“Asymmetric threats” is a military term. It is defined as “an unequal balance or when thinking about threats, an unfair advantage to the perpetrator. Phillips, A (2012) provided an excellent overview of what an asymmetric threat is. He described attacks of this nature to be undetectable, and once occurred, impossible ...
Asymmetric Threats
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, March 28, 2020Expressing Theme part 2
Banes at 12:00AM, March 5, 2020
So, last week we talked about theme, and how it is generally expressed through the Protagonist in a given story, as they struggle through whatever type of conflict is appropriate to that tale. We had a few common examples of themes:
-Love conquers all
-The strongest or most determined will ...
Reflection Characters
Banes at 12:00AM, Jan. 2, 2020
Reflection Characters
When I was doing a little reading on the “Mentor” character type, I learned about something called “Reflection Characters”. It was an eye opener; I'd never heard of this before, though I could instantly see how it made sense in storytelling, and dozens of examples came to ...
Not What They Seem
Banes at 12:00AM, Nov. 14, 2019
edward norton in “primal fear”
One of the things I like in fiction is characters who are not what they seem.
Like all things, this sort of thing can be done well, or badly, or somewhere in between. It can be fascinating and surprising, or cliche and predictable. It can ...
Guilt
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 25, 2019
Guilt is a powerful tool in the creative process.
No, I'm not talking about the guilt you feel because you haven't updated in six months which pushes you to sit down and finish that darn page (though that helps too, we've all been there).
Guilt is very ...
Strong Women, Strong Men
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Dec. 8, 2018
A ton of things have been written about “strong female characters”- how we need them in narratives, and what it means to have them in a creative work's cast. Tons of discussions and social media wars have been waged on what it is that makes a female character strong ...
The Sacrificial Lion
Tantz_Aerine at 6:09PM, Aug. 31, 2018
One of the toughest tropes in any kind of narrative work, from novels to comics to movies is the Sacrificial Lion - but not for what might be an obvious reason: having to axe a top tier character. It's because the trope is something that will affect and carry through ...
Active vs. Reactive Characters
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Oct. 14, 2017
In stories there are always protagonists and antagonists. And sometimes it’s the protagonists that are more interesting while others it’s the antagonists that steal the scene. Very rarely, it is both.
In all the wide versatility and range between characters, what is the common feature of interesting, memorable ...
Reflecting on Reflection Characters
Banes at 12:00AM, July 20, 2017
Reflection Characters
When I was doing a little reading on the “Mentor” character type, I learned about something called “Reflection Characters”. It was an eye opener; I'd never heard of this before, though I could instantly see how it made sense in storytelling, and dozens of examples came to ...