Writing for the Web - Reading List
This is my blog. It's a poor example of a blog. Follow the links below to find out how to do it better.
Your blogs
- Mellow - Kam's
- Writing for the web - Ross's
- Music, sport, life - Jeremy's
- Nintendo style - Mark's
- Ce la via - Celia's
- Is Drinking Bad? - Paul's
- The Lobby Channel - My attempt at hyperfiction
How to Write for the Web
- How to Write for the Web (Word doc - 95k) - a usability study of content by Jakob Nielsen.
Blogs and how to write them
- Blogger - you should get to know this place well.
- Write better blogs - a very incisive and well-observed article, a few years old now, but essential reading.
- Writing tips from ALA - A List Apart is indespensible reading for web geek people and cover all manner of things. Their articles on content are written by experts in their field.
- The Register - the Register is an (in)famous 'webzine' and is the place to keep up to date with Internet news.
- Chuck Palahniuk's website - there's a huge wealth of information here, plus a very healthy community: writers helping writers. (update: unfortunately some of the writing workshops have recently been locked away behind subscription-only doors. Sorry!)
- Technorati - Blog search engine.
- The Bloggies - somewhat pointless annual awards thing for best blogs. Check out 2005 and 2004 winners too.
- A (brief) history of web blogs
- Flickr - photo sharing site, tightly bound with the blogging community.
- Blogniscient - a blog portal, ranking the best blogs.
- Blogdex - an ever-changing index of the most blogged stories.
Some recommended blogs
Roughly in order of usefulness/ preference. Most blogger's writing suffers from an over-inflated sense of importance and an addiction to the word "I". See 'how not to do it' further down the page for examples.
- High Class Blogs - collection of the best writing blogs on the net (apparently).
- Freeway Blogger - funny and satirical blog-of-the-times.
- Richard Herring - diary to combat writer's block from funny man of Fist of Fun fame.
- Maddox - infantile, pointless, arrogant and very funny.
- All Kinds of Writing - what it says on the tin.
- This Modern World - cartoonist's blog.
- Cute Overload - it is, indeed, very cute. And funny.
- A Screenwriter's View - lots of resources and tips for screenwriters
- Boing Boing - Winner of 2005 "bloggies" and 'directory of wonderful things'
- Wonkette - popular political blog.
'Specialist' blogs
Blogs are a good way to get "inside" the heads of people you might not otherwise have any contact with. Perfect pre-made characters, if you like. This is just a random snapshot ...
- Ditch Monkey - 30 year old man living in the woods.
- Old Man Running - old marathon runner shares tehcnical tips.
- Vociferate - "The blog of an unapologetic feminist". (Side note: I'd love to read the blog of an "apologetic feminist").
- Belle du Jour - London call girl
- Tard Blog - Special needs teacher
- Jean-Rene - Just your average financial dreamer/ loser. Sadly no longer kept up-to-date.
Creative mining
- Word Spy - A site about, um, words. I quite like the Random Word Page. The weekends fly by.
- Micro Fiction - There's loads of this around and this is just one of many examples. Try also The Binnacle. Short, short stories and poetry. I love them. If you do too, I suggest you check out Leonard Michaels.
- Random Access Memory - Excellent experiment in collective memory. Try searching for something emotive: "cry", "school", "sex" or "dead". There's a wealth of stories here waiting to be discovered.
- Post Secret - deliciously addictive collection of other people's secrets made into artwork. If you can't get a story here, you're creatively dead.
- Lowbrow - similar to above; a collection of people's lowest moments. Confession is the new poetry.
- Overheard in New York - Random snippets of speech, all hinting at stories and characters. The best ones tell of something that's been before and hint at what is still to come, as well as being illuminating and inspirational in the present.
- Overheard Lines - Very similar to above. The more you eavesdrop on people, the more you realise how strange and random natural speech is.
- Nobody Here - just plain... strange. Good use of hyperfiction.
- Writer's Block - nice idea, didn't work sadly.
- Fiction Factory - start your own piece of collaborative fiction.
- Snoot.org - contribute to other pieces of collaborative fiction.
How not to do it
I'm sure these aren't the worst - not by a mile. They're just the first I came across. I'm sure this will be an ever-growing list.
- Silent Scream - Bad but intimate writing.
- Mystic Wanderer - Wanderer, yes. Mystic, no. Just faintly embarrassing.
Authority, Collaboration & Consensus
Currently the Internet is a-buzz with a new kind of authority: the common voice. Not entirely sure if this is a revolution or just a 'heads up' to big businesses who will undoubtedly do it bigger and "better".
- They Work for You - Keep your MP to account using this excellent site.
- Public Whip - Find out voting records of all MPs, and act upon it.
- Media Lens - Sign up to the alerts and make journalism an accountable and two-way process.
- Wikipedia - the 'wiki' is a real phenomenon. Openly editable pages with consensus editorial. Brilliant site.
- Newsvine - open, collaborative news site. Anyone can post a story.
- Indymedia - worldwide independent news site, focussed on activism. The local version is Indymedia Cambridge.
- Random BBC link - talk of authority on the Internet. BBC may be one of the institutions that change and adapt.
Anonymity
A few links regarding anonymity on the web.
- Wikipedia on anonymity.
- A New Scientist piece about anonymity and remailers
- A decent essay on the legal aspects of anonymity
- Baiting.org - a now defunct site. Baiting is the art of pretending to be someone else in a chatroom to lure other people into a certain position.
Other sites of interest
- Writers' choice - list of writers writing about books.
