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Recent Posts
- 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
- The Power of Laughter
- Scoring Your Sense of Humor
- Why Do We Read Emotions?
- Distinguishing types of laughter
- Why Not AI?
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Category Archives: Creativity
Writing with Kennings
Creating imagery can be confusing. Ancient literature is difficult not just because of archaic words, but also figures of speech that are strange to our ears. These ancient authors were attempting to help the reader see the action. For example, … Continue reading
Posted in allusions, Creativity, Literary devices, Literature, Style and voice, Translations
Tagged Beowulf, breaker of rings, Figure of speech, giver of rings, idiom, kenning, old english, sail road, swan road, thee, whale road, ye
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No! I’m Not Insane
Have you ever seen Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs inverted so it is upside down? If you are a writer or any kind of creative person, you should familiarize yourself with this. It is balanced on the tiny point of self-actualization … Continue reading
The Writing Sampler
I recall a time when I could amble through a mall and be approached by marketing interviewers. If I fit the criteria, I could spend twenty minutes of time providing my opinion in exchange for a few dollars or coupons … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Ideas for writing, Literature, Teaching writing skills
Tagged books, content, critiques, Fiction, grammar, Publishing, trends, Writing, writing-tips
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Dealing with Painful Critiques
Educators often do not recognize their most creative students. I witnessed examples of this behavior as teachers described which poems they preferred in an anthology written by students. The cheerful rhyming poems were often considered better than those dealing with … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity
Tagged Alex Osbourn, brainstorming, business, Creativity, critique, Education, neurodivirgent, research, teaching, Writing
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Why Not AI?
I write under a curse that requires me to experiment and revise as I create. Despite considering ideas, creating outlines to guide me and re-reading my initial work to improve it, the quality of my writing is not consistent. Unfortunately, … Continue reading
Writing and the Stock Market
All ideas have been done before. It’s basically impossible not to reuse one. If it hasn’t been done before, the idea will make almost no sense to anyone. That defeats the purpose of using it. Conformists want ideas that are … Continue reading
Writing for Therapy
The idea of writing as a therapy is not new. Being able to bare these struggles of the soul on a page could make a person feel better—or worse. My desire to write creates more stress than relief, so I … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Drama and movies, Nonfiction, Writing trends
Tagged books, Creative writing, life, Mental health, therapeutic writing, Writing, writing for therapy
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A Matter of Ego
No one really writes a novel without considering the plot beforehand. Nor do they outline the events so tightly that they know each step the protagonist will take and never vary from this initial plan. So why do we argue … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Novels, Story structure, Writing trends
Tagged architects, author, books, Creative writing, gardeners, outlines, pantser, planners, winging it, Writing, writing-tips
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Why Don’t They Like My Writing?
Beta reviewers or the local literary critique group may not be fond of what an author has written. However, they often don’t know how to explain what they dislike. The problem could be based on style. Perhaps, the language sounds … Continue reading
Posted in author feuds, Creativity, Ideas for writing, Showing versus telling, Teaching writing skills
Tagged Beta reader, Criticism, critique, genre, originality
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Climbing over the Block
What is writer’s block? For me it is not a dearth of ideas, but a multitude of mediocre ones. If I push through this initial uninspired feeling and write, eventually a creative thought or two should appear. Sometimes I stretch … Continue reading