1. scribblepuff

    scribblepuff New Member

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    Blog posts

    Discussion in 'Word Mechanics' started by scribblepuff, Nov 5, 2011.

    How would you write a blog post in a story?

    This is specifically troubling me because I want my MC to have a blog where she posts pictures along with the text. Is there a way to do it, other than describing the fact that she posted a picture of this and that?
     
  2. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    it can be done as a block insert, using the same font as the blog... this is done all the time in novels, for newspaper articles, official reports, letters and such...
     
  3. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    A block quote, yep. As for the picture, some possibilities (pretend that the indentation is a proper block quote):

    Example One. If the blog posts are normally entered as part of an enclosing scene:

    She sat down to type, yawning between sentences:


    Wow, the county fair has grown! Blah blah blah championship goats cotton candy little Joey got sick best fair ever!


    She carefully positioned a picture of (pre-nausea) Joey grinning in front of the hot-pie stand, and clicked Publish.


    Example Two. If you want the blog posts more or less independent of the narrative (perhaps starting a chapter or new section), and you're willing to go with referring to the photos _in_ the blog post:

    Blah blah blah narrative blah.


    Wow, the county fair has grown! Blah blah blah championship goats cotton candy little Joey got sick best fair ever! Look how happy Joey looks! That's Cousin Mattie's pie stand that you can see behind him.


    Blah blah blah more narrative blah.


    Example Three. Same as example two, but you don't want to refer to the pictures in the blog post, because that seems pretty obvious:

    Blah blah blah narrative blah.


    Janet's Blog, July 5, 1973:

    Wow, the county fair has grown! Blah blah blah championship goats cotton candy little Joey got sick best fair ever!

    Attached: Photo of Joey grinning in front of a booth with a sign declaring "Hot Pies".​


    Blah blah blah more narrative blah.


    For the third one, you'd have to come up with some sort of consistent, clear formatting for the blog posts. As I see it, the descriptions of the attachments are in the narrator's voice, or some omniscient voice, not in the blogger's voice.

    ChickenFreak
     
  4. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    it may be due to posting difficulties, cf, but to be block indents, as i assume you know, your examples should have the right-hand margin indented, as well...

    just wanted members who don't know what one is to understand that the post doesn't show them as they'd appear in a ms...

    hugs, m
     
  5. scribblepuff

    scribblepuff New Member

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    Thank you! Very helpful response, ChickenFreak.
     
  6. Jhunter

    Jhunter Mmm, bacon. Contributor

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    To put a picture in your head of what mammamaia is saying; it would look like how the Daily Prophet articles are handled in the Harry Potter series. But of course in a MS, it would not look that fancy. But the indents on each side are the same.
     
  7. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    Yep, I just couldn't figure out how to get a block quote to work here. :)
     
  8. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    in the ms, one simply moves the top margin arrows in from the regular margins 5 spaces [.5"] or 10 spaces [1"] on both sides...
     

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