What’s a Blogger to Do?

One of the failings of non-fiction writers is to see one thing and assume it applies to all things. We are prone to generalize what is just an isolated occurrence.

Writers of fiction do this too, but they are better at compensating for this frailty through the creation of their characters and the pull of their plots.

The “too-quick-to generalize” weakness is especially apparent in those who attempt the briefest forms of non-fiction, including blogs, because there is not the time or space to thoroughly describe, define and defend.

So, what is a blogger to do?  Does the writer avoid conclusions, abandoning an orphan observation or idea without venturing support and opinion? Is the blogger’s task to stick to a specific situation or scene and just let it speak for itself?

Perhaps, at best, it is the blogger’s role to reveal metaphors, to help readers see how one thing is like another and, therefore, possibly more universally true or applicable than might otherwise be apparent.

Perhaps the task is to do this with precision. Plainly, without showy vocabulary.  And quickly, before the reader is diverted to some other posting, and then another.

So I end here.

JER