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The Secrets of Conversational Style(self)
3 commentsbyLarrySwinger

@x0x7 uses a conversational style in writing. I copy that from him when I post here. I don't know what it is but there's something interesting about it. It seems like you can write good posts with less effort that way. So here are the details of how to use Conversational Style (tm).

  • Don't worry about proper paragraphing. You don't paragraph your sentences in real life, now do you? Whatever comes to mind, just attach it to the same paragraph until it really gets too long.
  • If you realize that something you wrote is redundant, incorrect, or unnecessary to mention, don't bother editing it. Just use a phrase like "actually" or "come to think of it", and explain the nuance.

I was gonna write a few more bullet points and end with "now you too can use Conversational Style." However, I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe I should take another shower to stimulate more shower thoughts but idk man, I take so long in there. This one time I showered for an hour. (But back then I was depressed which right now I'm definitely NOT.) Anyway, can you help me out? What are the remaining secrets of Conversational Style?

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[-]JasonCarswell
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I'm not entirely sure what Conversational Style is and hadn't noticed anyone using any more or less than anywhere else. I'd guess it's not too formal or technical, uses contractions and common words verses long, fancy, or flowery language, and depending on the issue or topic I'd expect there to be some shorthand and understood content to omit unnecessarily verbose explanations. Wikipedia has some guidelines to writing neutral content and articles but I've never read them - and they, like everyone, have their biases even if it is presented academically. When I divide my content into paragraphs it's always for clarity for any number of reasons. When I get overly verbose and descriptive it's always to clarify and avoid any confusion leaving little room for misinterpretations. The goal is communicating full understanding, but sometimes it fails.

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[-]LarrySwinger
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Oh yeah the missing ingredient skip commas now and then make it phonetic.

(Alright x0x7 doesn't write like that exactly but I like doing it.)

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[-]x0x7
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Exactly. We aren't writing standalone pieces of work. We are conversing on the internet.

I will sometimes edit out something that is only semi-relevant. In fact very often I will. But even when I do I often want to leave some remnant of it behind because I want people to know my thought process.

If anything there is a benefit to it. See, people are going to question my decisions no matter what I do. I might as well let people know what I've already thought about. Then they can point out things I haven't thought about instead of things I have. Or they can point out if I think about a prior idea a little differently it might work.

You are 100% right about me and paragraphs. I don't really do formal paragraphs. It's just breaking things up visually. I think I might increase the font size here because it does look better in the article and the fact that the comment input has a larger font size than the site does cause misjudgment of visual breaks. So I probably break things up a little more than I should on account.

I agree with Jason in that I think conversational writing style is normal on this kind of site and while I might do it more than most I don't think it is unheard of.

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