Category Archives: Writing trends

The Lead-footed Writer

Posted on September 15, 2022 by knlistman

In movies when an event is crucial to survival (such as disarming a bomb) the clock keeps ticking away on until the last minute as the hero tries to figure out which wire to cut. He wipes the sweat off … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Literary devices, Showing versus telling, Story structure, Style and voice, Writing trends | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Star Words

Posted on September 8, 2022 by knlistman

Creating a good plot is one of the most difficult parts of writing. A perfectly plotted story is going to be snatched up by readers, but so far we seem to have only produced one of these plots that most … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Drama and movies, Story structure, Teaching writing skills, Writing trends | Leave a comment

The Fable of the Hook

Posted on August 25, 2022 by knlistman

Readers seeking excitement prefer a story starting with the main character fleeing down a dark alley, reeling from an initial enemy strike, or near the edge of Niagara Falls. This immediate danger creates an adrenaline rush. Even if the reader … Continue reading →

Posted in Literary devices, Story structure, Teaching writing skills, Writing trends | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Teenage Genre

Posted on August 18, 2022 by knlistman

When a library placed a book in the young adult or YA category that used to mean two things: The book was within the reading level of 12 to 18 year-olds, often a sixth to eighth grade level, and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction in education, Generational differences, Writer's resource, Writing trends | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Who’s the Real Villain?

Posted on August 11, 2022 by knlistman

As a legend Robin Hood represents the kind of principled nonconformist on which many heroes are based. We love to read about people who confront government wrong-doing even in a criminal manner as he did. But, if a similar character … Continue reading →

Posted in Characters, Literature, Story structure, Trends in books, Writing trends | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Sports Hero’s Journey

Posted on July 21, 2022 by knlistman

When advised to base stories on the hero’s journey, I realized that the “monomyth model” constructed plots based on a large sampling of Greek mythology. I’ve always had a suspicion that these myths were based on real people. The characters … Continue reading →

Posted in Characters, Drama and movies, Literary devices, Story structure, Writer's resource, Writing trends | Tagged | Leave a comment

Sports Lit

Posted on July 14, 2022 by knlistman

While watching a recent bone crunching pro-football game on TV, I saw a player dive into a fracas and come up with the fumbled football. He took off for his goal, running for the sidelines to avoid being pummeled by … Continue reading →

Posted in Drama and movies, Nonfiction, Trends in books, Writer's resource, Writing trends | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Keeping the Unknown a Mystery

Posted on July 7, 2022 by knlistman

I was engrossed in a mystery that grabbed me from the beginning. Set in the mid nineteenth century it commenced with a spooky chase scene in the fog. The shadow-like suspect disappeared around the corner of a stately brownstone. Then, … Continue reading →

Posted in Literary devices, Story structure, Style and voice, Writer's resource, Writing trends | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Dueling Detectives

Posted on June 30, 2022 by knlistman

When Edgar Allen Poe published Murders in the Rue Morgue in 1841 the murder mystery was a relatively new genre. He wrote a few more of these increasingly popular detective stories. However, In 1849 he was found wandering injured and … Continue reading →

Posted in Story structure, Trends in books, Writer's resource, Writing trends | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Getting the Utopian Novel Right

Posted on June 23, 2022 by knlistman

H.G. Wells kept trying to get the utopian novel right. His novel A Modern Utopia has a fictional framework–the protagonist meets a man from a perfect society on a distant island. The book is really a philosophical essay describing the … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Literary devices, Literature, Story structure, Trends in books, Writer's resource, Writing trends | Leave a comment