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Recent Posts
- Boosting Your Creativity the Hard Way
- What Do You See in a Character?
- The Love-Hate Relationship with Creativity
- Social Learning and Creative Writing
- Writing with Kennings
- No! I’m Not Insane
- Is “Show Don’t Tell” Good Advice?
- What Exactly is Imagery?
- The Writing Sampler
- Classics Don’t Qualify as Comps
- Dealing with Painful Critiques
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Author Archives: knlistman
Writing by the Book
There are sets of questions that writers can answer to create different kinds of stories which are used for psychological thrillers or horror. There are also guidelines to writing romance by the beat. Search “formulas for writing a book” on … Continue reading
Posted in Drama and movies, Ideas for writing, Trends in books
Tagged Actions films, Book formulas, Story telling, Thrillers
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From Music to Words
My first experience with music as an inspiration for writing occurred in the summer between high school and college. I lay in bed at night listening to the radio and trying to go to sleep when a pop song with … Continue reading
Grasping at Ideas
Books exist that relate the basics of writing stories: how to create plots that follow specific beats and pacing, how to develop characters and throw continual problems at them, how to use settings to enhance your story. But, all this … Continue reading
Writing with a Divided Mind
In the 1930’s, an Oberlin College English major named Roger W. Sperry worked at a campus cafe and provided transportation for a physically disabled psychology professor. Sitting in on luncheons and meetings among eminent psychologists introduced him to a new … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Psychology, Style and voice, Teaching writing skills
Tagged Creativity, intonation, language, Left brain, poetry, right brain, speech
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Writing What You Don’t Know
Writing what I know makes the presupposition that I possess an intimate knowledge of events surrounding my own life. However, this knowledge is so specific to me that it may not reflect what others knew or thought at that same … Continue reading
Posted in Generational differences, Ideas for writing, Writing trends
Tagged memoir, Writing what you know
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Which Side of the Brain Do Writer’s Favor?
The idea that individuals favor using either the right brain to produce creative results or left brain for logical thinking is a recent one. It originated with the work of physicians in the mid-1800s, so at least it’s recent compared … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, intelligence, Psychology
Tagged giftedness, language skills, Left brain, logic, right brain, visualization
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Fear of Criticism
Ask an educator “How do you encourage creativity?” They will tell you students need an environment full of stimuli. They describe the ideal classroom as having an open, accepting atmosphere, free from criticism to build up self-esteem. Ask authors, poets … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Education trends, Group psychology
Tagged art, Criticism, critique, poetry, Self-esteem, Writing
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Writing and Age
As writers get older and improve at their skill, they sometimes bemoan the lost years of youth—time when they had more energy and yet were not writing. There are excuses that we give ourselves. Getting an education, working to pay … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Generational differences, Literature, Novels, Poetry
Tagged age, Frank McCourt, productivity, research on writers, SE Hinton
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Who Are the Grammar Police?
As I perused research about grammar police, I found one study with a conclusion that I had already deduced myself. No matter how much of a thought provoking story or essay that I create, the people who notice every misspelling … Continue reading
Posted in Style and voice, Teaching writing skills, Writer's resource, Writing trends
Tagged extroversion, grammar, introversion, spelling, usage, Writing
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