Happy New Year’s Eve!
Thinking about the new year that is just about to begin, I thought to talk about beginnings in stories, and especially in webcomics.

How a story begins, the very first pages of it, are key for catching the audience’s attention and keeping it. The ...

In the words of Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka: “Hold your breath. Make a wish. Count to three. Come with me. And you'll be. In a world of. Pure Imagination.”

Imagine a world where everyone woke up one day and fully committed to doing the right thing. Blood donation ...

-royalty free stock photo

When I went to see Assassin's Creed last week, there was a scene where the main character was sitting in a nearly empty room with a small twin sized bed as its only furnishing. I turned to my sister and said, “I wish my room ...

part of the painting “The last days of Messolonghi” by François-Émile de Lansac

First things first- Happy Holidays everyone!

In all types of creative writing and artwork, and definitely in webcomics we always talk about the ultimate stakes in the game- death. Death is absolute and irreversible (except when it ...

Talking Stock

A good character is a three-dimensional character, right? They have to be relateable. With wants and fears that make sense. And a bit of a history. And a flaw or two to keep them “human”. And a wound to try and overcome. And maybe even a contradiction within ...

Secret Santa sign-ups are due tomorrow! The sign-up thread is here: http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/177589/

Here's how it works:

Step One - Deadline: December 10th

Sign up! Let us know what you'd like a picture of. Your comic character wearing an ugly Christmas sweater? An epic ...

It’s the ultimate horror.
You are trapped with your very own demons.
You cannot escape- you will not be excused.
You will need to look at them, as they look back at you, and do a reckoning.

At least until dessert.

In my opinion, in all creative writing/art ...

LISTEN!
Art by Ozoneocean

In Quackcast 299 we expand on an idea from Tantz's Saturday newspost about inserting your personality into your characters when you write them. But not only that, we chat about how a work of fiction by a writer can be like a darkly faceted diamond ...

I came across a little blurb the other day about Mary Sues, and fanfiction, and how the writer of a fanfiction is basically writing a fantasy, inserting themselves as the character at the center of attention, immaculate, glittering and perfect. Basically everything you want to smack into a different galaxy ...

In my newspost last week about the “No Hugging, No Learning” mantra, I mentioned that I was basing a throwaway character – a loveable misanthrope – on a real-life friend of mine. It’s something I’m tempted to do fairly frequently; I spend most of my time in an academic environment ...