Longer than a Twitter tweet…
…shorter than a Facebook rant.
A web log post could be long, but it doesn’t really need to be. Length is determined by the wordiness of the blogger, and sometimes by the subject. There are subjects that require more explanation. Can you tell the story of the wolves without first telling which forest they live in? Can you tell the story of your life without telling the reader about your parents?
An archive on the other hand, well, needs a certain…length of loquacity. An archive has a perfect limit. I’ve seen some go far beyond the limit and blow themselves up like dropping a cigarette into a closed gas stove. Such needless self-destruction could be avoided either by not lighting up that cigarette, or by leaving off the gas ’til you’re ready to bake.
I’ve also seen others show too much restraint, barely reaching a word out to the reader, barely showing interest in their own work, not covering enough of the subject to keep a fan, not expanding the concepts enough to thrill the reader’s interest. It’s like making a donut without any glaze. It’s pulling up short. It’s stopping before you’re done.
Fans can be fickle. They need a reason to hang around. They need some pictures to draw them in, and some words to pass their eyes across, and even some ideas suggested by the words. They need rumination material. They need a seed to nurture. The seed of an idea to make the daily meditation more substantial.
They want something to feed their own writing, or other creative outlet. They want ideas to raise the creativity, like yeast in bread. Who doesn’t want a little boost from outside the brain pan now and then? You can’t live off of your own creativity alone. Everyone needs a little help in the kitchen…
Sometimes from the kitchen of a fictional character such as Joe Bakerman—deliciousness.
Sometimes from words—worlds.
Xenosthesia.com 