On the last “Mind Tricks” discussion, we talked about false memories, where a characters' true nature is hidden from them because of memory loss or artificial memories.

The Phantom Life is similar, certainly in the two examples that I thought of initially…but the stories play out
in a different ...

LITE BITES by Genejoke reaches 1000 Pages!


Genejoke sez:

Lite Bites has hit 1000 pages, that's a huge number.
That's 1000 pages of work by many people in various
styles and genres.

Prior to the revival of Lite Bites last year there was 700 or so pages,
The ...

I don't wanna be remembered; I wanna be forgotten


MEMORY and MEMORY LOSS in FICTION

Playing with memory and memory loss is a handy device for fiction writers, from soap opera-type melodrama to exciting-but-thought-provoking stories like The Matrix, and in all kinds of stories betwixt and beyond.

Like any ...

Kim is not a sociopath - but her many nuances make her most intriguing…and she has a scary side


The secret sociopath.

A story trope in fiction that can make for a shocking ending when done well, or probably an eye-rolling one
when not, is the secret sociopath.

A character ...

Character Motivation

One thing I appreciate in well written stories is the hidden motivations of characters. Well written characters, just like real people, have contradictions to them. Desires and needs that are sometimes in conflict with each other.

Story structure tells us that a character has to WANT something. The ...

On a recent episode of Better Call Saul there was a plot element that caused some discussion/criticism.

Mild spoilers for Better Call Saul ahead.

There's a character on this show, Lalo, who was set up to be almost - almost - more than human. This is not a superhero show ...

Holy Unholy Alliance, Batman!

Last week we talked about what I called the “villain combo platter” with different types of villains that could make for multifaceted kinds of conflicts for the hero to face.

At the time, PaulEberhart mentioned the alliance between villains that happened at one point during Deep ...

Back when the Deep Space Nine series was developing into a more serialized kind of story, the writers wanted to define the major threat from the distant Gamma Quadrant. Who was going to be the big villain for the series?

The stakes were pretty high, here - what if the villains ...

Peacemaker is probably not everyone's cup of tea…but it must be seen at least once
to appreciate the opening credits dance number. Brilliant!

When Vince Gilligan was co-creating the idea for the Better Call Saul spinoff, he said that one of the challenges he and Peter Gould and ...

Better Call Saul!

First, let me apologize in advance for what will probably be a LOT of Better Call Saul related Newsposts over the next few months. The show is finally coming back, and has been one of my all-time favorites. So…BCS Lovefest incoming.

It won't be every ...