Category Archives: Novels

Why Not AI?

Posted on June 22, 2025 by knlistman

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 →

Posted in Characters, Creativity, Ideas for writing, Novels, Story structure, Teaching writing skills, Trends in books, Writing trends | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A Stuck Character

Posted on November 21, 2024 by knlistman

The character that I’ve imagined is stuck. Literally. He’s in solitary confinement, or in a dungeon, or abandoned on an island, and I know how he’s going to escape. But, for now he’s stuck. Should I just jump ahead to … Continue reading →

Posted in Characters, Drama and movies, Ideas for writing, Literary devices, Literature, Novels, Story structure, Teaching writing skills, Trends in books | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Do You Know What Polyandry Means?

Posted on September 19, 2024 by knlistman

If you are familiar with Clint Eastwood’s first movie, a musical called Paint Your Wagon you’d realize that a woman having more than one husband is not a recent idea. If you recognize “polyandry” as an ancient Greek term for … Continue reading →

Posted in Drama and movies, Novels, romance, Story structure | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Happiness Requirement

Posted on September 9, 2024 by knlistman

“And they lived happily ever after” is not just a matter of fairy tales. A Happily Ever After (HEA) ending remains a favorite of many readers and has likely been one ever since stories were first told. In this age … Continue reading →

Posted in Characters, Ideas for writing, Literary devices, Literature, Mental health, Novels, Psychology, romance, Teaching writing skills, Trends in books | Tagged | Leave a comment

What’s the Big Deal about Readability?

Posted on July 5, 2024 by knlistman

Today, writers rarely use semicolons, which provide a level of pause between a comma and a period. Authors have declared war on adverbs, forms of the verb to be, or filter words that identify a character’s thoughts. Others want to … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction in education, Novels, romance, Writing trends | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

My POV Journey

Posted on April 18, 2024 by knlistman

Initially, when I was eight years old, I started writing in the third person point of view and all my characters were animals. Did I mention that Black Beauty was one of my favorite books? A few years later, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Literary devices, Literature, Novels, Style and voice | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Journeying away from the Hero’s Journey

Posted on March 21, 2024 by knlistman

Want a plot that’s been used successfully thousands of times? Research Campbell’s monomyth or simply read Christopher Vogler’s book on the hero’s journey. The hero’s journey is an idea manufactured as a result of popular literature from Greco-Roman times. However, … Continue reading →

Posted in Ideas for writing, Literary devices, Literature, mythology, Novels, Story structure, Teaching writing skills, Trends in books | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Matter of Ego

Posted on February 22, 2024 by knlistman

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 , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How Can Writing Not Be “Telling?”

Posted on December 6, 2023 by knlistman

I find the “show don’t tell” adage for writers a curious contradiction. Unless you are writing a movie script that will be produced, everything that you record is actually told to the reader. Writing is very abstract, so providing this … Continue reading →

Posted in Drama and movies, Ideas for writing, Literary devices, Literature, Novels, romance, Showing versus telling, Trends in books, Writing trends | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Writing and Age

Posted on September 14, 2023 by knlistman

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 , , , , | Leave a comment