ME WRITE GUD

Wait, you're actually reading this? So the title didn't scare you away? Or bore you to death? Interesting.

I'll be honest, I don't really understand how "active voice" is so much better than "passive voice". I mean, I can see the relationship, but one doesn't seem better than the other- they both serve their purposes in certain situations. I actually use passive voice a lot in my modular writings since it's something that is done often. Most people (aside from English/Writing teachers or pedantic jerks in the wild) will not detect passive voice in an oral context, and when they see it in a written context it's still getting the point across.

"Strong" writing is kind a misnomer here. There's no "strong" writer. We all suck. Hemingway, Tolstoy, Lovecraft, Poe, Murray- they all sucked at writing. We do too. "Strong writing" refers to people who stuck with an idea and edited it over and over and over after getting external input (editors) and internal input (the voices in your head that appear when you've drunken too much Goldschlager). Sure, some took their writing a little too far, and while there's many writers that stuck with it too much to the point of going into a depressive silence and either opening their veins with a pen or performing fellatio on their favorite projectile weapon, success in writing and in webtext is more how you refine and contract the text as it should be for your audience.

For example: http://stars4her.blog.com/2013/04/18/chapter-4/
"I have a tendency to speak in the passive voice". That's fine. But do you type in the passive voice too?

http://revkaworld.blogspot.com/2013/04/writing-good-webtext-editing-webtext.html
Kind of gets the idea with passive.

I'm truly just annoyed by all the hype about "passive" and "active" voice. Good writing works, people won't care if you say "he ran the gauntlet" or "through the gauntlet he ran" if it's done well.

Kind of like Lovecraft's "Azathoth". He basically ejaculated passive voice all over that thing. Did anyone notice? Of course not, it's Lovecraft. His prose poetry is beautiful no matter what he does.

Also, since this is the last "blog post" I need to do, I thought I'd say some things.

http://kalb483.wordpress.com/
Those balloons are more annoying than the rap music they play in the University Center for SEA Thursday.

There, I said it.

tl;dr - We need to forget passive vs. active voice. Just use a "good" voice for the writing. As always, the audience decides.

ME WRITE GUD

Giving People What They Want

Jance Redish posits in the reading this week that the only thing you should give is what the reader implicitly wants. Now, among the inverted pyramid theories and "omg this page is trying to sell something but is using two paragraphs, it's obviously bad", I have a question.

Why are you lumping up everyone into one category, Jance?

Let me backtrack a bit- for the most part, these are pretty good ideas that focus on how to create a user friendly site that can cater equally to many people. They show how to conserve an audience and present topics which are detailed but not verbose and cluttered.

My problem rests mainly into how Jance thinks that everyone is the "I'm not going to read this because it's not a bullet list / it's a wall of text". Not everyone thinks like that, and actually, a lot of people who go to certain sites don't mind the "wall of text" because that's what they're used to. It's not inherently bad, it's just not your cup of tea Jance.

Website Idea: Chronomancer Press

Site Idea: A website (Chronomancer Press) that publishes and advertises and sells (via PayPal) PDF's (written by me) that convert Public Domain fantasy fiction into D&D "Adventure Modules" in the vein of Wizards of the Coast and Paizo's takes on 3.5 D&D OGL system mechanics.

1. Who is your audience?
Individuals who play and enjoy materials related to OGL (Open Gaming License) content as developed by Paizo and Wizards of the Coast for their flagship "Dungeons & Dragons" intellectual properties. The site will cater to not only Players and Referees but also to industry professionals and publishers interested in purchasing the site.

2. What is the purpose?
The purpose is to create, market, and sell PDF conversions of public domain fantasy fiction stories into tabletop roleplaying game adventures. Not all PDFs will cost money, and there will be other arbitrary materials that I hold copyrights to made available for purchase or for free.

3. What is the content?
The primary content is public domain fantasy fiction and science-fiction stories that I have converted into roleplaying game adventures and then post for purchase or as a free offering to visitors. The PDF documents are displayed in a "My Library" page that is viewable once logged in to the website.

4. What is the design?
The website will be designed with a sidebar showing the various sections of the site: Home, News, Conversions, Other Stuff, Contact. The background will be a dark green or blue colour and the top left corner will have the "Chronomancer Press" insiginia or logo. Copyright info will be on the bottom of all screens. The "Home" page will have an auto-scrolling image in photo-reel style that will show the newest releases and news. The top of the page will have a banner advertisement advertising material pertinent to a hobbyist that would be browsing the site. The top right corner will display account information (whether the user is logged in or not). Account creation will involve the entering of the user's email and a password. Emails will be verified and there will be a security check to deter bots. Once logged in, the user can Logout, change their password, or access "My Library". The "My Library" page is a gallery of PDFs that the user has purchased.

The News page will order chronologically listed news items from top to bottom. The "Conversions" page will showcase in alphabetical order all of the Converted PDFs for sale in the following format-

Image of PDF - Title                                                      Price [PAYPAL BUTTON]
Description

The "Other Stuff" page will be a list of links to freely offered PDFs and other writeups. The "Contact" page will be a short listing of  my contact information.

A Short Word on Content Development

Going mainly off Cynthia Jeney's article here (which, while being easy reading unfortunately falls into the trap of many of the readings: simply being the obvious or smartest way of doing things- not really novel or new), concerning mainly content development. Short words here, but it would have been nice if the reading touched a bit on more niche topics that have more exotic avenues of development. For example, do the same principles as we have learned thus far hold up in all respects everywhere? No, they don't.

I don't know if it's just senioritis but I feel like many of the readings we do from the textbook are pretty redundant (and can be found online most of the time).