The villain is a counter balance to the protagonist and it is their role to push the protagonist into action and, with any luck, do it in an entertaining way. If there is one type of character that knows how to hold an audience’s attention is a villain you ...
A face you love to hate
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Jan. 22, 2021The Highway to Hell
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Nov. 14, 2020
Unless they are an old-timey Disney villain or similarly classic cartoon villain, nobody wants to be evil or bad starting off. Nobody's ambition is to be the villain in their own story. (note I say ‘villain’ and not ‘antagonist’)
Everyone is out to be the hero.
So why aren ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Expressing Theme part 2
Banes at 12:00AM, March 5, 2020
So, last week we talked about theme, and how it is generally expressed through the Protagonist in a given story, as they struggle through whatever type of conflict is appropriate to that tale. We had a few common examples of themes:
-Love conquers all
-The strongest or most determined will ...
The Challenge of Obeying The Rules
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 8, 2020
Rules are meant to be bent, or broken.
Of course they are- if it's a one time thing. If it happens all the time, the stakes collapse, the story comes apart, and the experience is ruined. I'm talking about stories, of course…
As we've talked about time ...
On Writing Therapists 3
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 25, 2020
And so we have arrived to the juicy stuff- Evil Psychologists!
You'd be surprised, but there have been a LOT of those in real life. It's the reason that the ethics code and penalization if that code is broken is so severe for professionals in the mental health ...
Superpowers Magic and Technology
Banes at 12:00AM, Jan. 23, 2020
Greetings, citizens!
Superpowers coming from magical abilities or fantastic technology are essential to many stories in the fantasy and science fiction genres. They can show up in other genres, too, like horror and of course, superhero stories (are they science fiction stories? Science-Fantasy? Heroic Fantasy? Whatever - most of those folks ...
MacGuffins
Banes at 12:00AM, Jan. 16, 2020
MacGuffin comin' through!
MacGuffins
I'm not sure if everyone knows this already, but a MacGuffin is a term that was made popular by Alfred Hitchcock, and is now widely used in writing and storytelling circles.
It is an item or event (or possibly even a character) that exists only ...