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Author Archives: knlistman
Crime and picture books
At the library my five-year-old son pulled out a beautifully illustrated book of an old steam train. He had ridden in a few that still run for tourists. It was the kind of activity we did as a family, and … Continue reading
Posted in Censorship, Literature, Trends in books, Writer's resource
Tagged banned books, Censorship, violence in picture books
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How Much Do You Know about Banned Books?
The banning of books has gained a lot of notoriety recently. The image that pops into most people’s mind is a scene from Fahrenheit 451 in which books are torched in a flaming show of destruction. This has occurred in … Continue reading
Posted in Censorship, Education trends
Tagged banned books, challenged books, curriculum
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What limits should side characters have?
Most people are at least vaguely familiar with Anna Karenina if they know anything about Russian literature. Perhaps they have seen one of the movies made from this famous novel. I even discussed this book with a student who had … Continue reading
How likeable does a character have to be?
We often hear it is absolutely necessary for your protagonist to be likable. I take this advice not just with a grain of salt but with a huge chunk of sodium chloride. One of my very dislikable characters (according to … Continue reading
Researching memorable characters
What makes a character memorable? There is no one clear cut answer and even much debate over which ones have that quality. I have researched a number of lists, particularly for characters from novels written in the 20th century. After … Continue reading
Posted in Characters, Creativity, Literature, Trends in books
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Obnoxious characters
Creating villains is much like creating protagonists. They are people with depth and a history. A villain follows discernible motives just like the hero does. Only at some point in their life, villains take an ethical shortcut to get ahead. … Continue reading
Posted in Characters, Group psychology, Literary devices, Literature, Mental health, Trends in books
Tagged heros, Jane Eyre, villians
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Writing by numbers
Shoving creativity into neat little boxes of specific sizes is difficult. Still, I tend to quantify my writing. It provides the sense that I am actually accomplishing something and adds to the vague hope that someday the rest of the … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Literature, Writer's resource
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Serial Worries
When Orson Scott Card wrote Ender’s Game it was a novelette complete in itself. First, he expanded it into a novel, introducing new characters. Then, he started a series based on the characters in this science fiction Hugo Award winner. … Continue reading
Want a good tip?
Have you ever chatted with a person and mentioned publishing some work only to be barraged with requests for writing tips? Although we would long to be full of wisdom, providing that kind of information is not easy. Sometimes it … Continue reading
Posted in Characters, Creativity, Literature, Story structure, Trends in books
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A new definition of literacy
A child of mine made a joking statement that if we wanted to raise the level of writing we needed to lower the number of people who are literate. The supposed logic behind this suspect claim is that the books … Continue reading
Posted in Education trends, Fiction in education, intelligence, Literature, Trends in books, Writing trends
Tagged classics, genre, Literacy, Literature, reading levels
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