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In writing. Don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was 'terrible,' describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was 'delightful'; make us say 'delightful' when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers, 'Please will you do my job for me'.
C.S. Lewis
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
Mark Twain


The Dunning–Kruger effect
When someone praises my writing, and on the odd occasion I am tempted to believe them, I remember the Dunning–Kruger effect. Stupid...
paulrburridge
Aug 8, 20231 min read


Actioning
I don't know whether this is a thing or not. But if it isn't it should be. This thought was triggered by something David Tennant (yes,...
paulrburridge
Aug 1, 20231 min read


To dink or not to dink?
What’s the purpose of a blog? Is it to bring to the readers’ attention some instructive insight in a witty and memorable format? Or is it...
paulrburridge
Aug 1, 20231 min read


Does your story pass the Bechdel Test?
The Bechdel test, aka the Bechdel-Wallace test, is a measure of the proportionate representation of women to men in movies and general...
paulrburridge
Jul 28, 20231 min read


On those days of self-doubt
You are being arrested for impersonating a writer.* You have the right to stop writing and refuse to publish. If you give up the right to...
paulrburridge
Jul 27, 20232 min read


The Occam's Razor of Writing
'Of the many ways of describing an event, the description requiring the fewest words is usually the most readable.'
paulrburridge
Jul 21, 20231 min read


Was there sadism before de Sade?
I’m writing a sequel to my novel 1624 – imaginatively titled 1633. As the titles suggest they are historical novels. I, of course, write...
paulrburridge
Jul 18, 20232 min read


Call me picky
This is the Amazon Prime blurb for the movie In the HEART of the SEA In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex, was...
paulrburridge
Jul 18, 20231 min read


Writing with Mummy
Every writer has their quirks of process. With the range of technology open to the modern author the opportunities for quirkiness are...
paulrburridge
Jul 17, 20232 min read


Freedom Day...
There's a great gulf of difference between 'accepted/conventionally published' writers and us. When we write, we (but maybe this only...
paulrburridge
Jul 10, 20231 min read


Writer's guide to sex v gender
I am always on the lookout for new ways to create vibrant believable, characters. Isn't every writer. This quest has taken me down some...
paulrburridge
Jul 10, 20236 min read


Editing is a Pain
Editing someone's precious manuscript is like root canal. You drill down until the patient feels the pain, mark the drill bit, and don't...
paulrburridge
Mar 28, 20231 min read


The Gestalt of Characterisation
Short post but, in all humility, I think important. Listening to Lee Child talking about character creation this morning. He tells us he...
paulrburridge
Mar 27, 20232 min read


How to Write a Thriller
Every so often, and with great justification, I get all insecure about my writing. Some glib literary pundit tempts me with a book, or a...
paulrburridge
Mar 25, 20232 min read


A Buddhist Guide to Writing Believable Characters
Psychology is in its infancy. At best a hundred and fifty years old. To a modern psychologist, the human mind is an unstable and...
paulrburridge
Mar 25, 20232 min read


Psychobabble
I’m considering writing a psychological crime thriller. Psychological thrillers are white hot. So far, in 2023 eleven of the top fifty...
paulrburridge
Mar 22, 20233 min read


The Psychopath Between Your Pages…
Villains just seem to get ever more villainous. But there is a limit to how dark you can paint your antagonist and retain plausibility....
paulrburridge
Mar 18, 20231 min read


Are Your Characters Internal or External?
There's a psychological term I haven't seen cited by any of the myriad pundits queueing to offer advice to would-be writers. I find this...
paulrburridge
Mar 16, 20232 min read


Poetry to Prose
Maybe I’ve stumbled over one too many literary clichés, both in amateur writing and shamefully in conventionally published novels. And,...
paulrburridge
Mar 12, 20232 min read
Writers' Block
Don't worry... It is the curse of the writer to strive for impossible excellence, to dream the impossible dream, to attempt scaling...
paulrburridge
Mar 10, 20231 min read
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