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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


Old soldiers
When I walk the dog I sometimes bump into Brian walking his. Brian is in the very latter years of a career in print — he's an old school...
paulrburridge
Feb 112 min read
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Are you a boxer, a wrestler or MMA?
Short jabby sentences — boof, boof, boof — are great for excitement and pace. As are short uppercutty paragraphs — zip, zap, pow — and...
paulrburridge
Feb 81 min read
4 views
0 comments


Last Page Test
Sorry, that was a bit dramatic. Here's what I'm attempting to highlight. What would happen if some unkind soul ripped out the last page...
paulrburridge
Jan 201 min read
6 views
0 comments


The Shape of Text to Come
We get lost in our characters, descriptions, plot twists, and the general stuff of writing. Ever so often we need to take a step back,...
paulrburridge
Jan 201 min read
4 views
0 comments


Euphony, euphony
Writers go on alarmingly about the importance of euphony. But euphony is nothing without a little cacophony to make it look good!
paulrburridge
Jul 17, 20241 min read
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Nail-biter...
Long time ago I was a lecturer in graphic communications at a Home Counties University. It fell to me to evaluate the year's end of...
paulrburridge
Jul 9, 20241 min read
13 views
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First Contact ...
When you begin a story it’s like greeting a first contact tribe. You need to establish a common means of communication early in the...
paulrburridge
Jun 17, 20241 min read
9 views
0 comments


Rules are made to be broken, but before you can break them you need rules
It would seem there are more rules involved in writing that international diplomacy and the Highway Code combined. Rules are good if you...
paulrburridge
Jun 17, 20241 min read
7 views
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Self-soothing ...
When dogs self-soothe they can lick themselves till they bleed. When I need soothing I write till I bleed.
paulrburridge
Jun 13, 20241 min read
3 views
0 comments


Word abuse
We ask too much of words. I regard some words and phrases with the pity I feel for those poor malnourished, overburdened creatures in...
paulrburridge
Jun 9, 20243 min read
12 views
0 comments


SPEECH MARK FREE ZONE
I have wasted hours trying to convince writers that single speech marks are the British English way of framing dialogue. Doubles being...
paulrburridge
Mar 6, 20241 min read
16 views
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The Invisible Writer
OK this is counter intuitive, but bear with. Writing is an ego driven activity. The sound of our own voice echoing back from the pages is...
paulrburridge
Feb 29, 20241 min read
31 views
0 comments


Is it time to rethink dialogue tags?
Someone close to me is the product of an expensive private education, a university graduate, with a well-enunciated RP accent and a...
paulrburridge
Nov 25, 20231 min read
20 views
0 comments


Meet your characters
You describe your characters with the intention of painting their portrait on the canvas of the readers' minds. The descriptions are...
paulrburridge
Nov 25, 20231 min read
13 views
0 comments


A radical new approach to writing
A decade back, when I was attempting my first novel, I felt like I was fumbling in the dark. Soon as I began developing this method it...
paulrburridge
Oct 19, 20231 min read
18 views
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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
20 views
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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
19 views
0 comments


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
14 views
0 comments


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
14 views
0 comments


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
10 views
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