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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 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
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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
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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
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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
16 views
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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
14 views
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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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Price Per Page
Clearing out my junk mail this morning, I found an email that came in yesterday from a German 'private' publishing company, operating...
paulrburridge
Mar 9, 20232 min read
21 views
1 comment
Is an Audiobook a book?
This is a question I debated with a writing buddy. I maintained they were not; the other party took a contrary position. UNESCO defines a...
paulrburridge
Mar 6, 20232 min read
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Books/Space/Time
Comparing book formats superficially involves four factors. [1] Transportability [2] Affordability [3] Readability [4] Longevity....
paulrburridge
Feb 28, 20232 min read
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Do Audio Books demand a new writing style?
So, I'm working with actor/writer/producer Chas Burns for bring one of my books to the Audible market. Through ACX it's a relatively...
paulrburridge
Feb 27, 20231 min read
19 views
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The grey stuff
As a species we do a lot of thinking. It’s our big thing. It’s what got us to the top of the food chain, enabling us to render other...
paulrburridge
Oct 31, 20223 min read
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