GENRES: Fiction, poetry, and essays
What kind of research goes into writing your novels, and how much time does it take?
Obviously, the amount of research has varied for each of my eight novels, but the development of these stories, including significant research took no less than five years for each. Research alone for five of these stories lasted over three years. The research effort included travel, interviews, library time (pre-Internet), personal contacts, Internet time, and copious note taking.
What is the best piece of writing-related advice that you’ve received?
The best advice came from Elmore Leonard. It was when you feel stumped, get some words down on paper and then play with them, edit them, and rework until the string of words sounds right.
What kind of books do you enjoy reading and how often to you read?
I read every day. Currently, I am engaged in a variety of non-fiction books on a range of subjects from politics to history. I have read voraciously in the past, but I find contemporary fiction generally unappealing.
Do you have your books edited, critiqued, and or Beta-reviewed? If so, what is your usual procedure?
Each of my novels has been read and critiqued by one or more friends who are heavy-duty readers whose opinions I respect. This review is only after the manuscript has been completed. As a result of this process, I had to completely rewrite the second half of one of my stories. Critique is a must, I believe.
What made you consider writing in the first place?
I began to create stories when I was quite young, and by the sixth grade I was reading my stories in class. I always knew I wanted to write, and it became my livelihood for forty-five years.
Did your formal education or upbringing/background prepare you in any way to write?
By the time I got around to knocking out my first novel, I had spent thirty-five years as a successful commercial writer. My communications degree also gave me a solid framework for all kinds of writing, non-fiction and fiction.
AWARDS:
National Reviewers Choice First Place Award for fiction from Reader Views for my novel The Price of Redemption.
National Clio Award-Radio commercial.
Industrial Advertising Award for two-page, black & white magazine ad.
BIOGRAPHY:
A native Ohioan, I lived in the Detroit and Los Angeles areas before settling in Georgetown. I spent 45 years as a writer in the business world with assignments in advertising, sales promotion, public relations, training, and corporate communications. I graduated from Wayne State University in Detroit and began post-college career as a public relations writer for a Detroit area corporation. During my working career, I began to accumulate stories which would provide the material for my eight novels. I developed story outline notebooks, character studies, personality profiles, and potential dialog sketches. Folks ask about so-called “writer’s block,” an issue I did not have the luxury of succumbing to in the advertising business. I could not allow myself to be “blocked” when there were critical deadlines to meet. Those deadlines helped create a discipline for getting the writing done.
WEBSITE: www.richarddthielmann.com
San Gabriel Writers' League 