Hurtling through space without a helmet and a jetpack on her back is Jill, the spunky redhead who still needs to do chores. One night, after sharing a room with the son of her friends, Jill is awoken by the foreboding tales of a little boy’s nightmare. In order ...
Subverting expectations ≠ good storytelling
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, May 17, 2019
When creating a story you begin leading the reader down a path. You know where you’re going, or at least can pretend to know, but the reader does not. But, with some well laid out clues and foreshadowing, they can begin to piece the map together. Now here comes ...
Move It
Banes at 12:00AM, May 16, 2019
by Frank Miller
SHOWING MOVEMENT
I was talking to my brother about writing scripts for comics and mentioned that I sometimes forget that what I'm writing can't move. I'd start accidentally writing as if it were a movie script, with characters moving around, then realize that I ...
QUACKCAST 425 - Pay-off or rip-off?
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, May 7, 2019 LISTEN on our new player!
Listen on Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/drunkduck-quackcast
Or TuneinRadio - https://tunein.com/podcasts/Books–Literature/Drunkduck-Quackcast-p1150194/
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 ...
A Proposed Counterargument
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 4, 2019
THERE WILL BE SPOILERS, ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK
I was amazed and surprised to see that I wasn't the only one that had an idea to talk about setup and payoff and Game of Thrones this week! The lovely Emma Clare did it ahead of me, and she ...
Making Heads Of Thumbnails
Amelius at 12:04PM, April 28, 2019
Here on DD, your thumbnail is your first impression and as such you should take care with your thumbnail, as it is your first chance to make an impression with a reader. Full disclosure, I don't really like our thumbnails here on DD. These stamp style thumbnails are too ...
Making a hero feel real
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, April 26, 2019
Last week we looked at lovable/hateable villains. So, in that spirit why not flip this coin and talk about what makes a hero feel real. Now, a protagonist is not necessarily a hero. For instance, despite being the main focal point through which we, the audience experience the story ...
Emotional Impact
Amelius at 1:10PM, April 14, 2019
Have you ever read something and it gave you the “feels?” Something that was so intense that you couldn't help but feel the emotional truth of a fictional moment in time? In many ways that is the highest form of our art, and possibly any art; to communicate an ...
Gag Orders 2
Banes at 12:00AM, March 14, 2019
Gag Orders 2 - Gag Harder
Last week we touched on the outcry over Captain Marvel's marketing campaign, and the shutting down of the ‘Interested-Not Interested’ section of Rotten Tomatoes.
At the same time, a somewhat-related hammer hit YouTube creators when channels were demonetized or limited and told that unsavory ...
Vulgar Language and Non Sequitur
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, Feb. 18, 2019
As of Sunday afternoon, at least forty newspapers across the United States have dropped the long running comic, Non Sequitur, from its comic pages. The reason behind the loss in popularity is that the comic “betrayed (its reader base’s) trust with profanity.” The comic in question ran sometime last ...