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Author Archives: knlistman
Color coding characters
Physical appearance descriptions are only superficial. Describing hair, eyes, skin or clothing colors tells the reader nothing about internal motives. However, assigning specific colors to important characters is a good shortcut for coding their personality. You can remember what major … Continue reading
The strength of your character’s likability
Readers do not respond to characters in the same manner that they respond to real people. If a protagonist annoys other people in the novel, showing the reader the interior of this main character to establish a creditable reason for … Continue reading
The flaws of a likeable character
Enchanting books that I read in my childhood, which still hold up under my scrutiny as an adult are the ones I turn to for examples of how to write. One such classic, The Door in the Wall by Marguerite … Continue reading
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An Impossible Fantasy
November, the month when many strive to complete a 50,000 word novel (or novelette according to today’s standard). Would I consider that an exercise stretching me to my limit? Or, an impossible fantasy? For me it is definitely the second. … Continue reading
Food for the imagination
The movie viewer usually does not have to think as much as a person reading, with one notable exception—the occasion extraordinary science fiction film. These films were once an outlet to comment on society, often with a critical view, such … Continue reading
The icebox dilemma
The rapid pacing of movies allows script writers and directors a few freedoms that would be criticized in novels. They may stir in a scene that audience that reels in the audience in with mounting tension, but which ultimately does … Continue reading
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The writer’s secret sauce
Movies have an advantage over the written word when it comes to presenting the emotions of your characters. For example, you read that a man “had his lips raised in a half-smile on one side while he eyes narrowed.” Did … Continue reading
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Picking the wrong recipe
How often have you seen movies used as examples on how to write a novel? It’s a shortcut authors employ because familiarity with movies tend to be greater than books. Movies only consume an hour or two of our lives … Continue reading
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The recipe for a boring book
Recently I read a description of a street scene which included the cry of a woman as she hawked hot banh minh. The very use of the word “hawked” which denotes selling goods on the street and banh minh, which … Continue reading
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Unnerving new genres
Slipstream refer to airwaves around an object that is moving ahead you. Move into slipstream–if you have enough nerve to follow another vehicle that closely–and your travel will become faster and easier. Slipstream is also a writing style. It is … Continue reading
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