Author Archives: knlistman

Present tense prose

Posted on February 2, 2019 by knlistman

Since the popularity of The Hunger Game series and the awards won by All the Light We Cannot See, a trend is fiction is the use of present tense. This style is touted as making the character’s actions more intimate … Continue reading →

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Stories for the new stars

Posted on December 31, 2018 by knlistman

Walking beneath the of faces of stars glowing from two story tall billboards, I glanced down at the stars embedded into the side walk—at least when they were not covered by the feet of the crowds on Sunset Strip. Above … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Story structure, Teaching writing skills, Writer's resource, Writing trends | Leave a comment

The strong female character

Posted on December 23, 2018 by knlistman

Recently, I read three short stories dealing with female characters of different strengths. None of them exactly fit the common meme of the female warrior—who can take on man larger than her and physically defeat him while remaining stoically detached … Continue reading →

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How do you end an never-ending story?

Posted on December 9, 2018 by knlistman

Stories do not always require a flesh and blood antagonist, or even a spectral one. They do not have to end with the discovery of who perpetrated the crime or the demise of the villain. A plot can trace the … Continue reading →

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What is the bad guy really thinking?

Posted on December 1, 2018 by knlistman

Do you recall the campy original Batman series in which the villain de jour always explained his detailed plan for the crime as Batman was slowly moving towards a not so sure death? Is there a problem with adding the villain’s … Continue reading →

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Nowhere near practically perfect

Posted on June 24, 2018 by knlistman

Early in my career at beginning of the 1980s, my boss gathered everyone in the office to watch a film on generational differences. When the polished speaker concluded the presentation, I noticed an interesting omission. Turning to one of my … Continue reading →

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Sci-fi delineated

Posted on June 10, 2018 by knlistman

Originally posted on Write about what?:
I, Robot is a collection of short stories that trace the development of robots until they take over running the world while humans remain blissfully ignorant of this fact.  In Perelandra, an earth man…

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Too bad to be true

Posted on June 3, 2018 by knlistman

Originally posted on Write about what?:
Sir Thomas More, a scholar, lawyer and statesman published a novel in 1516 describing a perfect civilization. According to the book, this too real to be true society existed on an imaginary island that…

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Highly desirable?

Posted on May 31, 2018 by knlistman

Originally posted on Write about what?:
There is a flood of dystopian novels compared to those that feature utopias because a society without problems has a tendency to be boring.  However, if you start reading The Republic by Plato, and…

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Glare of the limelight

Posted on May 13, 2018 by knlistman

Originally posted on Write about what?:
While watching a recent bone crunching pro-football game on TV, I saw a player dive into a fracas and come up the fumbled football. He took off for his goal, running for the sidelines…

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