Endoh’s Dungeon

Fellow bloggers like Rinaz or Cool Insider have casually chatted with me recently, either asking how do I throw out posts like I have or how do I find time to write such long posts. After reading Ah Pek’s Blog Gigs with a generous sharing of blogging knowledge, I thought I might as well do up a post and shed some lights on the “secrets” behind my writings.

Before I go on, I must confess that I am no professional writer or editor. It is really not too difficult to spot errors in sentence structuring or grammatical errors in every post. I must tell you, there are heaps of mistakes here and there. Rest assure, you will still see some of the mistakes in this post as well.

To start the ball rolling, here’s how I do my blogging.

1. How do I find time?
I am sure to some people, I would have appeared that I don’t even need to work and spend my entire day blogging. Of course not! I wished I can just type and earn several thousands every month but let’s face it, this ain’t gonna happen for my blog, and I have never set out with such an objective.

As most regular readers of my blog would have realised, I no longer post every single day like I used to. No, I am not suffering from writer’s blockage but rather, I write only 1/3 or half of the article over an hour each day. A post may take 2 or 3 days before it is finally ready to be published.

It is not uncommon to find several uncompleted drafts saved in my control panel.

2. Why such long posts?
Time also need to be set aside to do “research”. I am no professional writer, so reading news and other blogs helps. It is always good to have some form of backing when we write or say something. It is not a must, but at least you wouldn’t want to end up in a situation of being defamatory towards someone. As much as we believe our blogs are ours, I feel that there are still certain ethics to abide by unless one wishes to risk the possibility of writing a defamatory post.

Secondly, I hate the idea of being misunderstood. A short simple sentence can contain a wide variety of meanings. It’s really up to the readers to perceive what they like. Therefore, I try my best to elaborate my stand as much as I can. That will save me a lot of explanation to do thereafter.

3. If I have to write a post in full, why am I so quick?
I used to be a civil servant. Back then, occasionally we need to compile reports that go all the way up to MHA. Hence, I attended a course on writing skills in Civil Service College. This set of skills is also what I try to practise, even though I no longer need to produce such reports. Leaving the civil service sector doesn’t mean throwing away all these knowledge. A fair bit can be carried along with us in future endeavors.

The key is, visualize your post. Web/Graphic designers often have a vision at the back of their heads of the stuffs they are planning to do, even before they start anything. The inspiration can come from anywhere for bloggers, from topics in the mainstream news or even to other blog posts elsewhere. Spend some time thinking about the issue, and you can easily come up with a “tree-branch map” of how you are going to develop your post. It’s actually rather easy once you are able to do that mentally. I started pratising this technique by writing each section on a piece of paper. Now, I do it all in my head.

4. Ain’t my posts boring?
Look, I don’t write to make everyone happy. My writings are seriously not for the majority but for a small bunch of people who enjoy writing the way I do, and enjoy reading the way I write. Furthermore, I am not someone who conforms to hype and the majority easily. I don’t need to write something just to make Singapore’s blogosphere worship me. Even more so, I don’t need to create attention in a bad way when I fail to create attention in a good way.

In addition, I have also written on issues that probably 90% of the world doesn’t even care about. But that doesn’t mean everyone don’t. There are still people who care about the issues I have taken notice of. If you read one of my old post, yes - True To Self. I don’t need to change myself just to make people like me. I will change myself only if it makes me a better person.

5. How do I do arrangement of my posts then?
Cool Insider once commented I am quite a wordsmith. In a way, maybe. That is the first time I received such a descriptive term on me. Anyway, I usually organized one point into each paragraph. If necessary, the first paragraph will give a slight introduction and a detailed one will be done in the second paragraph. That’s if we need more than one paragraph to elaborate on something.

Other than that, separating different points into paragraphs can also ease reading. Imagine having to read a point being splitted into 2 paragraphs consisting of 2 sentences each? It is possible to use just one stand-alone line for a question, that will put some form of emphasis on the question or sentence. Notice my third “paragraph” which is only a line? I use this frequently but it’s not advisable to have too much of it in a single post too.

6. Doesn’t everyone encourages a niche for a blog?
Try asking yourself that in life, do you think there can only be one event happening around you with each breathe you inhale? Hell no, thousands of events are taking place each minute and it’s only a matter of whether it arouses your interests or not. Creating a niche is not a must, except for some cases like corporate blogs or business blogs.

7. Why do I use fake names of friends sometimes?
My principle is rather simple. If I know of a blogger or friend who has his/her name published openly, yes I will use their real names as they published. For friends who are not blogging or even registered to web services, it is only respectful to observe their privacy. While the chances of identification is extremely slim, at least I know I have done my part to respect their privacy.

8. So am I good?
You want an honest answer? I’ll tell ya, HELL NO! The fact that when I read through Ah Pek’s Blog Gigs, I began to observe a few mistakes that were previously unknown to me. I can’t say Blog Gigs covered everything, but there are gems if you look hard enough through the archives. Once a person says “I’m good enough…”, that means that person has ceased learning.

In additional, it is beneficial to read how professional writers or journalists write. There’s a lot of techniques and stuffs to learn.

9. But my language is so normal, must be dreaming to attract readers isn’t it?
Well, why do we have to write a simple point with something else which looks fanciful? At the end of the day, as long as the point get across that’s fairly good enough. Spare me the narcissistic wordings. Yes, maybe I am slow in understanding but at least I can sit back and laugh at you, because probably half the world don’t understand what you are trying to say as well. Life is simple, let’s not complicate it. Didn’t someone say the truth hurts? Indeed, simple things can hurt in the most direct way. Otherwise, why do you want to hide behind cheem-o-lo-gi-cal words? Geezzz, I hate that!

And yes, such words tell little of your intellectual standards too. The intellect is not in the words but in the way a post or a piece of writing is presented.

10. So what is the right way of blogging?
Honestly, there isn’t any right way of blogging except to be as truthful as possible. It’s not as though the government is going to fine me for writing in broken English.

Bloggers should understand that no matter how hard we try to hide it, a part of our characters will be casted in our blogs. In that context, our blogs also carry a certain character of their own. You can pretend as much as you can, but the observant few can still easily tell your character from your writings. I’m not trained in that.

Lastly, don’t mistaken me for being unfriendly if I drop by your blog and failed to leave a comment. It’s not that I dislike you, but just that I don’t know what to comment. If I can’t think of anything, it’s better for me to *zip* than write rubbish in there.

Oh ya, if you’re thinking of striking up a friendship via our blogs, be SINCERE!

I guess that’s about it. You may agree to some, you might not agree to some. It’s really dependent on personal preferences. Hope it helps some of you, and if it doesn’t - sorry for wasting your time. LOL!