Lisi,

︎ Alicia

Alicia, I’m certainly no expert blah-ger, but I have committed to posting every week for my readers, no matter the circumstance (OK there has been the rare exception), so I’ve picked up a few tips along the way and learned what it means to be blah-g worthy. Here’s what works for me and what might help you with your own blah-g writing.

DECIDE WHAT KIND OF BLAH-G YOU WANT TO WRITE

What is your blah-g about? Is it based on sharing information or sharing more personal aspects about your life each week? Are you talking about fashion or hobbies or everything under the sun? There are all different kinds of blah-gs so this tip doesn’t need to be so narrow, but readers will want to come to your site and within a few moments understand what your blah-g is all about. Can they either learn something from it or be entertained or both? Find your blah-g “type” or brand, if you will, and be consistent. Which reminds me…

BE CONSISTENT WITH YOUR POSTS!

A major part of developing a blah-g audience is to deliver when readers expect you to post. This allows people to keep your blah-g in mind and return each week for new content, and it’s a great way to develop your blah-g community. I’ve read blah-gers should set one day a week to put up new posts. Mine’s Wednesday. Yours could be Tuesday, or Thursday, or whichever day you choose so long as you post on that day each week. Don’t post more frequently than that unless you can truly commit to a few quality articles.

WRITE FOR YOURSELF FIRST

Choose topics that interest you, ones you can enthusiastically write about and genuinely want to explore or share with your readers. Don’t worry about whether or not anyone else reads your posts; eventually they will. But it takes time to grow your audience. Write about what excites you and that will translate into excited readers who care about your words. Be true to your voice. If you don’t know what that is just yet, you’ll be developing it each week the more you blah-g.

STAY ON THE PULSE OF NEW POST IDEAS

This is where things get tricky. I brainstorm each week with my office elf to decide what the next blah-g post will be. Sometimes it feels like I’ve already blah-ged about everything worth blah-ging about. It’s not true. There’s always a fresh way to look at a topic and it’s your job as the blah-ger to find it. A great way to write compelling posts is to engage with your social media network, keep tabs on any comments or tweets you’re getting, and pull out of those places topics your readers are interested in. They’ll let you know.

HEADLINES ARE EVERYTHING

They’re the first words people read, and often they’re the only words people will even see when sharing your posts on social media. So make your headlines catchy and intriguing. Make them click-worthy and readers will know you’re blah-g worthy.

Lastly, KEEP GOING! Building a strong blah-g takes time and practice. Don’t give up because your follower count isn’t where you expect it to be. Be good to the readers you have and give them blah-g love whenever possible. More will come.

Hope that helps!

TTYW,

Lisi

The post An Alpha-Worthy Blah-g appeared first on Lisi Harrison.

Here’s what Lydia said:

Lisi you always give the best advice…
I’ve been writing a book since March and I’m only on Chapter 4. My process is pretty slow, but I want to get it moving a least a little bit. If I can’t think of anything for my current chapter, I write little bits and pieces in my notes. I also feel like my writing style is inconsistent. I try to use descriptive words here and there, but it seems too sporadic. Plus my witty retorts and personalities for the characters remind me of “The Fault In Our Stars” and feel too dated. How can I find my own style of writing without letting the books I read influence it too much? 

Lydia, I feel your pain here. Based on what you explained is happening it sounds like you may not have started with an outline. WRITE AN OUTLINE FIRST. Is there a specific message or idea you want to explore? Is the book plot or character driven? Have you thought about how you want the story to resolve? Characters and some plot lines will probably end up changing along the way, but get down the basic skeleton of where you want the story to go. It’s a must. It will save you days if not months of agonizing over the turns you want to take in your book.

As for your descriptive words feeling a little sporadic, are you peppering in adjectives or are you fleshing out a scene based on the senses? Show, don’t tell. Give your reader a feel for the scene by describing the taste of air on a muggy day, the smell of a character’s home, or the texture of the worn-in hoodie she always wears.

Develop your characters as much as possible. Get to know their dark secrets, their driving motivations, their quirks, worries and fears. If it helps your mind to stay organized, create a doc for each character and include everything about him/her down to their favorite snacks, sayings and what nervous ticks they have. All of this will inform you while you’re fleshing them out. It will also make it easier to imagine what your characters might do in the situations you’re creating for them, which will help with your momentum.

I’d usually say to read as many books as possible by your favorite authors to get familiar with the tone and structure of stories you like, but you’ve mentioned you might be too closely mimicking another writer’s voice. While you’re honing your craft and finding your voice, this isn’t the worst thing in the world to do. You come with an entirely unique set of experiences and will approach TFIOS diferently than John Green did writing it. Even if you’re basing some characters’ personalities off of the ones he’s created, you’ll naturally insert your own twists, which will engender new variations. Play around with that. See which parts of them you like, which parts can be edited back and try to develop what will make your characters complex and memorable.

With all that said… four chapters since March? You’re doing great! Keep it up and let us know how the book is coming along soon.

TTYW,

Lisi

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