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 ...
Defining Events
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 16, 2020The 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 ...
QUACKCAST 477 - Darkest before dawn
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, May 5, 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/
Today on this glorious date we chat about that part in stories where everything turns to crap for the protagonists, just before the run up to the ...
Playing Through Life is Strange 2
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, May 4, 2020
As we embark on the start of week eight in quarantine, I wonder how many people out here in Drunk Duck Land have begun learning new facts about our planet (Interesting aside: Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard were the first two explorers to reach the deepest part of the Ocean ...
The Means Make the Villain
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 2, 2020
There are the mustache-twirling villains, that enjoy being evil. They're deliciously fun!
Then there are the nutjob villains. Those that are basket cases one way or the other, psychopaths or antisocial, unfettered madmen with a logic of their own that wreaks havoc upon the world. They're also very ...
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 ...
After Marriage
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, April 25, 2020
Usually in adventures, thrillers and other stories, when the main characters are romantically involved, the B plot (or even the A plot) is the ‘will they/won’t they' question: will they get together in the end, usually with a happy end scene of marriage, or some such thing. Romance ...
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 ...
When Being Confined
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, April 4, 2020
Nearly a billion people, perhaps more, are being confined in their homes as you read these lines, due to the Covid-19 quarantine to stem the pandemic. A good percentage are going stir-crazy right now, or are juggling with the limitations and necessary work-arounds of having to stay in a single ...
Stay connected
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, April 3, 2020
I got a call today from my workers union, checking in to see how I was doing and if I was getting proper support. As we got talking, the representative admitted that the extended periods of isolation had left her feeling in desperate need to talk to people, hence why ...