Writing Tips 2/3

Feb 19, 20205 min read

Slippery Smooth Writing

If you accelerate or decelerate unevenly while driving a vehicle, your passengers will feel jerked around. Don’t jerk your passengers.

J.J. Richardson

Feb 16, 20205 min read

Unmoving Movie Trailers

The last forty times my wife and I watched movie trailers at a theater, she whispers to me, “They’ve shown too much.”

J.J. Richardson

Jan 18, 20202 min read

Funny Rocks

Given the growing number of satirical websites that provide highly realistic information, I thought I would try my hand at such a...

J.J. Richardson

Jan 18, 20206 min read

What is Good Fiction?

When your prose is effective, your readers will become someone else in a different time and place.

J.J. Richardson

Oct 20, 20196 min read

The Muse of Soundtracks

If you want to immerse yourself in a creative and unique atmosphere that sends you far away to a distant land, then listen to a soundtrack.

J.J. Richardson

Jun 25, 20197 min read

How to Become a Famous Author

The world will not accept you as an author any more than those whom you know personally.

J.J. Richardson

Apr 4, 20197 min read

Why is it Hard to Write Dialogue?

I was surprised when I heard many authors express their fear of writing dialogue. “Dialogue is easy to write!” I said to myself.

J.J. Richardson

Mar 15, 20198 min read

How to Write a Unique Novel

Deciding to write a unique novel is like deciding to write a better one. You must ask yourself, “Unique in what way?”

J.J. Richardson

Feb 11, 201910 min read

Unfinished Business

If my mother were to haunt me from the next world (which would be a surprise because she is alive), I know what her incantation would be.

J.J. Richardson

Feb 6, 20194 min read

Internal Conflict

For years, critics kept telling me my stories didn’t have enough conflict. Reviewers would write, “Your characters have it too easy.”

J.J. Richardson

Jan 1, 20193 min read

Stick Figure

If you want your young children to learn to write well, encourage them to draw.

J.J. Richardson

Sep 7, 20183 min read

Voice: Your Writing Style

Every author has what literary experts call voice. It took me years to realize that voice simply meant the author's unique writing style.

J.J. Richardson

Aug 9, 20185 min read

Readability

As you write every sentence of your story, read each one aloud and ask yourself, “Is this sentence easy to read, and is it enjoyable?”

J.J. Richardson

Jul 23, 20182 min read

Why Sidekicks Outshine Main Characters

I've noticed throughout my study of literature that sidekicks and supporting characters are more interesting than their main counterparts.

J.J. Richardson

Jul 5, 20182 min read

Wiggling the Spider Web

Pieces of your themes must be touched upon repeatedly—wiggled—so your readers will keep in their minds the central messages of your tale.

J.J. Richardson

Jun 23, 20183 min read

When Can I Break Rules of Fiction?

Before you can successfully break a grammatical or well-established rule of fiction, you must first master the rule.

J.J. Richardson

Dec 28, 20175 min read

Characterization

The subject of characterization has brought me stress for many years because everyone has a different idea of what characterization means.

J.J. Richardson

Jul 20, 201712 min read

How to Write a Novel

I’ve read hundreds of websites and more than twenty books meant to help authors write novels. Most of them didn’t help me.

J.J. Richardson

May 19, 20174 min read

Top 10 Tips for Self-Editing

Gertrude Stein famously wrote, “The artist’s job is not to succumb to despair, but to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence.”

J.J. Richardson

Jan 14, 20172 min read

Hiking and Writing Fiction

Hiking is like writing fiction. Once you agree with me on this point, your writing will improve. So will your hiking.

J.J. Richardson

Dec 17, 20162 min read

You Are the Expert

Your fans want to know that you know what you’re doing.

J.J. Richardson

Nov 29, 201610 min read

Avoid Clichés Like the Plague

Isn’t it true that many Hollywood movies lately are remakes, sequels, or based on fifty-year-old comic books?

J.J. Richardson

Nov 27, 20168 min read

When Is It Good Enough?

I read somewhere that "a good short story with one extra word is a bad short story."

J.J. Richardson

Nov 17, 20164 min read

Journey of 1,000 Interesting Steps

With a bit of skewed math, we can squeeze a decent novella out of one thousand sentences.