In the latest episode of Star Trek Picard, a character talks about his efforts to prolong his own life in a way I won't spoil. He lets go of this idea, and in the message he leaves behind, he says "Evolution is not about preservation - it's about addition ...

Addition, Subtraction, Preservation, Evolution
Banes at 12:00AM, March 30, 2023Conflict
Banes at 12:00AM, March 23, 2023
Conflict!
It's the essential building block of drama. You don't have a story without the basics of “someone wants something, and something's in the way of getting it.”
Screenwriting books - books I really love and have given me a lot - will often say that amping up the ...
TwistJam, a Cross-Webcomic Site Collaboration Project, Begins!
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, March 20, 2023
Photo: “TwistJam Page One”. Drawn by HawkandFloAdventures. (March 2023)
TwistJam, a collaborative comic involving many crossover interactions between original characters from TheDuck AND ComicFury started uploading new pages (*Patreon or *Ko-Fi only) two days ago.
TwistJam will feature a Basketball game with VERY special commentators (who have yet to be ...
Another Approach to Story Structure
Banes at 12:00AM, March 16, 2023
I'm a big fan of story structure. It can be a big help to figuring out how to put a story together in a way that works. Not that structure needs to be followed in a slavish way, or that one structure applies to every story.
But it can ...
Marisu
Banes at 12:00AM, March 9, 2023
The term “Mary Sue” became a lot more mainstream a few years ago - but around comic book websites like ours, and circles that were into writing and deeper fandom have been well versed with this for much longer.
The Mary Sue is a character who has abilities or positive qualities ...
A Round of Upcoming Milestones for NeverLore by InkyMoondrop and The KAMics by KAM!
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, March 6, 2023
Photo: “NeverLore: Cover” by InkyMoondrop. (February 2023)
InkyMoondrop writes:
Hi!
NeverLore doesn't seem to have an especially great launch yet, but Chapter 2 is about 70% done, will dive into an actual fantasy environment and I think I'll let it return to a Weekly update schedule with publishing ...
Frank Frazetta, one of the greatest artists of the 20th century
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, March 4, 2023You Kids Are Testing My Limits
Banes at 12:00AM, March 2, 2023
I was reading a critique of a series, a successful series, of novels. I think it's an urban fantasy/horror thing where the main character has a specific paranormal ability, limited, but useful in her detective work. She had a love interest, who was maybe on and off, but ...
Cupcake War Machine Near its End. A Round of Milestones for: Interstellar Battle Girls; Ice Cream Truck of Doom; The Last Space Wizard; and Pulse Comics!
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, Feb. 27, 2023
Photo: “Twistjam: Morgyn and Lacey”. Original characters from Alone is a Hard Thing Toby by David A Webcomic and Hawk and Flo Adventures Part 1 Ice Cream Truck of Doom by HawkandFloAdventures. (February 2023)
A nice round of milestones from four creators to celebrate the accomplishments on The Duck:
The ...
Panel By Panel: Let Me Ask You Something
hpkomic at 12:53PM, Feb. 24, 2023
Hello everyone, and welcome to Panel by Panel, a periodic exploration of comic panels around The Duck. This week I wanted to try something different. I'd like to ask you all some questions. I have plenty more panel analysis articles, but I also want to mix things up.
I ...