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Author Archives: knlistman
Let students read what they want?
Originally posted on Write about what?:
Reading literature in education may be on the way out. It is one of the many previous foundational skills that have been thrown aside to find a place for all the additional science, math…
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Pointed view
Originally posted on Write about what?:
Almost everyone knows about first person and third person narratives in writing. Basically as humans we all see from the familiar, limited first person point of view that allows us only to know what…
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The character who saw too much
Originally posted on Write about what?:
Writing from the first person point of view routinely goes through periods of popularity only to be followed by a flood of amateurish first person novels. Then, writing “gurus” will advice the beginning writer…
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Writing the right-hand man (or woman)
Most protagonists are not complete loners. Interactions with a sidekick, best buddy or groups of friends typically make up a good portion of the story. Creating the peers of the main character may actually take more thought than creating the main character. … Continue reading
Posted in Literary devices, Writer's resource
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When characters collide
Originally posted on Write about what?:
Consider the possible basic conflicts in fiction: man against environment, man against man, man against society, and man against self. In most plots the conflicts are between people. Even in Robinson Caruso and Castaway,…
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What makes a classic, a classic?
Originally posted on Write about what?:
When a person refers to classic art, you automatically assume it is the style derived from classic Greek art. This style is associated with city-states on a small Greek peninsula beginning about 500 B.C. and…
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What makes poetry, poetry?
Originally posted on Write about what?:
As a young child I assumed poetry must rhyme. Meter was beyond my comprehension. It was only that constant repetition of ending sounds that mattered. In fifth grade, the teacher encouraged us all to…
When characters will not conform
Originally posted on Write about what?:
The social psychologist Solomon Asch is famous for his experiments on how peer pressure affects our perceptions in 1950s. According to Asch if all those answering before the research participant selected the same incorrect…
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When characters confuse
Originally posted on Write about what?:
When Edgar Allen Poe published “Murders in the Rue Morgue” in 1841 the murder mystery was a relatively new genre. He wrote a few more of these increasingly popular detective stories before leaving behind…
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Writing like you talk
Originally posted on Write about what?:
When reading a professional author’s discussion thread, I noted that more than one person assumed the trick to creating a unique writer’s voice was “writing like you talk.” There is some truth to this…
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