Back from the Dead

Tantz_Aerine at 2:02AM, April 19, 2025



It's Resurrection Saturday today! What better occasion then than this to talk about the resurrection trope?

Usually, cancelling out a character's death is not a good thing to do in a story. It undermines the weight of the stakes involved and/or the sacrifice or seriousness of the ...



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Resentment

Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, March 15, 2025




In designing a good villain character there's a wide range of paths one can follow. From the grandiose villains that want to take over the world and live in volcano islands, waiting for the hero to fall into their elaborate death trap to humanized villains with complex backstories that ...


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FAFO Reveal

Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, March 8, 2025




So you might have a character that's generally very calm or stoic. They may appear weak, or just not intimidating. They may be the right gender, class, age, or any other parameter for their peers to assume they are easy pickings and thus a great target for harassment. Initially ...


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Justice vs Revenge and What it Says About the World

Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Nov. 16, 2024



Sometimes it may feel that the justice system protects the perpetrator a lot more than it does the victim:

There are many things an accused can use to mitigate their position, there are many reasons to shorted a sentence, they can get out on good behavior, they can generally serve ...



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The Competition Plot

Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, July 27, 2024



As I'm writing this I'm counting down the hours to the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games 2024 which are taking place in Paris. The Olympics are the king of all sports competition, and even being able to participate requires for athletes to have been rigorously through very ...

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The Understudy Hero

Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, April 18, 2024




There's nothing more shocking than when the hero dies …at the beginning.

Don't worry, Banes isn't dead! I'm just standing in for him this week, he will return! This is only about fictional main characters that didn't get the memo they should reserve their death ...




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Hurt and Comfort

Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, April 13, 2024




There's few moments more dramatic than when the hero gets hurt. The more serious the injury (or illness or poisoning or other type of affliction) the higher the drama.

And from that drama (the hurt) comes the period of treatment, convalescence, and recovery (the comfort). This is a plot ...




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Money

Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, March 9, 2024



Money is the biggest generalized conditioned reinforcer or, in layman's terms, something that makes you do things because you've learned it's going to give you the good times. Whatever those good times are for you.

That's how money has always made the world go round since ...



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Religion

Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Sept. 23, 2023



No, no. I promise this is not a post that will go like this:



Nor like this:



Also nothing I say here, is to be religiously followed. (I got that out of my chest, cringing is allowed)

This post is entirely on the issue of worldbuilding religion into your webcomic ...











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The Prattler

Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 20, 2023



This character can be insufferably annoying.

No, this character is insufferably annoying, but it's up to you whether that's to the other characters or the audience. When written correctly, the prattler can be comedy gold or a swift ticket to the most delicious kind of schadenfreude: watching the ...



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