I say this because more often than not, bloggers aim to be persona-driven, with wit-filled prose that brings readers back (and back) for more. The sensational success of bloggers like Perez Hilton has inspired regular folk everywhere to try and do the same. So having a great voice to preach has become critical to having a brand in the blogosphere.
“The Girl From the Ghetto”, as she refers to herself as, has quite a voice - and builds it using a variety of methods. One thing I’ve picked up on in particular, though, is how personal she chooses to be. In fact, her anonymity is in stark contrast to how brutally honest she is about every other aspect of her life - particularly her upbringing.
This is pretty evident in many of her posts, and her willingness to share her backstory and moments from her life helps characterize her more than any fancy “About Me” could (not that she doesn’t have that, too).
“20 Books That Should Be Made Into Movies”, for instance, is a post that at first glance hardly seems to beg for a reflection on her past. Yet she does, and it really works to give the reader a personal connection with her and, by transitive property, her writing!
She begins the post with a look at how - and why - books have made an impact on her life from an early age:
I can remember walking around the complex we lived in (alone, but it was the 1970′s, and again, she was mentally ill and now pregnant and married to an idiot who never wanted me around), bragging to all the other mothers how I could spell and even write my full name in cursive. (Being an Italian, this was no easy task.)
The other mothers would bring out a piece of paper for me to demonstrate, as well as a book to read. Even back then, I was a bit dramatic, but I suppose that comes from being around a mother on an unmedicated manic high most of the time.
See, it’s not just the fact that she talks about her past - anyone can do that. But TGFTG chooses to personalize herself in ways that border the outright ballsy. Who would be brave enough to so brazenly illustrate her clearly choppy childhood? I know I certainly would hesitate.
Most importantly, it helps create weight behind her passion for good (“great”, as she says) reading, which is what propels the rest of the post.
In the more conventional sense of “voice”, however, TGFTG isn’t afraid to use sass and sarcasm to emphasize the points she wants to make.
In her post “Michael Jackson: Man, Myth, Moonwalker and Alleged Molester” she writes:
Shame on all of these people who chose to ignore the bad things Michael Jackson did. Even in death, people need to tell it like it really is. At least Cher kept it real and spoke how weird he had become. I can appreciate the good things that Michael Jackson did just as well as the bad things he did or was accused of. Do us all a favor and start doing the same!
TGFTG isn’t afraid to state her mind in a commanding way, which is critical in providing some sort of “hook” to her posts from time to time. After all, who wants to read a blog that’s the emotional equivalent of vanilla?
“Even in death, people need to tell it like it really is” comes off almost as a command to the reader, locking in attention and likely inspiring a polarizing opinion - the result of a combination of tempting content and powerful voice. And she then finishes off with an actual direct command in italics, emphasizing the tone of voice (very pointed, demanding) while at the same time visually popping the sentence out of the paragraph.
While writing style and content are two things that have almost unlimited leeway in the blogosphere, these two main characteristics - a deep personal connection with the reader and the ability to have conviction in writing - are things that I would like to focus on going forward. I think it’ll make my blog easier to relate to and more interesting to read every week.
That’s in theory, of course. We’ll see where execution ACTUALLY takes my writing.
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