Category Archives: Writer’s resource

Discussion a range of topics for those interested in improving their writing skills

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 →

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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 →

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The Language of Empires

Posted on August 29, 2024 by knlistman

Have you ever wondered why we have two words–who and whom–both meaning the same thing. What is the difference? These two words are different cases of the same [pronoun, which are forms which provide clarity. Even people who don’t know … Continue reading →

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The Imitation Game

Posted on August 15, 2024 by knlistman

You haven’t heard of Herlock Sholmes? Let me tell you a bit about him. Maurice Leblanc created Arsene Lupin, a well intentioned gentleman thief who aided the bumbling police in finding perpetrators of more vicious crimes. In France, Lupin was … Continue reading →

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Fiction from my Family Tree

Posted on July 29, 2024 by knlistman

One of the reasons that there is “nothing new under the sun” is because human creativity depends on our experience. But, I have only lived one life. Rather than writing an autobiographical series about a rather sedate existence, I would … Continue reading →

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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 →

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Reading the lines… or the space between them?

Posted on May 16, 2024 by knlistman

Reading between the lines doesn’t refer to reading blank space. But, sometimes it is almost as difficult. It requires astute attention to pull out what is not explicitly stated in the text. How much should an author expect a reader … Continue reading →

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Does the Box Really Matter?

Posted on May 2, 2024 by knlistman

I encountered a young writer who claimed that he always thought “outside the box.” Although many might consider inside the box as a small confining area, much of what we learn to do follows standards, laws, and rules. For example, … Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 →

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