Richard's Writing Tips

(Richard's book that won the Golden Aurealis)

I'm glad I only have to do a blog once a week. My Tuesday slot comes around so quickly I'm left wondering what to write about.

I don't want to blog about how I spent all day running after my children, driving them to and from jobs and Uni, and doing the shopping and now I feel flat.

I don't want to write about how I spent all day doing a final draft of my book, only to discover a flaw in the plotting, so I had to go back 200 pages and rewrite key scenes to explain a certain character's motivation and now I feel exhausted.

Today I have something upbeat to write about. My friend, Richard Harland, has created a web site with 145 pages of writing tips and put them up here.

Richard writes Speculative Fiction, with fifteen books out and his latest book, 'WorldShaker', due out soon. He's been nominated for Aurealis Awards several times and won several times. (I can't remember how many, but he did win a Golden Aurealis).

The tips range across all levels from basic to advanced. There’s (i) Good Writing Habits, getting feedback and revising; (ii) Action, Setting, Dialogue and presenting Inner Thought; (iii) creating Characters and character’s point of view; (iv) Story from beginning to climax, narrative momentum and pacing; (v) Language, style, first-person narration, names and titles; and, last but not least, (vi) Getting Published – how the publishing system works, how to break into it and what happens afterwards.

It is the sort of thing you can dip into when you feel you need inspiration, or maybe to clarify a point.

Very generous, Richard!