In an ancient, barbaric land, one man stands out as strong and good above the rest, Prince Ovun. Coming across the sight of a poor old man being harassed by brutal thieves, Ovun takes action and saves the old fellow, who then predicts Ovun will soon be king of his ...
No Antagonist, No Arc
Banes at 12:00AM, Aug. 27, 2020
I grabbed the Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey 2-pack and rewatched then after many years. I knew those movies well when I was a youngster, especially the first one. Many, many repeat viewings. Both movies held up REALLY well, and feature “Fool ...
Expies, Fandoms, Disappointment, and Hope
Banes at 12:00AM, Aug. 20, 2020
don't i know you people from somewhere?
oh yeah!
I realize it's not true of everyone, but there is a good chunk of various fandoms who are not happy with the condition of their favorite franchises these days. We've talked about the Star Wars of it all ...
The Abyss
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Aug. 15, 2020
I am not a fan of Nietzsche (shocker, I know) but this is a quote of his that ...
Fear of the unknown
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Aug. 14, 2020
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about the long abandoned video game demo, P.T, a PTSD inducing horror teaser that went on to be scrapped by game publisher, Konami, before the project had gotten on its feet. I was arguing that the real horror ...
Pixar's Rules of Storytelling
Banes at 12:00AM, Aug. 13, 2020Pixar has had one of the most dedicated story teams in the business. Here are the Pixar rules of storytelling. I find them to be powerful and sensible! If you haven't seen this list before (I hadn't), here they are!
1. You admire a character for trying more ...
Writing More Than You Know
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, June 13, 2020
We're all aware of the classic tennet for writers and creators of all stories- write what you know in order for the story to be good.
We've explored before what it means to write what you know, and where this rule should be adhered to: at the core ...
The Means Make the Villain
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 2, 2020
There are the mustache-twirling villains, that enjoy being evil. They're deliciously fun!
Then there are the nutjob villains. Those that are basket cases one way or the other, psychopaths or antisocial, unfettered madmen with a logic of their own that wreaks havoc upon the world. They're also very ...
All is Lost
Banes at 12:00AM, April 30, 2020
I've talked many times about story structure. Even with a structural approach, there are a lot of questions to be answered, struggles to be had, and hard thinking to be done to make a story work.
One big moment that I like thinking about early in the writing is ...
Asymmetric Threats
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, March 28, 2020
“Asymmetric threats” is a military term. It is defined as “an unequal balance or when thinking about threats, an unfair advantage to the perpetrator. Phillips, A (2012) provided an excellent overview of what an asymmetric threat is. He described attacks of this nature to be undetectable, and once occurred, impossible ...