By Radding Nyamwaya
The wedding was short, beautiful and straight to the point. The bride and the groom had desired no audience at their nuptials. Just a priest, one relative each and a photographer, me. What more would you expect of a secret wedding held in the basement of a minefield?
You’re interested in the rest of this tale right?
When writing your blog you need to have the necessary styles that make the reader enjoy reading your post. Let the experience not be daggers to the heart. Here are a few tips for writing your blog post and making it more interesting for your readers.
One of the methods I really admire is the use of hyperbole. This is employing exaggeration when talking about or describing something that may be for the context of humour or emphasis. One could say that she had bad breath and it would get the message across, but could you say she stunk like the carcass of a hyena then it would be clearer she was pungent. Hyperbole guides the reader through this world where anything’s possible, and if you wish you can throw in a ghost or something.
As a reader, one thing you should always use and abuse is descriptive language. Describe your environment, the weather, the attire worn by the characters in your story. Go above and beyond in making the reader appreciate your imagination. But in doing so, avoid long winding sentences that put off the readers from the main aim of your blog post. If you were to describe an item, situation, character etc, give it enough words. This is normally two to three sentences long.
A little humour goes a long way. Or at least as long a way as it needs to. Most people like reading blogs that make them feel better, or at least laugh, after a good read. Unless the blog is about something tragic, then a humorous tone can be assumed in your blog. Humour lightens the mood and makes your blog more relatable to the reader.
A common mistake made by bloggers would be posting their work without editing it properly first. This includes proper grammar, punctuation and spacing between words. Bloggers need to cross-check their work to get rid of common mistakes and errors, the easiest way of doing this is to have a number of people read your work before you post it on your blog to make sure they share with you the necessary edits that need to be made.
Suspense makes a story take the necessary twists and turns that are needed to keep the reader hooked. That moment when you wonder what happens next that captures your breath is essential to any story. Some stories flow into themselves and still carry the same intrigue but a good cliffhanger has the reader anxious and wanting more. It’s the perfect hook.
When writing, the blog post is always about the characters be it yourself or imagined characters. They are the entities that deliver the message that you as the blogger want to portray. Always have characters that deliver your story fully, be they a protagonist or an antagonist. If the character is the least reliable person in a situation or they are selfish, then point it out and make it believable.
For example:
It was common for her to be selfish, just last night she came home late in the night inebriated and staggering like a sedated camel. She knew the baby was asleep but still, she lumbered about moving things around our room and it was a wonder Nyota didn’t wake up. Maybe she already knew her mother was a functional alcoholic and her own sleep was more important.