Episode 466 - And then What?
Feb 16, 2020
What happens to characters after the big action scene or climactic moment? This could be anywhere in the story but it's usually close to the end. Do they process any of the things that have happened to them to lead them up to that point or do they just forget about everything and simply act as if nothing except the last 4 seconds matter? The later seems to be the trend in a lot of badly written fiction, and it's a notable trope in 80s style action films. Death of family members or lovers are irrelevant when you have a hot action star standing next to you!
Topics and Show Notes
“So, what are you going to do now?” Someone always asks…
“Well I thought I'd settle down somewhere and open a bar.” replies the characterless hero, displaying complete disregard for the entire list of things that happened to them throughout the course of the story and instead recites a meaningless and tired line that was written before their writer was even born.
And THAT my friends is what we call bad writing ;)
Unless you're deliberately writing something spoofy, it's usually worthwhile to reward the audience: They've just sat through your story, hopefully they'll be invested in your characters. The audience really, really appreciates when those character acknowledge the effects and existence of events that you saw happen to them earlier on in the story. It makes the characters more believable and rounded, and it really helps with the suspension of disbelief.
Like anything though you can overdo it. You don't want the characters traumatised over every on-screen death (unless specifically called for), and you don't want them going on and on about something that happened to them in the story, just acknowledging it and showing some effect on the character is enough usually.
It's a good idea to remember what it was too! Don't forget about it and mix things up like in The Witcher wherethe writers forget Yennifer gave up her uterus for magical plastic surgery to look beautiful so she could grab the prized easy posting of court magician in her home country and lord it over the people there, and instead the story centers around how they “forced” her to give up her baby-making parts in order to be allowed to practice magic… Your job as a writer is to keep your story straight or your character growth will be a nonsense and you will look like a fool.
This week Gunwallace has given us the Music to GeMiTo 2073 - A slow, quiet intro, thoughtful pacing, introspective wailing electric guitar riff. This one creeps in gently and takes care of you. This rock ballad wants to make sure you’re ok,
Topics and shownotes
Links
Tantz's The Day After newspost - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2020/feb/14/the-day-after/
Tantz's anime - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9288892/
Featured comic:
Coquin - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2020/feb/11/featured-comic-coquin/
Featured music:
GeMiTo 2073 - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/GeMiTo_2073/, by Marcorossi, rated T.
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes
kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/
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Episode 464 - The current digital art landscape
Feb 2, 2020
I recently had to upgrade my main computer because Windows isn't supporting Windows 7 any longer and I don't want to install Windows 10 on the perfectly functioning old one in case it ruins it and my main programs can't run any longer… SO I had to get a new PC. This got me thinking though: The barrier to getting into digital art is lower now than ever!
Episode 454 - Are Marvel movies "Despicable"?
Nov 24, 2019
This week we look at the famous quote by respected film director Martin Scorsese that “Marvel movies aren't Cinema” and also the quote by fellow director Francis Ford Coppola that Marvel films are “despicable”. We try and look at the proper context of these remarks outside of the twitter garbage and social media outrage to see if either had any point or whether they're way off the mark and deserving of criticism.
Episode 450 - happy Halloween horror franchises
Oct 28, 2019
Tantz is dressed fabulously as a queen and I'm a skull faced monstrosity… I'm also wearing a costume, hahaha! Which you can see in our Patreon video ;) Queen Tantz Bathory and prince of horror Banes join me to talk about Horror movie franchises, what makes them work and what doesn't- as franchises rather than just a stand alone movie. The problems facing a movie series about horror are different from other genres and focus more on formula than just characters the way they do in most other types of film so it's an interesting discussion.
Episode 436 - Master of none?
Jul 22, 2019
To become truly successful at one thing you need to focus on that alone. Is it worth it? There are MANY calls on our time with all the side things we like to do, ESPECIALLY webcomics. One of the few ways to become a really successful superstar at any one thing is to start dropping all the other things that call on your time and devote all your energy to that one thing! Then you can push past all limitations and devote the effort and time needed to properly succeed.
Episode 434 - Where do your characters exist?
Jul 8, 2019
This time we're chatting about settings and where your characters exist in space… where does all the action happen in your comics and WHY does it happen there? Bane's had the really novel idea of thinking of story settings as action playsets, which are toy settings made based on a TV show or movie where you can play with action figures and act out key moments FROM the TV show or movie: Unlike a dollhouse they only have the key sets where the important things happen.
Episode 425 - Pay-off or rip-off?
May 6, 2019
In this Quackcast we chat about set-ups. pay-offs, and rip-offs. To make your climaxes and endings more satisfying you have pay-offs for audience expectations: set them up in the story and pay them off at the end. If you fail to pay-off then you get a rip-off, it's pretty simple. Your audience will be really disappointed. That's not to say disappointing and unsatisfying ends to stories are wrong, not at all! Often those are fully intended. We're just talking about satisfying audiences, not “good” endings.
Episode 419 - The Rating Game
Mar 25, 2019
It's the rating game! Yeah! This Quackcast was inspired by Emma Clare's newspost on Friday about rating levels. On Drunk Duck we have 4 rating levels so they're nice and simple: “E” for everyone, “T+” for teens, “M” for mature, and “A” for Adult! We talk about why ratings exist and how to use them.
