I know I have touched upon this topic before, but I am still curious about it as I still have not found an answer to it.
Why is it that it seems that I have to insult people to get them to react to what I say or write? Do not get me wrong, I find it amusing to play the devil’s advocate now and then, but do I really need to do ad hominem attacks to just get a reaction?
I have almost 300 followers on Twitter and about 40 to 60 people having a look at my blog daily; but only a very few responds to me. Is my writing really that awful and boring that no one cares, or is it so well crafted that it would be an insult to try to comment on it? What am I overlooking here?
I have tried it a few times, being very insulting and it just results in some people being very upset and starting a useless and tedious debate that has no purpose at all with me; and me having to tell them I am playing the devil’s advocate and they need to shut up.
If my writing is so horrible I would very much enjoy some helpful and constructive criticism. If you got nothing but shit to say you can sod off!
HST never endorsed it, but he said that drugs and alcohol worked for him.
Maybe not that successful if I do it too often I guess; or as openly as he did.
infousious
09/02/2010
Your writing is somewhat “mundane”, as is what you write about. Most of the the posts are about your trials and tribulations, and as such, not that interesting to persons that do not know you. It is not the writing that makes a writer great really, it is what he/she writes about, the development of a descriptive language comes naturally in this process. You just write about you (most of the time), and you is just another human that is having some problems like everybody else. A diary blog, like 80% of the blogs out there. Not that it is anything wrong with that, but you cannot really expect to capture a wide audience.
I find what you write interesting from a existentialistic point of view. You document a humans search for identity very well and I am looking forward see what you will end up defining yourself as.
xen
09/02/2010
@infousious
Much appreciated feedback.
I think that is one of the major things that annoy me with my own writing, that what I write in the end is just another life story about one human on this planet. I try to make it interesting, but there is so much you can do.
It worked for HST, but I am not sure I am ready or willing to start taking all kind of drugs and do things that might be illegal, just to have an interesting and unique story.
You maybe got away with it at that time, but now, the slightest thing that might seem deviant and even unlawful they will gladly lock you up.
Maybe not lock you up, but you will at least get branded for the rest of your life. Getting the wrong brand can be a career killer on so many different levels it is not even funny.
It is kind of ironic though. I feel I kind of have a unique story to tell; Norwegian living in Oz trying to understand their culture. Still, as I am not writing about the latest fashion and how shallow and/or promiscuous I am, I am not getting readers. It is kind of sad that being shallow and promiscuous is what give your readers.
I am referring to these fashion blogs and those who write about their sexual encounters or how it was to be a prostitute.
I can only hope my day comes and my big story will soon be around the corner.
Again, HST never expected his article ‘The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved’ to be popular; as he thought it was pure rubbish himself.
Hopefully I will write my own ‘The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved’ soon.