Unbearably HoT

It’s been a little quiet around here lately. There’s been a lot of election hubbub, Halloween, a myriad array of class changes, and (of course), Wrath descending upon us in approximately two weeks. Content is amazingly easy right now, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy blowing through instances without thinking twice about what I’m doing or if I’m even wearing the “correct” gear to be tanking. Just for kicks, I used up my badges, extra T6 tokens, respecced bomb owl, and ran around nuking people with 1200 SP for a week and a half. Basically, it’s like everyone figured out how to hit SSJ3 with little to no effort and all the raid bosses have the combined abilities and intelligence of the Dinobots and the Ginyu Force.

So from now until Wrath, there’s very little point in theorycrafting (though I have a bit of an opinion about the Mangle spam v. Shred spam Cat specs that are floating around). Instead, I’m trying to decide what my future raiding plans will be (killing frozen d00ds and dagrons) and I’m writing a novel.

You heard me.

November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), an endeavor that encourages the intrepid writer to churn out 50,000 words by the end of November 30th. The goal isn’t necessarily to write anything perfect (or even linear, for that matter), but rather to have something in your hands by December that is worthy of revision. It’s a great concept. All professional and amateur writers alike have peculiar habits when it comes to their work, and I am no exception:

• I have a difficult time writing more than a paragraph at a time without revising extensively as I write.
• I work best between the hours of 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.
• I write best under pressure.
• I require either absolute quiet or instrumental music to get serious.
• I frequently read passages I’ve written out loud to myself.

The key point is that I am constantly revising and thus it takes me an enormous amount of time to finish any fiction/nonfiction. By participating in this year’s NaNoWriMo, I hope to break free of some of that self-imposed burden and finish something I’ve been working on for months. I’m already about 4000 words behind—but I’ve got a good feeling about catching up. The catch, however, is that you may see the frequency of posting at Unbearably HoT slow down for a bit—but you can bet I’m going to haul tail to 80.

If you have questions about what I’m working on (and no, it has nothing to do with WoW or any other fantasy-based world), feel free to drop me a line. I will also be leaving AIM on more than normal, and if you’d like, you can shoot me an instant message at Runyarusco.

Copycatting is the sincerest form of flattery—or so they say. Think of it like this: did you ever copy & paste direct quotes in academic papers without providing parenthetical documentation? Probably not—many institutions will expel students who have been proven plagiarizers, and professionals have had entire bodies of work discredited. The fact of the matter is that artists, academics, and bloggers alike generally don’t appreciate when their work is copied, mirrored, or altered without notice or credit—but many are happy to lend out materials if they know they’re being cited. 

How do I tell people what they can do with my work? 

If you’ve ever decided to scroll down a bit and check out my sidebar, you might have noticed a little rectangular icon that looks like this

and states “This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.” That inconspicuous little button is a Creative Commons license that provides the legalese to describe how content may be appropriated and used—if at all. It’s one way that many bloggers choose to protect—and share—their writing the best they can. 

Because Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. “reserves all rights” to any Warcraft related indicia, all “files, codes, audio or images incorporated in or generated by the software” are not covered by the Creative Commons License. This means that, technically, while I have painstakingly created each image myself using either screenshots or the WoW Model Viewer, they are derivative works and cannot be sublicensed. Strictly, I cannot legally copyright or pursue any Blizzard licensed graphical derivatives. However, I politely request that if you’d like to use any images I have edited, please credit Unbearably HoT by providing a URL: www.unbearably.net. 

So what exactly does the Creative Commons license cover? Everything else. All writing is my own, and when copyrighted and assigned a Creative Commons License, is protected by law. Remember though, it’d be pretty lame to create and write a blog for an audience if nothing in it could ever be reproduced or repeated. To that effect, my specific Creative Commons license specifies that you:

• May copy, distribute, and display my work under the following conditions:
  • Work must be attributed appropriately in the manner the author/licensor specifies. Generally, this is easily done by providing a link back to the original article, or by linking to the site itself (www.unbearably.net). Pretty simple. 
  • Work is used noncommercially.
  • Work has not been altered or transformed in any way. 
  • If you have a specific question about how to use something from Unbearably HoT, feel free to shoot me an e-mail; I’ll probably think whatever you’re doing is cool. 

Another stellar example of a Creative Commons license at work: the theme I use for my website (Ayumi 1.1) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. This means that I can essentially do whatever I want with said theme (and I certainly have) so long as I credit the original creator, Nurudin Jauhari. You can see this information permanently in the footer of every page.

For further reading and to find out what sort of licensing may be best for you, I recommend checking out the Creative Commons website, perusing their materials, and paying a visit to the United States Copyright Office (online, of course). If you have further questions specific to my own materials or Blizzard’s legal documentation, feel free to contact me. 

Yesterday, I had a brief conversation with Pummra from Part Time Druid about content and writing. Our talk was cut-short by the fact that I had to leave work, but I’ve been mulling over a few details since then.

Essentially, Pummra wanted me to read his latest post, a revisiting to his earlier “5 Things You Need to Know About Druids” that garnered no small amount of questioning and criticism from the druid community. Pummra outlines what he’s learned about the druid class since then and offers his own resto-themed tips for succeeding. In fact, I’m even mentioned in the latest version as one of the original naysayers, and while I did make a decidedly critical comment, I wouldn’t go so far as to say I “hated” the article. Let’s just say I went into the reading under the wrong impression.

What’s in a name? As many bloggers know, an article title needs to encompass the general theme of your blog and your topic. This is important for multiple reasons:

1. It’s what will be drawing non-regular readers to your site
2. It adds a predictable flavor to your blog
3. It illustrates what you’re writing about
4. It allows search engines to index your articles by “post-names” if you have that option selected for how your “permalinks” function (otherwise, it will default to indexing your posts by numeric values, meaning it’s a lot more difficult to track them).
   • Interestingly, I get a few hits on my webpage because people searching for “hot nude asses” get redirected here.

So when I see a title like “Ten Things I Hate About You,” I’m immediately thrown into the Letterman mindset: oh, this is going to be funny! Although the list format is used liberally by bloggers such as Matticus, I expect that from him. When I see it crop up in other places, I anticipate some sort of parody. Unless you have established yourself as following a specific writing style, it’s not unreasonable to assume that your readers will draw on prior experience/pop culture to set the standard for what they read.

How do you break beyond those boundaries?

1. Structure
2. Style
3. Clarity
4. Knowledge

As bloggers such as BRK and BBB have mentioned, having a clear structure to your writing invites readers to easily absorb what you’ve written. Large walls of text that aren’t broken up by white space, ordered and unordered lists, or pictures deter readers. The writing seems heavy, unorganized, and endless. Structure also implies that you know where you’re going—this is what first drafts are for. While short updates don’t necessitate planning ahead, any lengthy article should have a clear beginning, middle and end; paragraphs should lead logically from one into another; and each piece of the proverbial pie should contribute to the “thesis.” Without digressing too far into the stale realm of academia, traditional tools such as outlines or pyramids can help reign ideas in.

Once you have some sort of structured idea, write it up in your voice. Style is often used synonymously with voice, and literally means the manner in which you convey your ideas. Your approach, your panache, your thing that makes you unique and/or interesting. Some people remain deliberately formal, write in lists, string words together in a peculiar way, weave their spoken vernacular into writing, or establish a consistent “tone” of voice (humorous, authoritative, a founding member of the old folks’ convention, elitist douche, etc.) throughout all their work. Whatever style you find works for you, own it and remain true to your voice. If you have an audience, chances are they’re not only coming back for content, but for you.

So you’re classy. You can compose a logically structured analysis of your office’s many leather bound books and write it like you’re a sports commentator. Whammy! Now, does your article make any sense? Many folks mistake “conversational” with “puking words out into a garbled document.” The “conversational” idea is that you want to communicate with your readers in a relaxed setting while putting them at ease—not confusing them with awkward syntax and poor grammar. Conversational usually translates into easier-to-read, which harkens back to an earlier post on Flesch-Kincaide testing. Think about it like this: how do you talk to your friends when you’re having a marginally intelligent conversation? Remember that your blog isn’t always talking to “friends,” and upgrade the language half a notch.

Maybe you are talking to friends, and disseminating information isn’t the primary focus of your blog. Let’s be honest here; do you read every single blog that chronicles a raider’s experiences through Karazhan? Which ones do you read and why? I’m going to make a blanket assumption that you’re going back for more because you appreciate the writer’s layout and personality, not because you want to know everything in the world about an early-BC instance that’s almost two years old. But what else piques your curiosity? I like learning, and I enjoy reading different interpretations of classes, skills, talents and raid roles—it’s part of why I blog.

Taking that first step into the realm of assertions and/or theorycrafting requires knowledge. While everyone is entitled to a mistake or two (I know that I’ve certainly made a few), glaring misunderstandings about the class you play will alienate your readers. Just because you’re not raiding in Sunwell doesn’t mean you can’t put in the time and effort to maximize your performance at your own level—and there are plenty of resources out there for fact-checking. Ultimately, if you’re unsure of what you’re writing, don’t post it, ask a fellow blogger to proof it, or at least add a general disclaimer citing speculation.

Do I need to follow all of that bullshit you outlined?

Well, no. As someone who writes for a living, I’m just outlining components of writing I feel to be successful, and what I look for when I’m skimming other blogs. I love unique voices and eloquent sentence structuring, and beyond that, I enjoy learning about the various niches of druids—and other classes. The more knowledge you gather about the way other classes function can only enhance the way you play yours.

When I was first convinced to start writing a druid-themed blog, it was with the intention of creating an audience interested in both druids and high-end raid content. I don’t ever recall reading many other blogs geared in a similar fashion until recently, and it’s (dare I say) refreshing reading the trials and tribulations of others riding the progression bandwagon in the writings of folks such as Lume the Mad or Chick GM. But before I totally digress, I’d like to just take a minute to step back from Warcraft here and address what I mentioned in the very first sentence: creating an audience.

Here, I am making a few assumptions:

1. While bloggers must be writing in some fashion for themselves, they are also writing in a public venue in which they want to be seen.
2. You, as a blogger, do not want to alienate a potential audience and you, as a reader, do not want to feel alienated by a particular blog. Here, I’m talking about a potential audience within a topic itself; for example, I wouldn’t want to discourage druid readers. Generating interest from anyone else is an added bonus.
3. You, as a blogger, want to allow open discourse, in some capacity, and you, as a reader, do not want to be ignored.

Keeping the above items in mind, here are a few suggestions that I try to follow for anyone who’s curious or struggling with a fledgling site:

1. Update Frequently: I admittedly have a hard time doing this, especially when my schedule lately looks a little something like Go to Work, Come Home, Cook Dinner, Raid, Sleep. But the more often you update, the better the chances are that people will frequently check out your work to see what’s new. Similarly, as a reader, I really enjoy following specific blogs and look forward to new content. I am not, however, part of the Twitter camp, nor do I think that “updating frequently” means interjecting with every stray thought I happen to have during the day—for the purposes of my blog, anyway. While that might be…interesting, I don’t think the people who read Unbearably HoT want that. If I’m wrong, please let me know.
2. Track Site Statistics: While this offers a work-procrastinating opportunity for every Type A, OCD individual out there, integrating some sort of tracker into your website, like StatCounter, allows you to view a comprehensive breakdown of the traffic your site is receiving: how many hits, unique hits, recent keyword activity, websites that people clicked through to get to yours, popular pages, exit pages, etc. I am generally most interested in the amount of daily traffic as it correlates to days-of-the-week (when most people tend to drop by), where people are coming from (who’s linking to me) and what folks typed into Google to get them to my blog (keyword activity). This shows me when it’s most opportune to post in order to “please” the greatest numbers of stoppers-by. This kind of information might also surprise you—a post you might have viewed as silly, inconsequential or difficult to read may end up being the most popular thing you ever wrote. Go figure.
3. Comment: Don’t be afraid to comment elsewhere. Discuss. But more importantly, respond. While there are certainly blogs out there with entries generating 40+ comments a day, I’m going out on a limb and postulating that most, or at least many, WoW bloggers don’t usually get more than 20 and often less than 10. If folks bothered to leave you some kind of feedback, even if it’s something to the tune of HI I LIKE YOUR LAYOUT ALSO O’DOYLE RULES!, it’s just common courtesy to respond in some way, even if it’s simply a “Thank you”. Similarly, if someone comments with a correction or a controversial opinion, before you dismiss him or her outright or call him or her “rude”, take a minute, recheck your facts, math, whatever, and respond graciously and thoughtfully. We all make mistakes, and we all tend to make incorrect assumptions at one point or another. Additionally, while most theorycrafting is standard, take a minute and ascertain where this person is coming from—are they raiding Karazhan and you’re working on Illidan? Different specs, gear levels and levels of raiding might necessitate different rules or ideas. Meet halfway.
4. Determine Readability: This goes beyond the basics of good grammar, structure and spelling. I come from a background of writing dense scientific papers, rather erudite literary critcism and, to balance it all out, humorous nonfiction. It’s pretty easy to figure out which of those most people would probably read, and I try to recognize my tendency to write obscenely long sentences and make everything a little bit more conversational. To get an idea of how your writing compares to known standards, the intrepid writer can perform a Flesch/Kincaide test. Flesch Tests are statistical analyses of a selected body of work that utilizes this formula:

   206.835 – 1.015(total words/total sentences) – 84.6(total syllables/total words) .

   High scores indicate an easier to read document, while lower scores generally indicate denser, more difficult prose. For reference, Reader’s Digest scores around 65, a basic insurance policy scores around 45 and Nature would probably score in the mid-twenties. The Kincaid portion of the test scores your writing and calculates the basic grade level of your work (10 being a sophomore level). This post, for example, scores a 43.2 with a 12.0 reading level and definitely isn’t hard to read. Most public media caters to a sophomore or lower reading level. It’s interesting to see where you end up on the spectrum.

   Don’t let the math scare you—if you use WP, you can download a plug-in called FD Word Stats. Additionally, going to Tools>Options>Spelling & Grammar>Check Show Readability Statistics will allow you to perform the same tests in Microsoft Word. Just run a standard Spelling & Grammar check, and the stats will display at the end.

So even when you’re supposedly writing for yourself, take a moment to reflect on your personal motivations and slip yourself into the shoes of the reader—what do you like to see as a member of the “audience”?

I have some rather ridiculous WoW related news to report on later, but that’s it for now. In the meantime—what do you want to hear from me that I don’t already discuss?