Author Archives: knlistman

One Person – Two Opposite Views

Frank Barron is known for his in-depth studies of the creative mind. Most of these were done in his three decades at the Berkeley Institute for Personality Assessment and Research. His subjects, mostly college students, often took complex elements to … Continue reading →

Posted in Characters, Creativity, Ideas for writing, Literature, Story structure, Teaching writing skills, Trends in books, Writer's resource, Writing trends | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Part of a Puppy

My early encounter with the computerized Large Language Model (LLM) occurred when helping students answer “individualized” math tutorial questions. Junior high students had to complete lessons on the computer containing math problems for Algebra. If they did not get enough … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Fiction in education, Literary devices, Writer's resource, Writing trends | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Stubborn Nonconformist

I recall developing my own secret codes as a ten year old. At first I just moved letters from one position to another in the alphabet–an easy to break code. Then I decided that the letters would move depending on … Continue reading →

Posted in Literary devices, Style and voice, Writing trends | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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 →

Posted in Creativity, Education trends, Ideas for writing, Literature, Social media, Trends in books, Writing trends | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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 , , , , , | Leave a comment

Boosting Your Creativity the Hard Way

Are we becoming less creative? In a joint study by Harvard and University of Washington (Davis and Weinstein, 2013) the researchers compared  creative writing by teenagers to determine if creativity was increasing or decreasing. Their conclusion was a decline existed … Continue reading →

Posted in Trends in books | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 →

Tagged | 1 Comment

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 →

Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment