Q&A or similar dialogue, with subject being the main speaker.
14. Personal Essay - stresses first-person experience with reflective commentary.
15. Memoir - memory in words, possibly of a significant historical event.
16. Adventure - a dramatic, true-life story; think mission.

From paging through my archives, I would add a few more genre types that are somewhat unique to blogging:

1. Source Link - link pointing to a worthwhile online essay or article


2. Around the Blogs - quick review with links to recent posts.


3. Letter - real or rhetorical.

Comments

[William Morris]

My posts are generally 1, 2,8 and 11. I also do 13, 14 and 15. Indeed the memoir/personal essay post is one that I really like and I'm pleased to see more of them pop up in the Bloggernacle (particularly at Times & Seasons).

I also do this thing that doesn't quite fit into the categories you list -- my 'idea' series where I post an idea for a work that I'd like to see written and published. It kind of fits in with your No. 1 above, but not exactly.

Examples:

First lines for Mormon fiction

A Mormon polyphonic novel

[Lisa]

Dave,
Have I mentioned today how much I worship your blog. Because I do. I really really do.

[Dave]

Nice reflections, WM. Has it occurred to anyone that a weblog is actually a form of polyphonic presentation? You can embed images and hyperlinks to other sites right in the text, and have posts surrounded by thumbnails of books (as on my left sidebar) other blogs or sites(as on my right sidebar). You can even give posts a soundtrack, although not many do.

Also, it's interesting that the Book of Abraham includes facsimiles as part of the actual text. That's rather adventurous for a mid-19th century publication. The Bible is all text -- no diagrams, figures, or illustrations included.

[Dave]

Thanks, Lisa, I'm always pleased to strike a sympathetic chord in readers. For actual worship, however, I would direct you to one of the Bloggernacle's full service blogs: here, here, or (for the mildly rebellious but nevertheless faithful blog worshipper) even here.

[Ann]

Those blogs are mere shadows of the excellent blogging found on DMI.

I guess my blog is an online journal, more than a blog. I rarely blog about ideas, unless something strikes me during the course of a day that I think I know something about (a rare event.) I don't think online journaling is the same as a memoir, because Little Boy losing his first tooth isn't really significant or meaningful...it's just what happened that day.

[kris]

Dave -- Thanks for this. As I am new to blogging, I am still asking myself "Why blog" and wondering what it means and how I make it work. I love reading personal essays on blogs and in books or periodicals -- I find them very powerful.

I also like # 1,3,7, 12 and like reading "around the blogs" type reviews.

[J. Stapley]

Dave's my hero.

[J. Stapley]

I've been thinking about these denominations and I think that there could be another (that I seem to favor):

The Dialectic

This is similar to #1, yet basically sets out a thesis and antithesis, then hopes for a synthesis in the comments.

[Dave]

Yes, JS, I've found that approach to issue or idea posts works nicely. "Know-it-all" bloggers tend to write ten paragraph diatribes on why their view is the one true way of looking at things, then wonder why no one comments. If you just say "here's a link to something interesting, here's how I feel, of course there's another way of looking at it too," you get lots of comment.

Of course, there might be other ways of thinking about how to structure idea posts.