Blog Structure and What Makes a Post Beautiful and Brave
WHAT THE HECK, AM I SERIOUSLY BLOGGING ABOUT BLOG POSTS?
It’s number three in our three part series that I’ve only just now titled WHAT THE HECK, AM I SERIOUSLY BLOGGING ABOUT BLOG POSTS?
Best title ever, right?
Cough.
A little late in the series to be giving it a title?
Absolutely.
Do not be like me, fellow writers.
IT IS OKAY TO BE DIFFERENT
Let’s get started with this brilliance: Not all blog posts are built the same.
When it comes to structure and expectations, you’ll see that a good majority of blog posts fit certain structures, but I want to tell you that despite all the advice I’m giving below, you do NOT have to take it. You can do you.
THE STRUCTURE ACCORDING TO THE GURUS AT WORDPRESS
A couple of months ago, WordPress had a post about structuring your blog post.
This is great and echoes some of the thoughts I had in our first post of the marvelous series: WHAT THE HECK, AM I SERIOUSLY BLOGGING ABOUT BLOG POSTS :)
But this doesn’t talk about heart.
Yes, not all blog posts deal with heart or poignancy and instead deal with the best lens to buy for your Canon camera, but a lot do. The WordPress advice is great for straight information posts. But once you delve into news features or creative nonfiction? Not so much.
Those require heart.
Heart is hard to structure.
I think heart has a lot to do with the writer’s bravery and passion for what they are writing about.
WHAT MAKES A BLOG POST BRAVE?
I think you can call a piece brave when it includes:
A reveal of past vulnerability (sleeping in your car, feeling unsafe at home like I shared in a recent post, right?)
An honest reflection on fear, shame, and self-doubt or something similar; it can be about grief, joy, love, parenting, connection, community, hamster zombies. The key is that it is honest.
Sharing something you explicitly say you don’t usually talk about or that it’s hard to write about.
Wanting to help others. This requires reaching outside of yourself, right? That’s a big deal.
This kind of openness, especially about trauma and self-worth (or about love and beauty), is often emotionally risky. In writing, that qualifies as courageous even more so when it’s framed to help others.
Bravery in writing often shows up when your post has:
Emotional Vulnerability
You share something private, unflattering, or painful.
So, like in an earlier piece I wrote (apologies for referring to my own work, which feels super self-involved): “I was so afraid of my home I would sleep in my car.”
When I do that, I’m basically saying, “Hey! Humans, I’m trusting you with the hard stuff.” That’s kind of scary to do.
Contrasts Between Inner and Outer Worlds
Creating dissonance between appearance and reality, which is kind of part of being human, right? And being human is scary. Writing human is scary too. So, in that same post, I described people of thinking of me as a “respected member” of the community while secretly sleeping in the car.
Not Tying Everything Up Neatly all the Damn Time (sorry for swearing)
You don’t need to polish the pain. You don’t need to resolve everything. You don’t need to perform. You can have restraint even when writing about hard stuff.
Restraint often signals emotional courage. It’s what happens when you let the truth stand instead of sanding it down or inflating it. I hope that makes sense.
WHAT MAKES A BLOG POST BEAUTIFUL?
Some of the most beautiful writing is when your piece does the following:
Has a clear emotional arc. For example: fear ➝ storytelling ➝ connection ➝ transformation. (This post I am currently writing and you are reading? Not beautiful).
Connects deeply personal experience to universal hope and inspiration
Uses imagery and specificity that evoke both pain (cold winters, car naps) and wonder (magic in Acadia National Park, a daughter’s request, an adorable manatee swimming by your kayak in Florida). Specific sensory anchors are a big deal. Don’t let everything be abstract all the time (this goes for novels, too). Details ground the emotional weight.
Feels like a gift to the reader. This is the kind of post that’s not like Facebook status updates. In a beautiful post, you’re not venting or showing-off, you’re offering a kind of permission to be vulnerable and dream or inspiration or a way to connect.
Clear emotional movement. Let’s say you start a blog post in fear and move toward hope. The below arc—without being preachy or tidy—is what emotionally satisfying writing often feels like.
Beginning: Afraid, hiding, ashamed
Middle: Storytelling, connection, action
End: Empowered, generous, reflective
Symbols. There is a lot of really big power in symbols. If you can weave them into a post, they can pack a really bit wallop.
WHAT DOESN’T AUTOMATICALLY MAKE A POST BEAUTIFUL.
A perfect structure
A table of contents. Cough. Sorry WordPress.
Specific keywords. People respond from contextual understandings of tone, of structure, and the emotional resonance.
Typos! Just kidding! Just kidding! Typos are beautiful. All ways.
Whew. That was a lot, right?
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
The first Wordpress post.
Another via Wordpress.
PLACE TO SUBMIT
Tabula Rasa Review is “filled with poetry and prose that show us just how much can be done with a blank piece of paper. Our authors have formed dimension, and feeling in black and white text. They’ve created relationships, climaxes, and resolutions that make us feel as if we are there, too.”
Submissions are now open until September 30, 2025!
QUICK EXERCISE
Think about the top five hardest things for you to write about. Write 250 words about the fifth hardest thing. You don’t have to show anyone. Just try to write it. Think about the emotional movement in what you’ve written.
QUICK NOTE FROM ME
If you think all the content I write over the year is worth $6 a month and you can afford to send that along? That is super awesome and kind. Thank you. If not, no worries! Just stay around and read the free posts, okay? And try not to resent me for the paid ones.
I send WRITE BETTER NOW emails twice a week. If you would also like to receive them, join the other super-cool, super-smart people who love it today.
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That’s me trying to sell. I am terrible at it, I know!