In class we talked about how personal a blog can be. It all comes down to what the writer wants to share. We do need to be careful, though, of becoming too personal and also of becoming not personal enough. An interesting blog (IMHO) is one that is personal enough to allow the reader to connect to the blogger through shared experience. If the blogger is too distant she runs the risk of "blog bore," (the "so what?" question) yet if the blogger is too personal it leaves the reader feeling as if she has been, as Enid Pope calls it, "word vomitted" on.
In this world of cell phones, and internet access, and cell phones with internet access, we don't have to be alone for one minute (although I am a BIG advocate of alone time). There is always a way to connect with someone if you want. And LOTS of people want to. Just look on any blog site (or myspace) and you will find OODLES of people spilling their guts out on the internet, and detailing every moment of their life. But no one (except maybe their real-life, flesh-and-bone friends) will read these blogs past the initial click (I know no one ever reads mine).
That's not to say that those blogs don't belong there, or that no one should write them, but they just don't serve the same purpose. Perhaps it is best to think of them as disposable, or like that trashy magazine that you browse in the grocery store line, it's entertains you while you stand there but you never actally buy it (or I don't know, maybe you do).
We also talked about ethics in personal writing. This is a difficult subject for a lot of people, including me. How do I write my story while being ethical in regards to my family? My story (the one that I am writing here, about my history) is inherently tied to my family. Looking back, how can I be truthful about my relationships with them in a way that is ethical? Perhaps I'll just say it's tricky and leave it at that. But do I owe you, the reader, more than that?
In this world of cell phones, and internet access, and cell phones with internet access, we don't have to be alone for one minute (although I am a BIG advocate of alone time). There is always a way to connect with someone if you want. And LOTS of people want to. Just look on any blog site (or myspace) and you will find OODLES of people spilling their guts out on the internet, and detailing every moment of their life. But no one (except maybe their real-life, flesh-and-bone friends) will read these blogs past the initial click (I know no one ever reads mine).
That's not to say that those blogs don't belong there, or that no one should write them, but they just don't serve the same purpose. Perhaps it is best to think of them as disposable, or like that trashy magazine that you browse in the grocery store line, it's entertains you while you stand there but you never actally buy it (or I don't know, maybe you do).
We also talked about ethics in personal writing. This is a difficult subject for a lot of people, including me. How do I write my story while being ethical in regards to my family? My story (the one that I am writing here, about my history) is inherently tied to my family. Looking back, how can I be truthful about my relationships with them in a way that is ethical? Perhaps I'll just say it's tricky and leave it at that. But do I owe you, the reader, more than that?
7 comments:
As for me, I'm resisting the "family history" take on things. My family's a boring lot anyway, starting with yours truly and working backwards. Besides, where's the hook?
Who could possibly be interested in a family whose mother's side came to the Carolinas from Scotland, then migrated to the hills of Tennessee because it reminded them of the Highlands, then found its way into East Texas and made their living raising cotton?
And my father's side is no different, unless you sub Ireland as country of origin. Reading my family's history is like reading James A. Michener, only worse.
Those stories have been told over and over. It's like hearing one "grandmother's story" overlap onto another, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. It's a wheeze by now. Personal narratives are fine, as long as there's a point. But again, I feel more comfortable writing about something of at least moderate interest -- and adopting a more detached, distant viewpoint.
It sounds like we need a blog meter just like the meter on the CNN debates. This meter could gauge whether we cross the line of the personal and enter the dreaded "so what?" or "word vomit" zones.
The ethics issue when talking about people in personal writing is difficult. There is something to be said about the common saying "the truth hurts." Other ethical issues arise when you're writing about the deceased, such as the common saying of "don't talk ill of the dead." I would say it resembles something like walking on this precarious tightrope with this inability to always look straight ahead.
It sounds like we need a blog meter just like the meter on the CNN debates. This meter could gauge whether we cross the line of the personal and enter the dreaded "so what?" or "word vomit" zones.
Well, I guess that certainly put me in my place. A thousand pardons while I clean myself off.
As I explained to Kent via e-mail, my post was directed to Lacie's post. I was reflecting more about the way I think about my audience when I do the personal and how it would be helpful to have a meter on others' reactions. I guess somehow the "I" came out as "we." I do this sometimes as I connect with others. My apologies. The CNN meter was referring to an earlier post I had written on Bryan's blog.
This is an interesting matter, especially since I felt like I "word vomited" this week in my blog. It didn't start out that way, but mid-blog, I realized I was writing a blog for others, and not for me. I just wasn't interested in what I'd been writing.
But it is an interesting topic: how far do we go in a blog? How much do our readers deserve? I had misgivings about posting this last blog, even if it wasn't too personal. But how much of yourself do you keep? I think this Blank Lines blog spoke to much of what I had been thinking regarding these blogs, and the double-edged sword there. If we are blogging about something that doesn't have some personal significance, is it worth reading, or writing? And if it does have personal significance, are we revealing too much?
Nice pondering! I have never really thought about that. I wonder about sociopaths that like to read the stranger's blog. Hmmm!
Cristina:
Understood. My apologies. Am still wiping even harder now.
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