Let me start off by distracting y'all from my complete and total failure to even show up last week by saying, hey! to celebrate TEN YEARS of PUTRID MEAT, Pit Face has made this special behind the scenes “the making of…” video for y'all! Check it out!
https ...

image from The Art of Veiling, by yours truly

There have been posts before (I think) about how to go about creating a world, especially when it comes to fantasy settings. You’re supposed, if you want to do it right, to build everything that makes up the world in ...

Every good story (true, fabricated, or more typically, somewhere in between) here in the City That Forgot to Care, begins with a thoughtful pause, a drawn out “Well,” followed by the phrase “what had happened was…”

“Who drank my beer?”
“Dude, what happened to your face?”
“Why are you carrying ...

A little comic by Vasya Lozhkin: “I will take revenge”

Earlier today I was reading this article about an immigrant to Canada who learned English with the help of comics, and who now creates comics himself. It got me to thinking about what a great resource comics are for learning ...

Everyone loves a good thriller, a titillating mystery, a tale full of twists and turns (that make sense), something that challenges you to find the answer before you’re given it at the final act.
I’m not sure how many like sitting down to construct them.

Don’t get ...

LISTEN!
The Burbs video cover

In this happy season of October we come to that time of year again when Banes starts to get excited by Halloween! This year his idea was for us all to do a real time DVD commentary for The Burbs, that great comedy horror film ...

I continue to be an occasional fan of true scary stories found online. The “realistic” ones are cautionary tales, and might even give an important reminder to be on guard and keep one's eyes open…and the more unusual/“unexplained” stories are pretty darned entertaining and addictive!

Anyway, I ...

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Sorry for the lack of picture! Computer is not cooperating. I'll add one today if I can!
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You may already know of Alfred Hitchcock's take on surprise and suspense. Here it is:

“There is a distinct difference between “suspense” and “surprise,” and yet many pictures continually confuse the ...

Step into a forgotten realm of quandary and whimsy where two twin girls, Cochlea and Eustachia, find themselves as test subjects in a lab experiment put on by a mole in Victorian clothing and a wheelchair. Every corner of this magnificent building maze contains hybrid creatures that come from the ...

A well written protagonist will generally have some flaws, starting out as an underdog of some kind, with lessons to learn and improvements to make over the course of the story.

Granted, some heroes are, well, just heroes, who are pretty much who they need to be from the beginning ...