Pete Johnson: To blog or not to blog

'I don't do any of it,' declared Gary Oldman in a recent interview. 'I don't blog or tweet and I'm not on Facebook.' He sounded wonderfully defiant and I wonder how many people were cheering him on.

Don't you feel sometimes, that all these new forms of communication are not possible new options? They're compulsory.

'Surely every author tweets today,' a bookseller said to me recently. Well, I don't. And I'm not on Facebook either. If I were 12 or 13 I'm sure I would have my own Facebook page. But I can't see why anyone who isn't a teenager would bother. Half of my friends agree with me - the other half all have Facebook pages.

But as for blogging - well here I must part company with Gary Oldman. From the start I 'got' this. Perhaps because blogs are really electronic diaries. And I kept a diary all through my school and university years and during the whole time I did a proper job too. Today nothing brings back the past more swiftly and occasionally more painfully, than re-reading my (frequently embarrassing) diaries.

I've also used the diary form in a number of my most popular books including How to Train Your Parents, Trust Me I'm a Trouble Maker and Diary of an (Un)Teenager.

But blogs actually have some advantages over diaries. Firstly blogs can be shared with the world on the internet. And anyone can set up a blog.

So they can be a great way of giving your opinions on everything, from: the library services cuts - to the film version of One Day. But I especially like the blogs in which people just roam about their life. It's the small, everyday details I find so absorbing and fascinating.

I applaud such blogs for another reason too. Many people (including me) believe we are moving towards a far more impersonal, bureaucratic society, in which we are frequently made to feel like a very small cog indeed. Well, blogs are a superb way of counteracting that and allowing people to celebrate their individuality - and freedom.

But, of course, not all blogs are for public consumption. Just as I wouldn't allow my diaries to be even breathed on by anyone else, my nephew Adam keeps his blog hidden by 57 secret passwords on his iPod Touch.

But as a fellow writer I was allowed to take a quick peek at his blog. It was a frequently very funny look at his life - with wonderful snatches of dialogue from both his friends and teachers. But what really made this special was the way it was written on the wing.

While I would write my diary up at night, Adam was able to catch events and comment on them almost exactly as they were happening. This gave his blog an extraordinary power and vividness.

Many of Adam's mates kept detailed blogs too. And all the time they talked to me about this my writing brain was whirring away. I was just starting a new book about a boy, Marcus, who discovers on his 13th birthday he is a half-vampire. I wanted to this be funny and spooky and realised it would only really work it we felt involved and fully connected to what Marcus was going through. I'd thought of using the diary form - but could I write it as a blog instead?

With huge encouragement from Adam and his mates (they became my blog consultants) I did just that. And The Vampire Blog won the Brilliant Book Award and led to a flood of requests for a sequel, The Vampire Hunters, which is my latest book (which can be read as a book alone). It has received some of the best early reviews I've ever had, and earned special praise for its freshness and immediacy.

Well, much of this is due to the blog form. I feel it has helped me look deeper into the wise-cracking Marcus and shows for instance his vulnerability and aloneness too. Perhaps that's why I've had a stronger response to Marcus, than any other character I've written about. People feel they really know him. They tell me too about their blogs. Some even have two - public and private ones. Brilliant!

At heart though, I remain a bit of a technophobe. So don't be expecting any merry tweets from me any day soon. But I'm a total convert to blogs. And if ever I meet Gary Oldman, I'll even suggest he should take another look at blogging.

I'll let you know what he replies!

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