With the Thanksgiving holiday coming to a close and Christmas not being far away, now is a good time to take a step back and consider the past year. For my writing partner and I, we had high hopes for the year coupled with a mountain of plans. However, those ...

It so happens that as I write these lines, I have a terrible headache. So I can't gather my thoughts enough for the third installment of my discussion of motivations and ideologies and actions, but I think I'm good to write what I'd promised- my review of ...

A flashback is when the story is interrupted or placed on hold to present an event that occurred prior to the events of the narrative. They are used to explain a character’s history with another character or explore a particular relationship with a place and/or object. Using a ...

Nowhere to Hyde

Last time we talked about characters who are not what they seem. Folks who are introduced one way but are revealed to have a secret nature, or hidden depths, or a hidden agenda.

Another type of “hidden side” I enjoy is a little less universal, but can ...

edward norton in “primal fear”

One of the things I like in fiction is characters who are not what they seem.

Like all things, this sort of thing can be done well, or badly, or somewhere in between. It can be fascinating and surprising, or cliche and predictable. It can ...

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Storytelling styles change over time for various reasons: fashion, audience expectations, competition for audience attention due to increased choice and availability of media, technological limitations and abilities ...

When someone says they “ship” two characters they are referring to their desire to see two characters achieve a romantic relationship. The origin of the term is difficult to determine given the every fluctuating nature of Internet memes and colloquialisms, though TV Tropes has some interesting theories on where the ...

Last week, we took a look at what a prologue was and how it could be used. Just to catch you up, a prologue is an opening of a story, or in this context, a comic, that establishes the scene, theme and/or tone of the rest of the narrative ...

Deriving from the Greek term, prologos, meaning, “before word”, a prologue is an opening of a story, or in this context, a comic, that establishes the scene, theme and/or tone of the rest of the narrative. It’s a mini story that happens before the main one unfolds but ...

Metaphors in Horror



Horror is perfect for metaphor and allegory. In fact, a horror story is often allegorical by default, what with its bizarre landscapes and freaky beasties.

Here are some categories of horror and some thoughts on what they symbolize:

Reality Bites


psycho killer! Qu'est-ce que c'est ...