If Homer Simpson had a blog, I can just imagine what crazy posts would show up on it. Of course, he would describe the recipe for butter-fried donut and bacon sandwiches. Perhaps he would talk about an invention idea he had that would revolutionize his life. Parenting tips from Homer would abound, along with descriptions of his kids’ adventures. I expect he would also rant about his neighbors or share some juicy details he learned recently.
Homer Simpson’s blog would probably be one of the most read ones around. It definitely wouldn’t be because of his great intellect or deep insight into the problems facing the world today. His character and persona is just a fascinating one and people enjoy reading things from an outlandish perspective.
As a blogger, what can you learn from picturing Homer Simpson’s blog? Getting readers isn’t just about providing the deepest, most engaging and useful content. It’s about engaging people with the words you write. One creative way to do this is to develop a blogging character or persona and write from that perspective instead of your own.
Selecting a Perspective
Writing a blog from the perspective of someone else’s fictional character probably wouldn’t fly from a copyright standpoint, so you need to choose a perspective and build that character or persona from the ground up. Consider the types of things you want to blog about and what sort of character would care about them. In addition, consider who would have a unique perspective on them. For example, if you’re interested in blogging about city life, maybe create a character of a stray cat that can get into all the coolest spots and write about them from a fresh perspective.
Developing Your Voice
Writing as someone else is a challenge, and unless you’re an experienced writer, you may want to consider looking into blogging services to find someone who is skilled at this art. To develop the voice of a character, you have to get outside of your own head and figure out how someone else thinks and talks. What educational background does the character have? What sort of vocabulary does he use? How does he process information? All of these will come out in the words you use, the length of your sentences, and the overall tone of the posts.
Choosing Creative Content
The last challenge of writing a character blog is choosing creative content. You can’t just blog about things you think about or encounter, but rather the things your character thinks about and encounters. Imagine what his day looks like and what sorts of experiences he has. Most importantly, choose things that will engage readers and keep them coming back to your blog week after week. What will amuse or engage your readers?
Character blogging isn’t for everyone, but it is a creative way to put something new into the blogging world. What sort of character would you want to try writing as?
Kristen M is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
Even better would be to find a way to blog as yourself. We use a podcast format to generate the original content in the voice of the business owner or CEO, or leader. Then, we can hand the transcript off to a professional writer to clean it up and preserve the tone and “voice” of the company.
What a clever idea for creating a blog! I’ve never thought of using a character for my own blog, but now I’m seeing my blog from a whole new perspective. I think by choosing an alter ego it will help me be even more creative on those days when real life is just too boring to talk about. Thanks for the inspiration!