I’ve seen a couple posts floating around the internet lately discussing whether the ability to write well is necessary, or even desirable, for someone who wants to write a blog.
It should be obvious that I’m going to come down on the “Yes, it’s necessary” side of the fence. After all, my entire blog started with the intent of encouraging correct writing behavior.
That said, however, I completely understand that there are plenty of people who don’t have a complete grasp of grammar who can still write entertainingly and informatively. There are plenty of blog-writers who play fast and loose with the rules of grammar that they know, just because they don’t feel it’s necessary. (God knows there are grammatical rules that I choose to ignore from time to time.)
There’s a difference between Technically Correct writing and Good writing.
You can program a decent computer to construct correct sentences. You can also program a computer to double-check your own spelling and grammar, but we all know how that goes. You turn on your Grammar Check and you start getting all sorts of complaints about perfectly valid usage, either because you’re writing by more casual rules, or because the computer has forgotten that starting a sentence with “and” is no longer forbidden (if it ever truly was).
Lots of good writers ignore the grammatical rules that irk them. It’s part of the fun. It’s a huge part of the creativity. If you constantly adhere to all the old-fogey kinds of rules, your writing is going to read like a boring text book, and who wants that?
So, in that regard, I’m fine reading blogs by people who end sentences with prepositions, use em-dashes too often, and occasionally mix up the proper usage of who and whom.
But. They have to make it worth my while.
If you can write an entertaining, funny, informative, enjoyable, worth-my-visit blog, I’m not going to quibble over your grammar. I’m not going to be a stick-in-the-mud over occasional typos. I won’t leave snide comments pointing out that you said “between you and I” when it should have been “between you and me.” I’ll accept those as minor, personal quirks, as if you were a friend whose shoelaces are constantly untied, or whose hair is always a mess. I’m not about to toss out a perfectly good friend because their attire isn’t perfect, or their house is a mess.
You can’t be too superficial–especially if it means tossing away something that’s solid gold.
Here’s the other secret, though.
I still want you to TRY.
Quibbling over minor errata is fruitless, especially if it can risk an otherwise fun and rewarding relationship (even a cyber one). But if your writing is so bad that you come across as if you don’t care? Like you ignore the rules because they’re beneath you, beyond you, above you, or just plain unimportant to you … I’m not interested. That’s the kind of friend who is so self-involved that I’m supposed to be honored that they’re talking to me at all. The kind who wears either outrageous, clashing clothing to draw attention or who hasn’t bothered to bathe in days. You know, because it’s all about them.
These are not the kind of people with whom I care to spend my time.
Ultimately, of the several hundred blogs that I read, the vast majority of them are written by literate people who can construct full sentences, usually avoid profanity, and generally type without resorting to constant emoticons and cutesy abbreviations. They are intelligent people who are funny, interesting, and wise, and are just the kind that I’d choose to spend my time with if, you know, they lived anywhere near me (grin).
My main criteria as to whether somebody needs to write “well” in order for me to read their blog?
I’m not worried about the building blocks. I’m more interested in what you’ve made with them.
If your writing is technically shaky but still entertaining–we’re good to go. I can’t say fairer than that, right?
(Yes, mixed metaphors galore, but hey. I never said I was perfect, either.)
What do you think about this? Is good writing necessary to your blog-reading experience?
I’m not hugely picky about grammar in the blogs that I read, except when a grammar quirk hits a pet peeve. Even then, if the subject is interesting or otherwise well-written, I’ll do my best to ignore it. I ran across a blog recently where the author completely ignored the apostrophe in contractions (but not in possessives, so it wasn’t a broken keyboard), and it bugged the snot out of me. I didn’t automatically reject the blog, but I did find I couldn’t get past that. I may have missed out on some good stuff — this is probably more my failing than the author’s.
Now, I occasionally find a blog where the author has no clue about grammar at all. I usually find those completely unreadable, even when I know the blog is popular. I’m not being a snob, I just can’t get the internal English major to shut up.
Judy H.’s last blog post..Another Early Morning
Deb,
I’m tolerant of writing in a casual style. That’s how I write myself. I don’t expect perfection—heaven knows I make more than my share of mistakes. However, if a blog is riddled with poor grammar, I will probably click away. Otherwise, I’ll find myself editing the piece rather than enjoying it.
Lillie Ammann’s last blog post..Miss Guided and Richard Turner
Hi Deb, I think good writing is important. However, as a practical matter, I can’t devote the time I should to proofing my own blog posts, and certainly wouldn’t hold anyone else to a higher standard. But we should try to do the best we can, as a courtesy to readers if nothing else.
Brad Shorr’s last blog post..If You Have Lots to Say, Say It on a Business Blog
If the blog is interesting enough, grammar is not too much of an issue with me.
I have a pretty casual style myself.
There have been some blogs where the grammar is so bad that I could not make any sense of the posts. They were so bad that I can not even remember which ones they are, but they are not in my Google Reader either.
Steve Costello’s last blog post..MindRaider – Open Source Note Taker
Of course, I think there’s still a minimum level of basic writing ability that helps. There HAVE been some blogs I’ve been to that had such awful writing that I couldn’t stand it, even with interesting content.
You already KNOW that i agree wtih you about all of this. (LOL at my own “cleverness” — decidedly placed in quotes — at leaving that sentence exactly as it was originally typed, with typos and the little i) Well, all except for the profanity part. (Again, I slay myself — not an endearing quality.)
There is one blog that I had to delete from my feedreader because I could not bear to read it any longer, and I felt certain a cerebral bleed would come on if I continued to try. The lack of capitalizing and punctuation finally did me in. It is done, I guess, for cutesy reasons; I’m not sure. There was also a content problem, as for the longest time every single entry was basically, “I’m too tired to blog,” or “I have nothing to say.”
“Alrighty, then,” thought I. “I have nothing to read, also.”
I do know one thing: There was only one e.e. cummings. It’s been so DONE already. 😀
Norma’s last blog post..From the Sublime to the Ridiculous
I do know of a couple blogs that skip the capital letter thing because of physical problems with the actual typing, and I can deal with that … so long as the blog is otherwise worth it. But it’s got to be WORTH it! It’s like listening to a school orchestra–if they’re out of tune and grate on your ears, but your kid is in it, you put up with it; if they’re remarkably good but you don’t know any of the kids, it doesn’t matter, you listen anyway; but if they’re out of tune and you don’t have any connection with any of the so-called musicians? Then why torture yourself?
I’m a medium level grammar snob. I have a very dear real-life friend who consistently confuses “loose” and “lose”, and in real life says, “her and I” or “me and her”. These all grate on me, and make me put my teeth on edge. But she is a wonderful, generous person. A dear friend, who has stood by my side through much. So I look the other way. The snobbery comes twofold…one, in that no matter how much I love her, I still notice. Two, in that if I didn’t know her, it would take some mighty fine writing for me to not write her off and move on in the blogiverse. There are so many blogs to read, I’m hesitant to spend much time with my teeth on edge.
J’s last blog post..Being a Mom
I love what you had to say about grammar and blogs and it brings to mind something I read today.
A self-proclaimed marketing guru was giving tips on graphic design (the rule of 3) and said that you could use this newfound knowledge to give a graphic designer some grief, or just make them think twice. I’m a designer and it’s not pretty when someone thinks they *know* something is a hard and fast rule. Learn what the rules are and know when to break them. Creativity is about knowledge, flexibility and finesse.
linda’s last blog post..Drawing with Children
@Linda. Some rules are absolutes, some are in the “highly recommended” category, and some are optional. Like, with driving. Turning the wheel, using the gas and brake properly–you can’t get away from those, and there are some aspects of sentence structure you just can’t mess with. But so many of the “rules” we were all taught weren’t really rules at all! That doesn’t mean they’re bad advice, just … not mandatory. It’s just convincing people that’s tricky (grin).