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The 5 Best Ways To Support Your Blog’s Story Arc
We create blogging resources and share blog writing tips. In this post, we suggest five ways to support your blog’s story arc.
We need to add texture to our blogs if we’re writing about our lives or our experiences. If you are the subject of your blog, you want people to empathise with you. You would like them to follow you and to share your content.
You could be writing a blog as a writer. The story arc of the blog would be about your writing journey, but you can’t just write about writing if it is a personal blog.
To add the texture, you need to share stories on topics that:
- Show different aspects of your personality.
- Show different perspectives of the central theme of your blog.
- Show your motivations for wanting to achieve your goals.
Research proves that people enjoy sharing positive content the most. Even if you are telling a sad story, tell it beautifully.
A good way to see if your new topics add to your blog’s story arc is to ask if they add perspective. If they do not, you do not need it. Save it for a different blog.
The 5 Best Ways To Support Your Blog’s Story Arc
The Five Best Topics To Get Readers Interested In Your Personal Blog
Just as a good book needs sub-plots, your personal blog needs supporting story lines.
1. Love Interests.
Your love interest will always be interesting to your followers. You do not have blog about a romantic love interest. You can write about anyone (including a friends and family) or any animal that you love. In fiction writing, writers use love interests to support and thwart their main characters. You can tell stories that do the same for your blog.
Example: A writer could blog about how her husband deals with her writing ups and downs. She could do this once a month to show another part of her life.
Suggested reading: Neil Gaiman’s blog
2. Learning.
Write about your emotional, spiritual, and intellectual learning curves. Write about the things you’ve learnt on the way to achieving your goals. Write about courses you’ve attended, journeys you’ve taken, and roads less travelled. Show how these have helped an hindered you. This will support your blog’s story arc.
Example: A writer could speak at a conference that ends up giving her insight into a problem she’s having with her own writing. She could write a series of posts or make a podcast about her experiences.
Suggested reading: Laurie Halse Anderson’s blog and Ransom Riggs’ blog
3. Addictions, Habits, Personality Traits.
Write about how these complicate your life or how they make it better. Write about strengths and flaws. You can write about something light-hearted or something serious.
Example: A writer’s quest for the perfect cup of coffee could provide impetus for a series of posts. Alternatively, a writer’s who is an alcoholic can chronicle her struggles.
Suggested reading: Meg Cabot’s blog
4. A Sense Of Dread.
Show your fears and vulnerabilities. Tell us what you’re afraid of and, more importantly, how you deal with it. A phobia could be transformed into a meaningful set of posts.
Example: The writer may have a fear of spiders or heights or open spaces. Blogging about encounters with these can add depth to the topics she writes about in her books.
Suggested reading: Tess Gerritsen’s blog and Shannon Hale’s blog
5. Hobbies & Dreams.
You should write about other dreams and any hobbies you have. These need not be inextricably linked to the main story arc of the blog.
Example: The writer may have always wanted to become a top chef or enter a dancing competition. She could blog about these dreams. Maybe, she pursues one of them in her spare time. She could write about this to show a more balanced life.
Suggested reading: Rainbow Rowell’s blog and Erin Morgenstern’s blog and Marie Lu’s blog
I hope these give you ideas for supplementing the main theme of your personal blog.
Top Tip: If you want to learn how to blog, join us for The Complete Blogging Course in Johannesburg or sign up for the online version.
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Posted on: 21st May 2018
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2 thoughts on “The 5 Best Ways To Support Your Blog’s Story Arc”
I seem to write about my own experiences and I don’t always mean to. My last blog post had a lot of things you added on your list. What I try to do is show growth. I also try to write about things people can relate to. If a reader can see themselves in your post the blogger has succeeded. That’s always been my goal. Your list will keep me in line.
Thank you.
Waw, I have never thought of writing about how my husband views my writing. That calls for a trial before the end of this month. But I love it when people learn something from my posts. If my readers grow, I also grow. Thank you for the links too.
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