Last week, ozoneocean resurrected a forum post from a little more than eleven years ago by necroposting the “Tablet Recommendation?” topic on the General Discussion forum board. The post is definitely dated, yet it still holds up to the idea of allowing for time to pass before purchasing a big ...

To me this is one of the most fascinating elements of storytelling. The idea behind Chekhov’s Gun is to employ parsimony in the information comprising a plot and content: If something isn’t essential to the story, just don’t include it. Little by little, it became more “if ...

Sorry about last week’s missed newspost, everyone! Last week’s post happened to fall on “friend Christmas.” I’m the world’s worst adult, and spent the day eating so much holiday junk food that I got sick and had to go to bed rather than finish writing. I ...

The year 2016 was not as horrible as some people thought it to be. I did go through some personal changes that might not be seen as monumental in the wide scope of the world. I have always been a true romantic–a label given to me by an English ...

Happy New Year’s Eve!
Thinking about the new year that is just about to begin, I thought to talk about beginnings in stories, and especially in webcomics.

How a story begins, the very first pages of it, are key for catching the audience’s attention and keeping it. The ...

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 ...

Emotional Charges and Diminishing Returns

Many writing methodologies suggest mapping out the emotional change of each scene. The scene either starts positive, and goes to either negative or “extra positive”, or starts negative and goes to positive or “extra negative” by the end of the scene.

So if a lovelorn ...

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 ...

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 ...

No pic for this one. I'll add one later if the fates allow!

I was a big fan of all the Indiana Jones movies back in the day. When the fourth one, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, finally came out, it was exciting times! Harrison Ford only seemed ...