Blapril: Topic Brainstorming Week
“That’s the shittest idea in the history of ideas. If you speak again Colin, I’ll cut you…”
According to the Blapril schedule, it’s Topic Brainstorming Week. One of the most common questions that you’ll hear from new or occasional bloggers is “what should I write about”. Now don’t go thinking that some of us are blessed with more inspiration than others. The reality is quite the opposite. Most of us can come up empty on occasions and struggle to find inspiration. This is just another aspect of blogging that needs to be managed and planned for. Therefore, I strongly advocate collating a list of subjects and ideas for future blog posts and continuously adding to it. So let us without further ado, get on with brainstorming a list of potential topics for bloggers to write about. Just remember that brainstorming is a nonlinear process, and I am writing my thoughts down as they occur to me. Hence many of the ideas will be somewhat tangential to each other, without any semblance of order. You can also find some useful ideas here, in a post I wrote back in 2016 called “Got Nothing to Write About?”.
Write a post about yourself, your likes and dislikes. You don’t have to give out excessively personal information if you don’t want to. But readers like to know about the people that create the content that they consume.
Keep a game (or any other kind of hobby) diary. Write about your progress in say a new MMO. Discuss the decisions you make regarding the character you create and play
Write a guide or offer tips and hints. This can be as detailed or as simple as you like. People again eat this kind of content up.
Catalogue cosmetics. This can become incredibly popular and major sites have grown around such undertakings.
Post screenshots (and write about them if you want). Not exactly hard is it. Yet people like a well composed picture, especially if they too play the same game.
“Riff off” your fellow blogger’s posts (Massively OP is also a great source of gaming related discussion and debate). These sorts of blog posts are good for building communities and interacting with your blogging colleagues. A good talking point can often see multiple responses.
Write think pieces about wider issues in your area of interests. Commenting upon the wider video games industry is always a good source of content. Just ensure that you reference your sources and that any arguments are factual and based upon tangible information.
Catalogue and review the community activities associated with your field of interest.
Comment on gaming news. There is no lack of material here.
If you’re learning a new skill such as live streaming, document your progress. Writing down what you have learned and done is also a great way of ensuring that you retain that information. Again, such posts are beneficial to others.
Review the things you like. Be they games, books, comics, movies, sandwiches, beer etc. Posting such content is a great way to build an audience and such posts often have a great deal of longevity.
Share pictures of your day to day life. You’ll be surprised how blog posts that catalogue everyday aspects of life are well received. It’s interesting to see the little differences that exist in common place activities, such as shopping, in different countries.
If formal blog posts are not to your liking, then why not just write a “stream of consciousness”. This can be very therapeutic and if done well is a rewarding alternative to more linear postings.
Courtesy of Daily Creative Thing
It is important to remember that not every blog post you write has to be some sort of literary marvel. That’s not to say you shouldn’t take pride in your creative output and exercise some sort of quality control. But it’s perfectly fine to write a post about how you logged into your game of choice, did some quests, met friends and had fun. Or to blog about your pets, share with others how you enjoyed a show you saw on Netflix and how you had a great time at a convention or Renaissance faire. Such posts are very accessible to many and again help people to connect and build communities. One of the blogs I read regularly is Daily Creative Thing by Gracie. It catalogues the progress of her knitting projects. I don’t know if I can articulate cogently why this appeals to me but it just does. I like creativity in many forms and admire those who have such skills. It’s nice to see hard work pay off with a finished product. It also proves my point that you can successfully approach blogging and any angle. Once you’ve found your niche the content should flow.
