Villains are tremendously important for a story. They set the framework and standard for a lot of things in an unsaid but definite manner: how far your villain is willing to go sets up audience expectations for how big and how dire the stakes will be in the story.
If ...
The Slippery Slope (Or How to Make a Great Villain Origin Arc)
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 6, 2023The 1990's Whiny Slacker Protagonist
Banes at 12:00AM, May 4, 2023
In rewatching some 1990's movies, I saw quite a few of these Protagonists show up - they're these disaffected types, usually quite intelligent or at least verbose, who are wrapped up in their emotions and sort of spinning their wheels in life as they analyze their problems and face ...
Writing Overpowered Characters
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, April 22, 2023
One of the most frequent ways to make characters stand out in fiction or myth is to give them a staggering, amazingly powerful ability. Something that mere talent doesn't give you. Something miraculous, larger than the largest life, unique and insurmountable:
Like a dude that can part an entire ...
Quackcast 628 - Cover me!
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, March 28, 2023 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're talking about the importance of a good cover in this cast. Another technical comicscast! I love making coves, they're one of my fave things ...
Conflict
Banes at 12:00AM, March 23, 2023
Conflict!
It's the essential building block of drama. You don't have a story without the basics of “someone wants something, and something's in the way of getting it.”
Screenwriting books - books I really love and have given me a lot - will often say that amping up the ...
Being Inclusive vs. Being Authentic
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, March 18, 2023
So for some reason my youtube is being besieged by rant videos over The Little Mermaid live action movie by Disney… AGAIN. You'd think the algorithm would know by now that I only watch ER skits and debunking videos, but here we are.
The controversy (again) is over the ...
You Kids Are Testing My Limits
Banes at 12:00AM, March 2, 2023
I was reading a critique of a series, a successful series, of novels. I think it's an urban fantasy/horror thing where the main character has a specific paranormal ability, limited, but useful in her detective work. She had a love interest, who was maybe on and off, but ...
Tough Love vs. Abuse
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 18, 2023
Tough love is so cool, eh? It's going to magic the “whining” right out of you, won't it? You just need to stick out through the harshness, and then when you reap the benefits, you'll realize your tough loving benefactor had the right idea. You'll be ...
Toxic Positivity, Toxic Acceptance (Part 2)
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 11, 2023
So last time, in Part 1 of this discussion of …sunnier villains or antagonists, we had left off talking about how toxic positivity is all about the toxic person's comfort. And that this need to impose a certain behavior, dogma, and/or approach to reality in their environment leads ...
Character trait: Toxic Positivity, Toxic Acceptance (Part 1)
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 28, 2023
Usually, antagonists or villains are emo and gloomy, angry and aggressive, suave and sly, or any combination of that. They are not generally associated with positive traits in their personality, or at least positively-associated traits.
And that's a shame, because real life sure does have a lot of variety ...