Not long ago, I wrote about utilising cliffhangers. This week it’s all about them stakes. When it comes to creating a comic, it is important to give a reason for the reader to care about it. Stakes are a pivotal part of that. Cutscene University explains what stakes are ...

the cruel tutor himself, Pai Mei

One of my favorite character types is the gruff/grizzled old mentor. Tough as nails, mean or cranky on the outside but with great knowledge or support to offer when you know them, or when they know - and trust - you.

I've talked about ...

We've all been told how in story telling, showing is a lot better than telling.

Showing gets hard if your main character is a loner that interacts with nobody. Even harder if he/she is a stoic that emotes very little. The audience will have no way of knowing ...

Some characters are the heroes.

Some characters are the villains.

And some characters are just punchable. But not actually bad, or even antagonists- though sometimes they can be towards specific characters rather than the general plot goals.

Every time this type of character opens their mouth to say something, our ...

Photo: Mary Jane “MJ” Watson (played by Kirsten Dunst) and Harry Osborn (played by James Franco) in Spiderman 3 (2007).

Traveling down the memory lane archives has taken me back to watching the Tobey Maguire Spiderman trilogy that was released during the early-2000s.

Tobey Maguire’s Spiderman was my masked ...

It’s Christmas.

As we wind down from this exhausting year, take the time to relax and count all the rays of sunshine amongst the gloom. In spite of the upheaval in work structures, I have found more time for my hobbies and art. In spite of the lockdowns I ...

A subplot is a co-current narrative that runs alongside the main plot, often providing context, character development or further world building. They can be used to build further tension, explore other perspectives or themes.

The theme is what the overall story means. A subplot allows you to lend more emotional ...

A few months back, I was playing my favorite Open-World simulation video game and I noticed I was missing one of the most expensive vehicles in my garage. To my amusement, I received a confession that my car had been replaced by a much more affordable and lackluster vehicle earlier ...

It's THAT time of year again! The DD community has come together to produce the Drunk Duck Awards for all the best comics, stories, art and many other things on this site! Niccea, now a proud mother of two little people, is managing these things once again, along with ...

Might as well get it out of the way: if you're a mentor in a story, chances are you're going on a boatride over the river Styx at some point.

When a mentor dies it's often the signal that the main character, the one being mentored, is ...