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Author Archives: knlistman
He laughs, she laughs
Once I heard a bit of advice spoken by one adolescent boy to another. “Do you want to know if a girl likes you? Tell a really stupid joke, the stupider the better. If she laughs, she likes you.” It has been … Continue reading
The giggling girls have power
Why can’t we be all like adolescent girls, and laugh more? The topic of the discussion thread caught my attention. Evidently girls between the ages of 11 and 18 all over the world laugh more than any other group. In … Continue reading
Posted in Group psychology, Laughter and humor, Manipulation
Tagged adolescent girls, giggle, giggling, laughter, manipulation, power
4 Comments
The unprincipled conformist
The rebel with a cause is one of favorite heroic types in fiction. But the “foil” of the principled nonconformist, the unprincipled conformist, is also a common antagonist. What makes this character so villainous? Conformity requires that a person at … Continue reading
Rebel with a cause
As much as people may be willing to mimic the behavior and appearance of others in order to fit in, secretly they often envy those who show intentional dissent. According research we admire the person who has the guts to … Continue reading
Posted in Group psychology, Story structure, Writer's resource
Tagged influence people, majorities, minority view, win friends
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Technological component
Over the past few weeks I’ve been looking a psychological with an eye to creating realistic characters. Frequently I’ve been hearing a lot about how the millennial generation is different from other generations. I really have not found any creditable research … Continue reading
What kind of deviant?
Authors are well aware that readers favor the rebel who follows a different drummer or stands defiant before the crowd. Social psychologists and sociologists have actually done a good deal of research on groups’ reaction to this kind of person. … Continue reading
When characters will not conform
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 answer approximately 76% of the people … Continue reading
Posted in Group psychology, Literature, Writer's resource
Tagged creating interesting characters, defiance, descent, deviance, difference, groups, J. Jetten, M.J. Hornsey, non conformists, rebels, rogues, S.E. Asch
1 Comment
Writing like you talk
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 if you are a good verbal … Continue reading
Posted in Style and voice, Writer's resource
Tagged problems with writing like your speak, tone, vernacular, Writer's voice
1 Comment
Characters and cohorts
In fiction most protagonists like most people are not complete loners. Interactions with their cohorts make up a good portion of novels, so creating these peers takes a bit of thought. What enables a real-life group to be innovative in business also makes … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Group psychology, Literature, Writer's resource
Tagged cohort, doppleganger, Foil, group diversity, maintaining status quo, work groups
1 Comment
When characters confuse
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 his own mystery. In 1849 he … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Writer's resource
Tagged MO. signature aspect, modus operandi, motivations, motive, signature behavior
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