I've talked at times about how, as I make Without Moonlight, I have to constantly make choices on what to include and what not to from …reality.
By that I mean that true, documented (and even photographed) events from the nazi occupation of Athens during WWII are so grotesquely ...
When You Have to Tone it Down
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, March 5, 2022Tropes I Hate: Slap n' Kiss
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 26, 2022
I revert to talking about tropes I hate, because I don't want to talk about things happening around us but I still want to talk about something I despise.
Tropes I hate it is!
The horrible slap n' kiss or “slap slap kiss” trope.
Especially prevalent in lakorns (Thai ...
The World of the Dead
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 12, 2022
Not every story involves the underworld, or however the world of the dead is called in the setting. However, it still exists.
Every time the characters consider their own mortality in the story, the world of the dead looms in the backdrop. The way the characters think about death, life ...
Being Unsure of the Ending
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 5, 2022
Unless you're winging it 100%, chances are that you have an ending in mind for your story. Perhaps you even have the entire ending scene plotted out in your mind, the layouts ready, even some of the lines or expressions your characters will say and have.
You might have ...
The Message in Stories
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 15, 2022
There is no story without a theme. Even when written without anything prepared in terms of a message, a story will always give people things to think about and messages drawn from how the story was set up and how it was resolved (if at all).
So I don't ...
Horror within beauty
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 8, 2022
This trope might come in several different packages, but it always involves the same stages: a presence (a character, an apparition, an item, a painting, etc) appears to be perfect, gorgeous, stunningly beautiful, angelic in every way relevant. Then suddenly or gradually, this beauty dissolves into nightmarish horror: the character ...
Μerry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Coincidence?
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Dec. 25, 2021
It's Christmas Day today!
What are the chances! It's the first time my day to post in the blog is so perfectly timed for well wishes! So first off, I'd like to wish you all a happy Christmas Day, and if you don't observe it, a ...
QUACKCAST 560 - When Fiction Meets Reality
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, Dec. 7, 2021 LISTEN on our new player!
Listen on Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/drunkduck-quackcast
Or TuneinRadio - https://tunein.com/podcasts/Books–Literature/Drunkduck-Quackcast-p1150194/
We all know that fiction and reality are separate things, but fiction mirrors reality and we suspend disbelief to ignore the parts that are unrealistic so that ...
The Lull
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Nov. 27, 2021
So you've just written a kick-ass, exciting sequence, and you are already looking forward to the next awesome, kick-ass exciting sequence that is coming right up…
…after the dreaded lull: the scenes in a story that have to take place between the exciting sequences. The scenes where technically plot-wise ...
Your Character's Politics
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Nov. 20, 2021
So there's an art to writing characters with strong political agendas when you also happen to be a creator that has a strong political stance. I happen to be a person with very strong political views and ideology and ironically in my comic Without Moonlight absolutely nobody shares my ...