There is a very important relationship between humor and horror.

Bill Hader credits sixteen-year-old, Finn Wolfhard, for his meeting with the casting director in the latest installment of the Killer Clown franchise featuring Pennywise, It: Chapter Two. If that was not enough, he has joked in several interviews how he ...

Mr Frolik is detective with issues. He has dark looks, a long dark coat and he smokes as he pontificates and ruminates on love, life and serial killers, much like Bill Hicks or Lenny Bruce, but a little more wry. His love life is seriously bad and he doesn't ...

Writing Timeclocks


Timeclocks are one of those elements of fiction that usually shows up in the middle or just before the final act, to give things a little boost in the adrenaline department, and make the drama more urgent. Not only are your characters facing big problems, but suddenly their ...

When do you bail on a series, movie or story?

We had a pretty fine conversation on the Quackcast last week that wandered into the category of “endings” and when they're set up well vs badly and such. I had a similar convo today with someone about various series ...

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS, ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK

I was amazed and surprised to see that I wasn't the only one that had an idea to talk about setup and payoff and Game of Thrones this week! The lovely Emma Clare did it ahead of me, and she ...

Raytoons has created a board game that you can own. He writes:

In this turn-based strategy card game from Raytoons Comics, each player must form their own team of characters (from the Quackup comic book series) and must defeat other players through mini-game missions and battles! Game missions and conflicts ...

Having discussed a general approach to writing characters with mental disorders (with a lot of thoughtful comments by you further enriching what I had to say!) it's only right that we wrap up this very quick analysis with an example of a story that properly portrays them.

I chose ...

Giving Mythic Scale to your Stories



Dexter and the Trinity Killer - this may not look like an epic confrontation…but it sure as heck was!


The classic Star Wars trilogy was a phenomenon and a triumph on multiple levels. One of the things it's famous for is it's ...

There are murders happening around town. All that is being left is a trail of bodies. This leads to a series of rumors spread by the citizens and an individual named Hate is on the move looking for the reason behind the mysterious stories. This is a great comic for ...

CATHARSIS
from the Best of Banes Collection


A writing instructor once gave me brief advice on how to write a story, structurally speaking. It was 1/4 Act One setup, 1/2 Act Two complications and rising stakes (I think), and about 1/4 An Act Three “cathartic ending”.

I ...