In my early days as a junior designer. I had the good fortune to work under a talented graphic designer and I remember looking at her work thinking, “Oh wow! She’s so clever!” She saw me struggling with a piece of artwork one day. Leaning over, her voice conspiratorially ...

LavenderTowne and the good type of stealing
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, May 8, 2020All 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 ...
After Marriage
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, April 25, 2020
Usually in adventures, thrillers and other stories, when the main characters are romantically involved, the B plot (or even the A plot) is the ‘will they/won’t they' question: will they get together in the end, usually with a happy end scene of marriage, or some such thing. Romance ...
Maintaining an update schedule
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, April 17, 2020
There are generally two kinds of webcomic artists. Those that update irregularly and those that operate like clockwork. Maintaining an update schedule has many benefits both for you and your readers. Here are some of the positive reasons for putting in place a realistic update schedule.
Readers like reliability
Having ...
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 ...
When the Plot is Too Busy
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 22, 2020
The plot is the spine of your story, the scaffolding upon which everything will be placed in order to create a full experience for the audience to immerse themselves in- be it a movie or a comic or a novel.
Just like the spine, however, there is a limit to ...
The Day After
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 15, 2020
Given that it was Valentine's Day yesterday, and that is associated with a lot of special moments between couples, I thought we could talk about the Day After! What do you do on the Day After? Do you run to buy a pill or do you roll over and ...
The Challenge of Obeying The Rules
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 8, 2020
Rules are meant to be bent, or broken.
Of course they are- if it's a one time thing. If it happens all the time, the stakes collapse, the story comes apart, and the experience is ruined. I'm talking about stories, of course…
As we've talked about time ...
Writing Wise Folk
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 1, 2020
Wise men are like valuable spice for a story. They are also a wonderful plot device, or an extremely cheesy one, depending on how the character is used and written.
Wise men (and women) are often the moral compass to the main characters, or hold some kind of answer to ...