Voice

One of the characteristics of writing for electronic media is voice. Voice is a combination of particular "speech" patterns (in writing, what is often called a conversational tone), point of view, and attitude - are you being funny, sarcastic, serious, nostalgic?

A particular advantage writing for electronic media has over traditional media is that the author's voice can literally be heard - that is, sound files can be attached to the blog or article and the audience may listen to the author in addition to reading.

I was unable to find an "official" version of this essay online, but someone posted the full text as a comment to a blog post, so we'll go with that. David Sedaris is a humorist who has made his fame and fortune on his readings. Read the text first - what do you hear? What do you imagine the author's "voice" to be?

AFTER reading the text, listen to the author reading the same work. Here's David Sedaris on "Late Night With David Letterman" reading one of his essays.

How is it different? Which has more impact? Are they better together, or does one interfere with the other? What techniques does Sedaris use to inject "voice" into his writing? Post a short critique to your blog site.

Non-Sequential Writing

One of the differences between writing for electronic media and writing for print is that many forms of electronic media support non-sequential writing. Sequential writing is the more familiar, with an order imposed upon the content 1) by the linear nature of print, or 2) by the dependencies of argument, order or other structure.

In non-sequential writing, information is presented in discreet chunks, without dependency on any other chunks. Chunks can be linked, of course, and packaged together, but each chunk should be able to stand on its own, as far as understanding by the audience.

For this exercise, practice writing in chunks. Use the "Today's Front Pages" website at the Newseum. Pick a newspaper from four different time zones in the United States, and write a short summary of the news presented on the front page. Each front page (one from each time zone) should be a discreet chunk. Post each chunk as a separate post to your blog. If you want to try it, try inserting a hot link to the other chunks (we'll get into this more later).

Focusing questions
What other forms of writing are non-sequential? What does the writer need to consider when writing non-sequentially?