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Recent Posts
- Unlearning Information
- The Secret to Emotional Prose
- Boosting Your Creativity the Hard Way
- What Do You See in a Character?
- The Love-Hate Relationship with Creativity
- Social Learning and Creative Writing
- Writing with Kennings
- No! I’m Not Insane
- Is “Show Don’t Tell” Good Advice?
- What Exactly is Imagery?
- The Writing Sampler
- Classics Don’t Qualify as Comps
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Author Archives: knlistman
Unlearning Information
In high school speech class, when required to give an informative speech, I described the accomplishments of the Anasazi. My speech teacher, whose total pre-Columbian knowledge probably included a few facts about the Mayans and Aztecs asked a pointed question. … Continue reading
The Secret to Emotional Prose
Black Beauty is one of my favorite books because of the emotional nature of the story. As I read it in third grade I cared for that noble horse as his life became a series of downward trends. That was … Continue reading
Posted in Literary devices, Novels, Story structure, Style and voice, Writing trends
Tagged Anna Sewell, Black Beauty, book review, books, Emotion, Fiction
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What Do You See in a Character?
How many times have you read posts in which people argue about the merits of fictional characters? I’ve read enough of these to assume many readers prefer imaginary people to real ones. Fictional characters are often created to be braver, … Continue reading
Posted in Characters, Literary devices, Writer's resource, Writing trends
Tagged archetypes, books, Characters, Creative writing, doppleganger, Fiction, Foil, Protagonist, semi-round, Writing, writing-tips
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The Love-Hate Relationship with Creativity
Despite current praise of novelists, playwrights, artists, musicians and other kinds of creative people, the behavior that leads to these careers is often discouraged during childhood, adolescence and beyond. This is not just a matter of people trying to protect … Continue reading
Social Learning and Creative Writing
There is a trend to use existing social media (Facebook, Discord, Reddit, Quora, Instagram) to create a social learning group in which members collaborate and share knowledge with each other. So, I’ve visited some of these groups that might interest … Continue reading
Writing with Kennings
Creating imagery can be confusing. Ancient literature is difficult not just because of archaic words, but also figures of speech that are strange to our ears. These ancient authors were attempting to help the reader see the action. For example, … Continue reading
Posted in allusions, Creativity, Literary devices, Literature, Style and voice, Translations
Tagged Beowulf, breaker of rings, Figure of speech, giver of rings, idiom, kenning, old english, sail road, swan road, thee, whale road, ye
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No! I’m Not Insane
Have you ever seen Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs inverted so it is upside down? If you are a writer or any kind of creative person, you should familiarize yourself with this. It is balanced on the tiny point of self-actualization … Continue reading
Is “Show Don’t Tell” Good Advice?
When running out of advice to help a struggling author improve their novel, a more seasoned author may point out the benefits of showing rather than telling. What exactly does that mean? Unless you are producing a picture book, it … Continue reading
Posted in Literary devices, Novels, Writer's resource
Tagged books, Creative writing, Description, Fiction, show don't tell, Writing, writing-tips
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What Exactly is Imagery?
What is the difference between describing details and creating imagery? Perhaps I should ask what is the difference in describing details that are exquisite and those full of boring minutia. The concept is difficult to explain because it does depend … Continue reading
Posted in Showing versus telling, Writer's resource
Tagged books, Description, details, imagery, Literature, Philosophy, poetry, Writing
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