I want to start a blog but don't know which site to use.

>pay attn to me
Fuuuuck off

blogspot desu

>>7829693
Trust me, I am ashamed to do it but my work is piling up and if this will help, then I will compromise my dignity for attn.

>Get job as toilet cleaner
>Don't need a blog anymore

FTFY

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>>7829391
>I hope to accomplish two things with it: to keep a digital record of my journal entries so if my satchel gets stolen I won't be too upset...

Gee whizz, what an excellent idea, Edward!

>>7829391
>Satchel
You're already out of the game, the other kids don't want to play with you

>>7829738
>>7829762
Guys, I promise it's a cool bag and absolutely practical. It's inconvenient having to take off a backpack and rummage through it whenever I want to write something down, take a picture, or whatever. Don't believe the hype, messenger bags are great.

>>7829709
Can you tell me why you recommend this. I'm having a hard time deciding between this and WordPress.

>>7829777
well i was also considering recc'ing wordpress.

but i think blogpost is more compact and easier to work with, and not full of bloat y'know

very simple and easy, self-contained, small

>>7829826
Thanks, that sounds better for me since I only see myself spending a few minutes to type the entries up.

Does one have an advantage over the other in gaining readership? Seeing as how blogspot is owned by Google, I would assume it's more accessible or popular. But of course I don't know; until a few days ago, I dismissed all of this as ridiculous and even contemptible. Look at me now brothers.

>>7829871
well if you want to gain readership on your blog quickest go for tumblr then. i was recommending blogpost because it's a nice blogging platform, easy to work with, nice layout/setup, but the blogs it has aren't really connected / there really isn't a strong community there. it's been years since its big heyday.

>>7830491
This is far more difficult for me than I thought it would be. I am indecisive when it comes to things I know very little about and looking online hasn't helped too much. Each site seems to have its pros/cons and that makes it all the more challenging to decide.

I will be traveling and won't have much time to spend on all of this then so I'm hoping for something where I can type and post. I've been reading about advertising the blog, getting traffic, cross-posting and it all seems like too much. Deciding between taking the easy route via Blogpost/Tumblr and spending as little time as possible, or Wordpress so that I can maybe get some readers is difficult for me.

I am leaning towards Wordpress since I've found hosts/domains for less than $5 a month, but I'm leaving in a few days and don't know if I will have time to learn all that I need to for it. I also read of plugins that take the post on Wordpress right into tumblr so I guess having both is an option too.

I do appreciate the advice, it's helped me a lot. I didn't know any of this before I made this thread.

>>7830558
Try tumblr, but yahoo owns it now so i don't know how long until they try and start monetizing.

>>7831599
It's been a new torment, but I just finished. I decided on wordpress.com because I like the potential for interaction with readers. Tumblr seemed shallow to me and Blogspot gave an impression of being desolate.

I was considering copying and pasting what I post on wordpress to a tumblr account if I see that people are interested, but time will tell if there's anything to gain from doing that.

Squarespace. Gotta pay for it, but it looks way nicer and it's a good site to put on a resume if anyone ever wants a portfolio.

Then just shamelessly self-promote through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, yadda yadda yadda.

>>7832252
I haven't looked into that site yet. I did not pay for the domain at WordPress yet so I can still switch without a problem. Do you think it's better than WordPress.com?

>>7829391
Just post your daily blog on /a/ and look it up in the archives when you need to

>>7833101
I am afraid they would ban me.

Start your own website.

>>7835650
I was going to through wordpress, but I would have to learn a few things I have neither the interest nor time to learn. I decided on a free blog also through WordPress so then I can upgrade it to its own site when I have the time. Check it out: aerochameleon.wordpress.com

>>7835797
i hope your fiction prose is less academic than your blog post.

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>>7829391

>>7837545
It is with most stories. Thanks for reading it.

>>7837545
>>7837700
jesus, it's more than academic, it's downright opaque.

I only read the first three paragraphs, and while the ideas are interesting, I had to read each sentence twice. Protip: you can sound smart without using confusing sentence structures. I personally wouldn't read this kind of thing, but maybe there is an audience for it somewhere.

>>7837833
Believe it or not, it's what comes to me naturally. It was just a journal entry, I seriously have hundreds of them collected over the last few years; the one I posted was just one from a few days ago.

I know it's not the best way to attract readers that's why my fictional work is, I think, a little easier to read. I do appreciate you reading it though and thanks for the feedback.

I would love for you guys to follow and post your feedback there since this thread won't be here too long.

>>7835797
not good man, your trying too hard

>>7829391
here let me rewrite your third to last paragraph

Perhaps the security in that room is unlike the rest in the building. Instead of protecting the works from visitors, they protect the visitors from the work. They prevent men from touching the Lady- not for fear of damaging her, but to protect men from losing themselves to the love she effortlessly inspires. For who would be more miserable than one whose love for her blossoms to completion; to love her would be to never love another!

youre using words like cohorts and shit, that cant come natural. just clean it up you shouldnt write like this it's a turn off

oh and unrelated- DFW already had an idea like this, and he wrote a fuckin 1000 page book on it

>>7837952
>>7837990
All I can do is tell you that it comes naturally. English is not my first language and I let a lot of what I read influence my speaking/writing. I speak as I write so you can imagine what that has led to.

As I said, it's my journal and to 'clean it up' would interfere with the natural flow I am accustomed to. I have been working to be a little more concise as your rewrite is with my fictional work, but I imagine my entries would feel much more burdensome to write if I try to augment my writing style.

I already started on the story, it's too late to abandon the idea. It's moved on to an exploration of the potential effects on a woman who loves a man captivated by the inanimate. What is the book by DFW you're referring to?

>>7838067
Infinite Jest

You seem like a thoughtful guy, but writing in what is essentially 19th century diction is only doing you a disservice. I can relate to the intuitive feeling of that language for discussion of ideas and 'higher topics,' but that has less to do with the language itself than with your associations surrounding it. Do you read a lot of critical work or philosophy from that time period? That may be why.

Regardless, you should work on refining your style. There's no need to bathe in colloquialisms, if that isn't what you feel is beneficial, but attention should still be payed to archaic language and its purpose. As it is, your writing reads, at best, like a second-rate knock-off of the thinkers of the relatively modern past, and at worst like pseudo-intellectual fluff disguised in confusing syntax and flowery word-choice.

There is a use in copying old styles and it is the natural thing to do. You need to refine your copying to reflect the clarity and beauty that language was capable of. Ideally, you will eventually move beyond that too. Beautiful ideas are not beautiful because they are shrouded in dense language; they are beautiful because they are clear and inspiring on their own. The language is meant to increase the effect and emphasize.

Start reading more. Start with the Greeks.

>>7838182
OP, you should really listen to this guy. It's fine if you write your journals naturally, but once you're done, you can do a lot of work to edit them and make them clear enough for people to read. If you had somebody read through and edit your writing, you'd quickly learn how to write in a more modern way. Learn how and when to use commas, and stop using the word "for" so much. Let me do the first paragraph:

The artist finds inspiration in art, regardless of its form, because perceiving art is justification for following the artist's path of creation. An artistic work harbors an aspect of its creator and, for its lifetime, that creator reaps the rewards for manifesting his idea. As I attended the National Gallery, beholding works that have survived sex centuries, this aspect of the artist continually affected me. The artist is still vibrant after so long!

>>7829391

Honestly, I doubt it'll give you much of an advantage when sending queries to agents, at least in terms of fiction. All they care is if you're manuscript is going to sell, and while a blog could help you sell books, it's not enough to really push them into taking you on. Look at this way. If your blog is big enough to help you sell, then you're probably a good enough to sell books anyways. Otherwise, sure you'll sell to the people who read your blog, but all the people who have never heard of it or yourself won't give a shit. It can maybe help you promote yourself afterwards, but it won't help get your foot in the door. All an agent or editor cares about is if it's a good manuscript. That's what I've heard from published authors and editors.

Now, this could be different if you're writing nonfiction. From what I understand, it's much more common to sell nonfiction books on spec, in which case a blog is something to prove you can produce. But for fiction, it's not going to do you much good, and the time may be better spent working on your craft.

For what's worth, Medium may be a good one to use. It's a simply, minimalistic layout, but I think it looks nice. It especially might help when you don't have any followers, since your posts can appear on people's feeds.

>>7829391
>so if my satchel gets stolen I won't be too upset
I hope somebody shits in your purse, you irritating moron

>>7829391
you seem to have already started with 4chan, bitch

>>7838182
I sincerely appreciate your advice brother and it's definitely something I will keep in mind as I keep writing. Most of the works, fiction and nonfiction, that I've read are from the 19th century so you're spot on about what's influenced me. To say I'm copying though might be a little off since it feels too natural a writing style for me to believe I'm copying anything; in putting the effort to simplify what I have in mind I think I would be copying since it is not what comes natural to me. I can see how it would sort of ostracize me as a writer though so I'll definitely work on it and since reading got me to this point, I assume it can move me forward as well. Reading more is good advice but I think it's more a matter of reading contemporary works to become better acquainted with how others control language.

I think what it comes down to is the absence of control on my part: I write what comes to mind without taking into consideration the effect the words may have on others (my entries have been private until this so I haven't had to consider how well it would read). It's really just over-indulgence and although I'll try to refrain in works I hope to have published, I think my entries can't really suffer since my aim is only to convey a thought as it appears. As of right now, it's not worth editing just for the blog but if I start to take it seriously maybe I'll go through them before I post.

>>7838255
I appreciate the example you've provided and I definitely see the difference but to me yours just seems abrupt and almost calculated in its flow. I know this is just a matter of preference based on nothing more, but I really feel more comfortable writing and reading dense, fruitful sentences as opposed to ones that are curt, even if they are more technically effective. What I am wondering is whether you suggest your style because you believe it is easier for the general reader to digest or because it is your personal preference. I am only curious and hope you understand that I appreciate your advice like I do the others' in here.

>>7838261
>the time may be better spent working on your craft.
This is something I seriously considered and continue to do so. It is what kept me from investing money or time to set up my own blog site. So far it's been no more than typing up my entry but if I find that I'm not gaining anything from it I probably won't even do that. Also if I find that the area I'm moving to isn't so bad as I have been led to believe it is, then I won't have a reason to type everything with the idea that I'm backing it up in case my bag gets stolen.

The suggestions I've received here as a result have already justified the little time I spent in setting it up but since I can't see myself advertising the page repeatedly on other sites, I don't have much hope for it to gain a significant number of readers.

>>7838261
blogs don't help sell books to publishers/agents but if they do take on your book, they''ll expect you to do most of your own marketing: blog, tweet, etc.

>>7837944
the thing about wordpress is that unless i have my own wordpress, i can't follow you. twitter and 4chan are the only sites i regularly check.
if you post a blog entry in critique threads here, i might see it.

>>7838436
i'm not >>7838255
but i'm completely sure general readers will prefer his edit to your original. i don't want to sound harsh but writing like you do is a hallmark of a beginning writer. you've fallen in love with language and want to use it in a complex and erudite manner. this is an affectation and overexuberance. it is not however, your personal voice that you need to develop, only an imitation of past styles.

>>7829777
blogspot is listed higher on google because it's owned by them

>>7838436
>What I am wondering is whether you suggest your style because you believe it is easier for the general reader to digest or because it is your personal preference

Both, but a general reader would definitely find my edit more digestible. Personally, I see the value in your "meandering" (not the right word, but similar) style, and I suggest you find a middle ground between the two. There is no harm in practicing different styles of writing and editing, and your strong vocabulary and style would definitely benefit from some experimentation, even if it's just in the editing phase.

>>7838720
Yes you're right! I have fallen in love with language to the extent that I would sooner use susurrus than whisper, or scintillating instead of shining for no other reason than I use the words I love. I believe writing to be an art form to the same extent that musical composition or painting are and as an art form, there is a certain obligation to the inherent beauty of the idea that, at times, demands an appeal to the aesthetic. This results in the sentences that may seem convoluted or even excessive but that are, I think, more sincere than those created as simply a means to an end.

There is a common denominator in these comments and others I have seen and it is suggestive of a quality of insincerity that is the very antipodes of what I believe myself to be conveying. It is an unfortunate misunderstanding and one that has inspired the idea that I learn another language to manifest my ideas through because although I can try and even succeed in deforming what I write initially so that it suits the general reader, I will always feel as if I am compromising myself for doing so. A new language is a new start and that would of course allow for the practice of simplicity in writing appreciated by the general reader.

The idea of a personal voice is one that is interesting to me, but I condemn it. I think it is detrimental to the idea to limit it to the personal voice. A myriad of voices allows for the diversity in tone necessary to grant one work the means to affect in a certain way and another to produce a different effect entirely. In reading numerous works by a single author, it is always clear that there is a sort of limitation imposed on the work by that personal voice of the author. If he were only able to adopt something beyond what he had grown accustomed to, his piece would be liberated to exist as its own entity and I think this is the greatest thing a writer can accomplish.

If no one else, I would like to have people who visit this board comment on my posts because I cannot imagine there to be potential for more interesting and beneficial comments elsewhere. I will be moving abroad soon and I think that will result in some interesting entries. I am still new to the site and don't know if you need an account to follow, but I do know there is an option to receive an email when a new post is published. I do not even know if I set that up right.

>>7838775
You're basically right. There is always the possibility of using a wide variety of voices, and catering to easy reading is not always the way to go. However, even in the examples you give (painting, etc.), one must first learn to work in one style, which is refined to its utmost, before they can progress to others. So this current voice, whatever it is, really needs to be tightened to its limit without losing what makes it unique and natural to you. That's a delicate balance which can only be honed over time through mastery.

And, far as word-choice goes, it may be tempting to appeal to 'personal preference' and be done with it, but the issue is more complicated than that. It's great that you are interested in beautiful language and less common words, I can tell you that you are of a great minority of writers today and that is unfortunate. However, you are also in a unique position because what you are doing is less common. If you intend to publish in a similar voice, the refinement and care you will have to achieve will probably be much greater than the typical minimalistic writer. All of that comes down to grammar and syntax above all. If you are comfortable with sending readers to the dictionary then that's fine, and there have been great writers that were, but it's never fine, as the other anon mentioned, to force a reader to re-read sentences because the sentence structure is confusing. You will get a more intuitive sense of flow as you write and continue to get used to English, but that is something to look out for. Sentence flow, in my opinion, is far more important than even word choice in achieving strong effects.

Maybe, as a form of practice, you could take a look at structure specifically in the works you have been reading. If you haven't yet, I suggest a brief study of poetic meter and the function of metric feet. These are present in prose too, but are often ignored because they function more subtly. Of course, you wouldn't write sentences while doing scansion on them, but take a look at writers you admire, or great theorists of that time to see how, in addition to their beautiful words, their sentences flow, rise, fall with their thoughts. Percy Shelley and DeQuincey are two that I have been reading recently that do this spectacularly.

I bookmarked your blog and will keep an eye on it for now.

>>7838775
those are some of the reasons i wouldn't subscribe to your blog.
i've read a lot of beginner writing in the same unnecessarily difficult style that i call thesaurus prose. it is not individual and it lacks clarity. using all fancy words in effect makes them all the same. you will need to learn variety and save the big words to make impact. it's the same with music in that you can't have constant power chords. if you progress with your writing, you will look back on these early attempts as overwritten.
anyway, i'm out. good luck with your writing.