The Quiet Quotient

"The Lottery" a Short Story by Shirley Jackson (Reframed as a Sketch)

Today I want to take a short story called The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and reframe it as a sketch world.
If you have not read it, the premise is simple on the surface. A small town gathers once a year for a public lottery. The word “lottery” does a lot of emotional work. It suggests luck, winning, something almost festive. The story slowly reveals that the tradition behind the word is something much darker. What makes it unsettling is not only what happens at the end but how ordinary everything feels right up until that moment.Connect with me:https://www.jimhansenmedia.com/

The Gatsby Glitch: (Important Lessons on Public Image Taught Via a Classic Novel)

Classic novels stick around because they strip away the distractions of their era to focus on the fundamental mechanics of the human experience. When we look at how things operate today, it turns out many of our modern frustrations were already diagnosed in the 19th and 20th centuries.Connect with me:https://www.jimhansenmedia.com/

How to Keep Your Writing Relatable (Make Your Reader Feel Less Alone)

Relatable is a strange word. It sounds like something you can fake. Like you just sprinkle in a few “we’ve all been there” moments and call it a day.
But people can feel when you’re reaching.
Real relatability comes from being specific, not general. It comes from telling the truth in a way that feels a little too honest, and then hoping someone else nods instead of backing away slowly.Connect with me:https://www.jimhansenmedia.com/https://www.jimhansenmedia.com/

The Kindness of Using Simple Language When Writing (Why It Matters)

Simple language isn’t “dumbing it down.” It’s letting the air back into the room. It’s saying: we don’t need a chandelier here. A lamp will do. A good lamp. One that works.
Because most people don’t read to be impressed. They read to feel something click. They read to recognize themselves in a sentence and think, yeah, that’s it. That’s what I was trying to say.
Complicated writing often hides a lack of clarity. Simple writing exposes it. Which is why it’s harder.Connect with me:https://www.jimhansenmedia.com/

Using Imagination as a Writing Muscle (Consistency is Key)

If you want to build a world that feels real, you have to approach it with the same meticulous planning you’d use for a project management board. You don't just "imagine" a dragon; you imagine the logistics of a dragon. How does it affect the local cattle economy? What are the zoning laws for a fire-breathing reptile? When you apply that kind of deep research to a wild idea, the "unusual thing" stops being a gimmick and starts being a foundation.Connect with me:https://www.jimhansenmedia.com/

How To Build a Memorable Character for a Sketch (From a Second City Trained Writer)

In a three-minute sketch, you don’t have time to be subtle. But being "big" isn't the same thing as being "loud."
A powerful character isn’t necessarily the person screaming in the scene. They are the person with the clearest POV. At Second City, we were taught that the "Who" is always more important than the "What." You aren't just writing a plumber. You’re writing a plumber who believes he’s a philosopher-king of the U-bend.
If you want a character who can carry a scene without breaking a sweat, you need to follow a specific blueprint.Connect with me:https://www.jimhansenmedia.com/

Why Writers Mistake Silence for Emptiness (And the Creative Power of the Gap)

Writing is often sold as a lightning bolt, a sudden, divine spark that strikes when you’re staring at a sunset or nursing a third espresso. But if you wait for the bolt, you’re mostly just standing in the rain.Connect with me:https://www.jimhansenmedia.com/

Every New Writer is Like a Garage Band (How to Find Your Voice and Writing Style)

Every new writer starts out exactly like a garage band: loud, slightly out of tune, and deeply annoying to the neighbors.
You spend those first few months (or years) just trying to find the right chords. You’ve got all this raw energy and a "vision," but the technical execution is a mess. You’re over-relying on the literary equivalent of a distortion pedal—big, flashy adjectives and melodramatic metaphors—to mask the fact that you haven't quite mastered the rhythm of a solid sentence yet.Connect with me:https://www.jimhansenmedia.com/

The Tell-Tale Heart (Edgar Allan Poe's Iconic Story as a Sketch)

Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Tell-Tale Heart" isn’t just a ghost story; it is a high-energy "solo character" bit. It’s essentially a 19th-century manic monologue where the performer tries desperately to convince the audience they are sane while describing the most insane behavior imaginable.Connect with me:https://www.jimhansenmedia.com/

Writing Is Mostly Rearranging Furniture

When people imagine writing, they imagine inspiration.
A bolt of lightning. A perfect paragraph arriving fully formed. The writer calmly placing it on the page like a priceless sculpture.
But actual writing feels less like sculpture and more like moving furniture around a small apartment.Connect with me:https://www.jimhansenmedia.com/