(Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes)
I have to make a confession. I’m a hacker. I hack blog posts.
Allow me to explain.
I like to take things apart, then put them back together again in new and strange ways. Bicycles, blog posts, same difference.
I like to explore and dig. I bend the rules. Sometimes I break the rules.
Sometimes, I write articles which may be read in more than one way, which may have disguised literary allusions, which may be full of hypertext shenanigans, or may contain some other sort of mischief burbling along as subtext.
In short, I like to play gentle pranks once in a while, just to see who’s paying attention.
I have very strict rules:
- Satisfy the scanner, the fast reader, the info hound first, and establish the breadth of the article.
- Hook the deliberate reader through the scan, so he or she will reread from the top down in more detail.
- Having satisfied readers 1 & 2, I go back through and hack. I might add quotes, allusions (the more obscure the better), subtext. I may use links and anchors, images and attributes to add depth.
- Add metastructural support last. Actually, there’s no such thing as ‘metastructural support.’ I was going to channel a little Alan Sokal here, but decided against it.
Pranking is a like a condiment, it should come at the end. Too much ketchup spoils the fries, so prank sparingly.
- Hacking blog posts keeps my writing interest high. Let’s face it, writing Yet Another Blog Post About Blogging gets old.
- I use gentle humor and never denigrate. (If I need to pick a fight, I’ll just do it.)
- What does it look like? (And why did I just break parallel form?) I occasionally use allusions drawn from poetry, literature old and new, popular song lyrics, various rhetorical device, advanced hypertext techniques, and more.
There may be other blogging pranksters. That’s not for me to say. They can make their own confessions.
A warning: don’t prank or hack until you have your basic writing craft mastered. Your essay, article or blog post must succeed on it’s own first. Then go back through and hack. Keep in mind: the best hacks are invisible to the casual reader. Like style, design and fashion, less is generally more.
Even masters go off the deep end. My favorite example is Pynchon’s “Vineland,” which I found tedious. Yes, the writing is masterful. And it’s clear the novel is a fictionalized story about real people (roman a clef), but I don’t know any of these people personally. Boring.
Another warning: If you try and hack every article you write, you will get as stale as writing with no hacking at all. For example, in this article, there are absolutely no links, no complicated literary devices, no easter eggs, no subtext, (almost) no hacks of any sort, just clear, simple explanation.
I won’t say what, if any, mischief I may (or may not) get up to in any ebooks or whitepapers. You pays your money, you takes your chances.
And I’ll be back to blogging “as usual” shortly. Some good stuff coming your way soon.
Meantime, what kind of pranks have you been up to lately?
I like the idea of hacking blog articles! I think there’s a risk of taking blogging too seriously sometimes, so the thought of making mischief when we write is an appealing idea! I’m going to see what pranks I can get up to in my next post…
Jen, I debated on whether to tip my hand or not, but I decided I wanted to see who was paying attention.
These kinds of articles can go really big or fall really flat. Then again, so can “regular” articles…
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Super or Total? Money Talks But Cache Rules =-.
I think if I didn’t hack mine I’d get very bored very quickly. That said I seem far more upfront about it than you are!
You’re right though, you don’t want to do that each and every time. Then you become predictable and its less fun for everyone.
Delight comes in the unexpected.
My favourite technique is to exploit the form/function echo. I like to disrupt it or to say two entirely different things with what I’m doing with style and structure, and let the ‘real’ meaning exist in that dissonance.
Fancy, huh? It isn’t easy to do but when it works, it is gorgeous and intensely satisfying.
It is even more satisfying when someone picks up on it. Then I think, “my people!”
It is like breadcrumbs…you scatter them around – or it appears scattered, but there’s a pattern to be discerned, a deliberation – and see who notices and follows the trail. Of course, I want someone to find the breadcrumbs and follow me home. (I’ve studied Hansel and Gretel and I like the gruesome fairy tales best.)
My favourite part of this piece was this:
“…I bend the rules…I have very strict rules…”
and this:
“I use gentle humor and never denigrate. (If I need to pick a fight, I’ll just do it.)”
There’s big life wisdom in that last bit.
Kelly… careful here, you’re tipping my hand with the breadcrumbs…
I have the same reaction: a burst of satisfaction when someone “clicks in” to what I’m up to.
Starting into “House of Leaves” shortly. Expect more unexpected.
Like a cat playing with a mouse. Wear the poor thing out, then eat it.
.-= Ralph´s last blog ..60’s Nostalgia – Color TV =-.
Ever so gently, Ralph, ever so gently!
I am shocked. SHOCKED.
Is this tipping of the hat going to become a waterfall of secrets unleashed?
.-= Deacon´s last blog ..Dispatches from the Spice Mines =-.
Not hardly.
That would spoil everything.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Goals Page: Keep Your Website in Focus and On Track =-.
He he…
I must confess, i learnt a thing or two here, not only from this post but the comments, ;)
All the while
Upon my face
Is a smile
and…
Yes, I am paying attention.
My post of the week just for that! :)
.-= rob sellen´s last blog ..Make money online, mining locally? =-.
Rob, I think I have some of the best commenters anywhere!
I definitely too.
Thanks for stopping by.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Super or Total? Money Talks But Cache Rules =-.
Just as well I added mine then :)
.-= rob sellen´s last blog ..Google a mass of contradictions? =-.