Some characters are the heroes.

Some characters are the villains.

And some characters are just punchable. But not actually bad, or even antagonists- though sometimes they can be towards specific characters rather than the general plot goals.

Every time this type of character opens their mouth to say something, our ...

The villain is a counter balance to the protagonist and it is their role to push the protagonist into action and, with any luck, do it in an entertaining way. If there is one type of character that knows how to hold an audience’s attention is a villain you ...

There is a gripe that I have when it comes to romance. It might be the reason I don't really like reading romance as a genre, and while I am aware that not all works in the romance genre are like this, there are too many for me to ...

An outline for a story, whether it be a one-shot or a serialised epic, needs a strong foundation. The building blocks that will become your comic must be able to stand firm on the themes, concepts, story beats and character moments explored in your outline. “I need an outline?” you ...

Usually when building a character, we go for their general personality in terms of traits, the routine/general behavior they would display, the routine/general things that would interest them and so on.

If you are writing a slice of life story, or a sitcom style series, or anything that ...

You’ve got your amazing idea down for a story but how do you begin? You want to make your first chapter amazing! En medias res means opening in the midst of the plot. This way, exposition is bypassed, allowing you to fill it in more gradually, either through dialogue ...

So we've talked often about how letting a character die in a story is something that should be used very frugally, because once death occurs, it should be permanent. In most settings, death shouldn't be something that is reversible. If not, it will lose its impact, and the ...

When a character the story's cast and audience identify and are familiar with dies, the effect is, or should be, monumental.

Not only because that effectively ends that character's journey (and arc), but also because as an event it has immediate ramifications for all the surviving characters.

First ...

Retconning has a bad reputation.

Usually because it's done in big IPs and franchises when writers change and decide to drastically alter the development of a plotline, and do it by changing established canon about the characters or the history of the setting. Usually it's sloppily done, dealt ...

A subplot is a co-current narrative that runs alongside the main plot, often providing context, character development or further world building. They can be used to build further tension, explore other perspectives or themes.

The theme is what the overall story means. A subplot allows you to lend more emotional ...