Contributed by: Jet on Thursday, October 14 2010 @ 09:51 am
Last modified on
So, you've decided to sign up for an online dating website, and you're not sure what to say about yourself.
No problem! The site you've chosen has tons of questions to answer about yourself. Sure, you've never really contemplated what you like to do on the third Sunday of every month, but now you realize that you like to sort out the comics section of the newspaper first and read it to your dog! You're writing down stuff you didn't even realize about yourself, and eventually you find your profile is so long that it takes ten seconds to scroll down completely. Perfect!
Well, the dating site might approve, because it likes when you fill in content. However, the readers out there might simply be looking for common interests, and maybe for something that sets you apart. They really don't need to know your life story, or the fact that you still mark your initials on the toes of your socks. They don't want to wade through contemplations on where your life is really headed to find out what restaurants you like.
So, how can you make your profile brief, but interesting and different? Well, you could start by answering the endless prompts that dating sites give you – but don't publish your rambles. Instead, pull out the red pen. Begin by deleting anything that isn't interesting or funny. If you think you might be too biased (hint: if you think everything you say is interesting or funny, you're biased), get a friend to help proofread.
Once you get a stack of interesting and funny bits about yourself, try combining them in different ways. For example, let's say that after editing, the ten things you can't live without has fallen to one. Rather than filling up the other nine with drivel or leaving it lonely, try working that factoid in somewhere else.
It's possible that you might wind up with some joke or trivia bit that simply doesn't fit in anywhere. That's okay – you can use it later in an email or in conversation. You don't have to put everything you have out there on this profile. I always say that a profile should be like the back of a paperback novel; you want the reader to be eager to learn more, but you don't want to give away the whole plot. After all, if you're successful, you'll have all the time in the world to talk about your socks.