How to Write Badly Well is an incredibly humorous blog written by Joel Stickley. It started with a series of posts dispensing hilarious advice on how to well, write badly well (descriptive titles FTW) and now he has a book coming out as well.
There are so many awesome posts, that I don't even know where to begin in sharing some posts. But here are some: If you find a phrase you like and Personify every object.
Perhaps if I am at a loss on what to blog about, I could just choose one of his posts and write badly well. However it looks like some of my past posts already show signs of writing badly well. I use way too many ellipses, use parenthesis to explain myself, and allow "modern" language to sneak into my posts.
The funniest part of that last link is the last comment on that post... "This would actually be almost reasonable if the characters were playing an MMO". So maybe I get a pass.
Anyways, one of his posts last month caught my eye. The Amazing Random Blurb Roller can basically provide you with a plot. All you need is some dice! Perhaps some inspiration for folks who write RP type posts? Or given how I've mentioned that our guild has been so drama-free, perhaps I can use it to write some made up stories on drama.
So perhaps coming soon, I'll be writing a story about Left Claw drama. Here's the preview:
This story is a disturbing tale of ambition and redemption. The protagonist is sarcastic and haunted; as the story unfolds he/she will be forced to compromise a deeply-held moral code. By the end, our hero will have triumphed, but at what cost?
That sounds like some drama there, no?
I just read a few of the "write badly well" posts, and as an English teacher, I thought they were very good. Thank you for the link.
ReplyDeleteHowever (isn't there always one?), I'm going to stick with my parentheses, since Bradbury (one of my favorite writers) quoted someone else (who remembers all these names?) saying
"For, let's face it, digression is the soul of wit. Take the philosophic asides away from Dante, Milton or Hamlet's father's ghost and what stays is dry bones. Laurence Sterne said it once: Digressions, incontestably, are the sunshine, the life, the soul of reading! Take them out and one cold eternal winter would reign in every page. Restore them to the writer - he steps forth like a bridegroom, bids them all-hail, brings in variety and forbids the appetite to fail."
My parentheses are that for me, and I for one will never give them up! (;
100% agree with Stubborn. I love parentheses for conversational style of writing, if articles are very 'personal' in a way that the author shines through and creates a very immediate connection to his audience, there's no reason not to use them. there are so many different writing styles (academic writing, eugh!) one can enjoy. :)
ReplyDeleteand digression really is the salt of many otherwise very focused, structured articles.
this reminds me that I would really like to write another, more detailed post on second language blogging sometime. it's a world and woe of its own, hehe.
I've been at odds with my English teachers since high school. I write in ways that clearly communicate my intent and "voice". I break rules of formatting, and I will always use two spaces after a period.
ReplyDeleteIt's my writing, in the end, and if I'm failing to communicate what I want to communicate because I'm adhering to an arbitrary, ever-mutating set of rules set by someone with a different voice, well... it's not my writing any more.
Y'know, just sayin'
Cool article, and fun little randomizer. :)
@Stubborn: OMG you're an English teacher! Now I'm slightly nervous and feel like I have to be on my best writing behavior.
ReplyDelete@Syl: Well yeah... though I do think his posts aren't completely serious and have a good deal of sarcasm. And seriously, those of you who are blogging in your second language... you guys put us North Americans to shame.
@Tesh: I definitely agree, though I do think that some of his posts that he put up in gest could actually help me write better, as opposed to write badly.
I've toyed with the idea of writing more seriously (not necessarily on this blog but I have several short story ideas in my head). OMG I just used parentheses to explain myself again. LAWL.
Anyways, so I've toyed with the idea of writing more seriously and while I think some of his posts poke fun at one very extreme end of certain writing conventions, I think I can incorporate some of what he is making fun of in my writing style.