(I'm writing this after a very long and hard day of mental and physical work so if it sounds ranty or convoluted…. eh, you've been warned :P )
Humans are competitive by nature. Somehow we have to rank everything- all things, from the most concrete to the most abstract ...
There Is No See Saw
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 23, 2020More Thoughts on Discovery Writing
Banes at 12:00AM, May 21, 2020
We've had some interesting discussions on various Newsposts, in the Forum and elsewhere on theduckwebcomics about knowing your ending, knowing your genre, planning ahead and outlining vs. ‘pantsing’ or ‘Discovery writing’, which is writing without knowing where you're going.
Though up to now I've mostly been a ...
QUACKCAST 479 - Big ideas in fiction
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, May 19, 2020 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/
My original idea for this Quackcast was: “Genre fiction is the best place to explore ideas, straight fiction doesn't do it as well”
What I meant ...
Defining Events
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 16, 2020
What made a character be who he/she is? What is it that drives them, and why?
That's the allure of any origin story: we get to see how characters we look up to or love or love to hate came to be who they are.
Most, if not ...
Knowing What You Write
Banes at 12:00AM, May 14, 2020
Last week we talked about “writing what you know” … but how about ‘knowing what you write’? I knew I wanted to do this one as soon as I posted the previous article…just for the title.
In a TV show, series of books, movie, printed comic series, or newspaper strip ...
The Genre Defines the Lines
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 9, 2020
We grin and support John Wick as he ploughs through dozens of people per minute in his revenge quest over his murdered dog and ruined car, but we gasp with shock when the Wicked Witch of the East pursues a single person to take revenge for killing her sister with ...
Writing What You Know
Banes at 12:00AM, May 7, 2020
Writing what you know is one of those old canards that show up in writing advice, though it's not up there with things like “show, don't tell” and “this is supposed to be a literary essay - do not doodle in the margins”.
Or is that last one just ...
All is Lost
Banes at 12:00AM, April 30, 2020
I've talked many times about story structure. Even with a structural approach, there are a lot of questions to be answered, struggles to be had, and hard thinking to be done to make a story work.
One big moment that I like thinking about early in the writing is ...
QUACKCAST 475 - Tropeagedden! overuse of fashionable tropes...
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, April 21, 2020 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/
Certain tropes or stylistic ways of telling a story can get really, really popular and trendy very quickly and it seems like they're everywhere! Suddenly many ...