Missteps of the Dance

First thing first, On a scale from 1-10, how much do you actually want to do an askblog?

I have seen so many askblogs started in a wave of fervor and pure adrenaline and then dropped the next day. It sounded like a good idea last night when you were thinking about it and then you actually started and it was like all the magic went away and you just start going “I’ll do it later”  and later never comes. Sometimes that great feeling will even last an entire day and then you’ll disappear for two years and the next update will be “sorry this blog is dead I lost interest” So I guess what I’m saying is, don’t make an askblog impulsively. Make one for characters you love and characters you actually want to get into deeper depth with, and for a thing you like a lot.

OK, those are just the pleasantries, now we talk about actual askblog stuff

Blog themes? Less is more

People came to read your stuff. People want to read your stuff!! Use a legible theme. I’m not saying don’t pretty it up. You good with coding Do what you do. But make sure the text is legible, the artwork can be viewed in its full glory, and don’t put too many distracting things around. I think this blog does a good job of that. Tbh, though, no ones gonna bust you for just using the redux theme and making it something fitting for both you and your character(s)

The askblog is a reflection of the character, not you

OK so this basically boils down to “Do not reblog unrelated material and try to stay in character. If you’re not in character mark the post as OOC so everyone knows” You would think this was common sense, but wow is it a huge turn off. Sometimes you see blogs that say “ask-x” in the title, and you go to it and there’s no askblog like material on it for a hundred pages, and you’re like “Oh, ok this is just someone’s main” and then like 3 posts later you find out it’s not. It really is an askblog, but in name only. 

TALK TO PEOPLE!

I FAIL SPECTACULARLY IN THIS AREA AND THAT IS WHY I AM BEING SO AGGRESSIVE ABOUT IT. TALK. TO. PEOPLE. Introduce yourself to other blogs! Start a conversation! Make friends! Make a network! Not only will it give you more exposure, but DUDE, FRIENDS ARE NICE! You could do collaborations and share ideas and people who read your blog will be entertained like “wth are these two doing today.” People like seeing characters interact with other characters, Other people like interacting with other characters. It’s fun. You’ll have fun. They’ll have fun. Make your askblog a separate blog so you can send messages to people. Send people messages. Send hellos. Reply to prompts. Other people make askblogs go round.

Look, there’s more I could say here, but everything else is actually just a fundamental component of writing and etiquette. I don’t have to tell you not to be rude, I don’t have to tell you not to send hate, and tbh I shouldn’t have to tell you ignore hate but embrace criticism.

Don’t worry about the artwork, it’ll get better as you go

Don’t worry about embarrassing yourself, the only way to embarrass yourself is by being rude.

Don’t worry about followers or reblogs or anything

Don’t worry about making it perfect. It will never BE perfect. Human brains can’t even COMPREHEND perfection, much less achieve it.

Cliche as it sounds?

Have fun.

If it’s not fun you’ll stop doing it. If you’re not enjoying yourself WHY do it? You don’t get paid for this, it’s a thing you do because you enjoy it. If it’s not fun everyone will know because it will show in your work. Don’t pressure yourself to answer an ask. You can say no. It’s not rude to ignore it. If at any time you stop enjoying it, take a break or stop altogether. It’s not worth it.

It might seem like I’m being overly dramatic, but again I’ve seen some really good blogs- at some point it got to be too much. They absolutely loved running their blogs but at some point it just wasn’t in them anymore, whether it be from constant pestering or just because they got bored. And you could tell. And it was only when they started doing what they liked and what they thought was fun again where the atmosphere changed back.

So yeah.