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What defines evil in fiction?
I say the simplest one is bad guys are selfish, good guys are selfless.
That is massively over simplistic but it's a good easy template for basic hero's and villains. Basic ones
I was just doing a quick thought experiment to work ...

Talking Stock

A good character is a three-dimensional character, right? They have to be relateable. With wants and fears that make sense. And a bit of a history. And a flaw or two to keep them “human”. And a wound to try and overcome. And maybe even a contradiction within ...

Little Lara is the last single human person left in the whole of the universe. She's a funny little girl with white hair and dark skin, which isn't surprising given the nasty radiation in space… Which is where she finds herself: picked up by some weird looking aliens ...

Everyone has their own set of concerns, worries, fears about themselves and their environment, past, present and future. Creators are no different.

So it is only natural that at least some elements of those fears and concerns and worries we have are explored one way or another in the works ...

In my newspost last week about the “No Hugging, No Learning” mantra, I mentioned that I was basing a throwaway character – a loveable misanthrope – on a real-life friend of mine. It’s something I’m tempted to do fairly frequently; I spend most of my time in an academic environment ...

Jonathin Quackup has had a very adventurous life! There's battles, war, journeys, fierce warriors, hidden destinies, and even fishing! The creatures of Planet Weralt are humanoid animals, they live in a series of rival, warring communities. This is the story of how the legend of the great adventurer
Jonathin ...

Everyone loves a good thriller, a titillating mystery, a tale full of twists and turns (that make sense), something that challenges you to find the answer before you’re given it at the final act.
I’m not sure how many like sitting down to construct them.

Don’t get ...

Recently I wrote a throwaway character for my comic based on a real-life friend of mine. In short, he’s a loveable misanthrope. And because he’s based on a real human being, I felt like I owed the character something: he won’t grow, or change, or become a ...

The old frenetic push to any creator to be ‘original’- especially, though not limited, in literature, in comics and the arts in general is nothing new. It pretty much is the first question anyone has when trying to assess a work of art: is it original?

Often, for the answer ...

METAPHORROR

Hey, they're always tellin' me to recycle!

Last Halloween I did a breakdown of four categories of horror. So I've repurposed it here, images and all, to talk about the metaphorical nature of horror.

Horror is perfect for metaphor and allegory. In fact, a horror story is ...