I've had this Newspost in mind again since I saw Spider Man: No Way Home. That movie pushes the nostalgia buttons with abandon, to an extent I couldn't believe. To avoid having anything spoiled I rushed out to the theater to see it as soon as I could ...

Fountain of Nostalgia
Banes at 12:00AM, Feb. 3, 2022Layers in Character
Banes at 12:00AM, July 8, 2021
Welcome to my Underground Layers
-Banes, your pop culture references are as on point as ever!
I've talked about story structure here many times, normally in similar ways.
A different approach to character and story, one I haven't used much personally, is what we could call the “onion ...
Everyday Joes and the Best of the Best
Banes at 12:00AM, Jan. 21, 2021
Everyday Joes and the Best of the Best
Star Wars and Star Trek are long-running siblings in science fiction pop culture. I don't know if there's really a “rivalry” between the two; SW has always been more popular I think, and the two are very different.
One big ...
On Writing Therapists 3
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 25, 2020
And so we have arrived to the juicy stuff- Evil Psychologists!
You'd be surprised, but there have been a LOT of those in real life. It's the reason that the ethics code and penalization if that code is broken is so severe for professionals in the mental health ...
Whitewashing, Blackwashing and all that Jazz
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, July 6, 2019
So by now, anyone who is on Twitter (and possibly other social media I dare not touch) is aware of this whole kerfuffle over the newest Disney live action remake, which happens to be The Little Mermaid. It has been announced that Ariel will be played by an actress who ...
Handling Controversial Historical Characters
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, April 13, 2019
image by Ben Burgraff
When writing a historical fiction, it's very likely that you will need to include some actual historical personalities along with your historically-adept yet fictional cast.
Depicting a historical character is hard enough when there's a general consensus among historians and popular belief about who ...
Don't Sweat The Details
Amelius at 9:27AM, Feb. 3, 2019
What is a character? A miserable little pile of traits! Except no, there is more to a character than a collection of likes and dislikes. There are varying opinions on the importance of character versus plot, with some authors viewing all characters as a mere tool to drive plot forward ...
RIP Steve Ditko
Banes at 12:00AM, July 12, 2018
Last week, Steve Ditko passed away at the age of 90. Legend? Titan? Master? I'm not sure what kind of descriptor to use for this guy.
He was one of a very small group of people who shaped the Marvel Universe, which rocked and redefined the comics world, and ...