Category Archives: Writer’s resource

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

What makes a character, a character?

Recently I was following a thread of writers discussing how to find names that make characters memorable.  Honestly, I believe that writers should be looking at the reverse situation.  It is the skillful creation of a character whose strengths and … Continue reading

Posted in Creativity, Fiction in education, Literary devices, Writer's resource | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Let students read what they want?

Reading literature in education may be on the way out. It is one of the many previous foundational skills that have been thrown aside to find a place for all the additional science, math and technology that a “competitive” county … Continue reading

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Delusion and Imagery

Imagery is one of the harder to pinpoint concepts in writing. What exactly is the difference between describing something in detail and creating imagery?  This concept is not always easy to explain.  So I looked at what some experts in the … Continue reading

Posted in Creativity, Poetry, Writer's resource | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

What makes poetry, poetry?

As a young child I assumed poetry must rhyme.  Meter was beyond my comprehension. It was only that constant repetition of ending sounds that mattered. In fifth grade, the teacher encouraged us all to enter a poetry recitation contest.  The … Continue reading

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Mentors and money

In the epic poem the Iliad, Telemachus father Odysseus was absent twenty years; first at war and then wandering on his long route home. Meanwhile his Telemachus grew to an adulthood without a father. Having pity on the youth, the … Continue reading

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Pointed view

Almost everyone knows about first person and third person narratives in writing. Basically as humans we all see from the familiar, limited first person point of view that allows us only to know what goes on in our presence.  Much … Continue reading

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Simply unreliable

Characters who have psychological profiles, also have their own viewpoint – opinions, judgments and prejudices – concerning the world around them. The first person narrator that is a viewpoint character – such as Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby – … Continue reading

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Out of character

“It fits the  perpetrator’s M.O.” … you’ve heard M.O. mentioned in so many police shows, detective novels, any kind of work related to law enforcement. What is it? A profile of a killer who has struck again collection constructed from … Continue reading

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The character who saw too much

Writing from the first person point of view routinely goes through periods of popularity only to be followed by a flood of amateurish first person novels. Then, writing “gurus” will advice the beginning writer never to write in first person. … Continue reading

Posted in Story structure, Teaching writing skills, Writer's resource | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Physiological writing

What exactly are physiological reactions? Imagine you are a young teenage girl. You are waiting in the math hall, and that handsome senior with an air of indifferent confidence strolls past you on the way to calculus. Normally you are … Continue reading

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