Recently, on a WordPress community forum, where you can invite other bloggers to view and critique your work, one poster said my Alien: Covenant review was good but far too lengthy. They suggested I try to reduce my word count otherwise people will tune out. They added that at one point they were thinking, “Oh no…I have to keep reading?”
I took no offence….I took a little offence, but I understand this completely. Sometimes when I’m reading an article, I’ll read the first few paragraphs and just quickly scan to the end, provided I even make it all the way. At the same time, a YouTube video might pique my interest but I’ll pause at the sight of a run-time longer than five or six minutes to consider whether or not I can afford to invest so much time. Forty-minute-plus television shows are getting difficult to sit through unless it’s say, Game of Thrones, where, contrarily, I find myself checking the time stamp hoping the episode is not about to end soon.
I suppose that’s the way the world is now. Attention spans are shortening by the day. There’s so much content out there that your stuff has to be either easy to consume or ultra engaging. Want people to read what you have to say? Try expressing it in under 140 characters. Asking them to trudge through a thousand word piece? You must be crazy.
“Text is dead,” a friend told me recently after perusing one of my posts. Another advocate of the TL;DR summariser. “You should do a vlog.”
Newsprint may be dead but I think text itself has some way to go yet. I doubt I could ever do a video blog in any case, short of perhaps writing the script for one. We’ve already established I named this blog The Mumblr because people can barely hear me when I speak. But more importantly, I’ve heard recordings of my voice and people shouldn’t have to suffer through that for any extended period.
I’m not trying to make a living off writing, I just enjoy it (oh, who am I kidding, the view count on my stats page sustains my existence). It seems to be the best form of expression for me, as someone confirmed not too long ago, “When I read what you write you have this great big personality, witty and funny etc. but then face to face you’re so quiet.” I’m almost certain she was being kind with the use of ‘quiet.’
As for keeping my word count down, I don’t think I’ll put a limit on how much I want to say. I just have to try to keep it interesting enough that I don’t lose the reader half way through. Hopefully you made it to the end of this post. It’s less than 500 words!
I don’t believe text is dead. I think it’s easier to digest if it’s broken up into sections, using bold lettering or headers to break up large blocks of text. We’re a microwave society and want things quick. I scan through posts if they’re long and find clear sections helpful.
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I don’t often use headers but that’s a good tip. Thanks.
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You’re welcome 😊
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A wah dis? A me tell you say text dead long time, you fi start do vlog. Weh me credits deh?
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I thought you would’ve preferred to remain anonymous.
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Yes I made it to the end:) & I say again long or short your writing/mumblings are good!…… no harm in trying to do it for a living…………….:)
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I only keep my word count short because of time 👍🏻
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Do you prefer shorter posts when it comes to reading then?
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Personally I am not a great reader so for me yes but that’s not to say it’s right. I am new to blogging I don’t really know what I am doing yet if honest!
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I laughed because even when i’m writing about halfway through I’m thinking my goodness am I still writing? And then I think if that’s how I feel writing then someone most certainly feels that way reading it.
I know how you feel though I full believe it depends on the day, the topic, and frame of mind one is. Nothing is dead it depends if its relevant though.
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You’d be surprised about people who want to read long amounts of text. As long as it’s interesting you can keep a reader for a good while. Long or short, interest is what determines whether you get a meh, or if it gets spread.
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Hi this is really interesting I’m a new blogger and fairly new reader as well. So my writing I try get what I’m on about as fast to the point as I can and also interesting. Reading though if I see paragraphs on end it has to be engaging early on otherwise I will time out. But your blogs are awesome
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Thanks! That’s very nice of you to say. 🙂
And that’s why I followed you, your posts are easy to read but still interesting.
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Thanks for following.. hopefully you will get to see a bit of me in my writing
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For us visual learners and/or noise sensitive persons, text certainly isn’t dead! If you want to write long, break it up with paragraph headers… that way the skimmers can go right to the part they love! For those of us who enjoy a good read, we’ll read top to bottom.
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Write to your heart’s content. Vlogging scares me too. No pressure here!
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I understand the struggle with being wordy! As I’ve learned, write however much (or little). Don’t censor length and risk suffering content. You can be a mumbling ranter. (Also, clever blog name!) thanks for sharing! 🙂
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Thanks! I was actually just on your blog. Your short stories are fantastic!
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You’re welcome! And thank you! 😃 I’ve enjoyed reading your writing and your style. So I’m glad the feeling is mutual haha.
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Also, this may be cheating and considered insanely biased, but my post yesterday A4 is probably my personal favorite and the reason my friends finally pushed me into blogging and sharing. Just as an overshare FYI 😅
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I loved A4. Your friends obviously know what they’re talking about😄. Have you shared your blog on ‘First Friday’?
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Thank you!! That’s what they kept telling me, so I figured why not get over the hurtle of fear of sharing and just get on with it! And I did today actually. Though I’ve been blogging for over a month, I never knew about first Friday. Seems like I’m still learning something new every single day. 😃
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Hi
I think you’re writing is interesting and although it appears lengthy I still read all of it because you had an interesting title and your content was good.
You’re have a good point, the world is getting lazier because we are so used to limiting our characters..thanks twitter.
Keep up the good work!
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Thanks for the nice comment. Gotta admit though, I love twitter! 😂
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No problem! I just re-read my comment and noticed all my typos. Sorry about that haha. Yes yes twitter’s cool 🙂
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Instagram’s fault
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We’re all guilty of skimming. It’s the curse of Twitter, instant messaging and quick fixes of dopamine from light-up screens. Fortunately, you’ve got style enough that I don’t think many have that issue here.
And (this may be me living in just plain denial) newsprint may be on its last legs but it’s sure as hell not dead.
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