There comes the time when you may have a scene that starts off quite innocuously. It might even start all fun and games. But sometime during it, the atmosphere changes drastically, and things escalate, seemingly out of nowhere.

What used to be a chill scene, now is suddenly a strife ...

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS, ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK

I was amazed and surprised to see that I wasn't the only one that had an idea to talk about setup and payoff and Game of Thrones this week! The lovely Emma Clare did it ahead of me, and she ...

After seeing both the recent episode of Game of Thrones and Avengers: Endgame, I walked away wondering why I felt slightly unfulfilled. I’m going to go into spoiler territory here, so if you haven’t seen either GOT or Endgame it might be best to steer clear of this ...

Here on DD, your thumbnail is your first impression and as such you should take care with your thumbnail, as it is your first chance to make an impression with a reader. Full disclosure, I don't really like our thumbnails here on DD. These stamp style thumbnails are too ...

I've talked about villains before and how they can be very nuanced in their motivations (without those motivations being redeeming) but today, thanks to Emma Clare's Friday post, I became inspired to talk about abject, absolute, abominable villainy! The twirling mustache type, the one that is so pure ...

One of the best types of villains are those that you love to hate. Despite how much you would love for them to shuffle off the mortal coil, they continue to captivate you with their malice and determination and you know that when they do leave the plot, whether deserved ...

Have you ever read something and it gave you the “feels?” Something that was so intense that you couldn't help but feel the emotional truth of a fictional moment in time? In many ways that is the highest form of our art, and possibly any art; to communicate an ...

image by Ben Burgraff

When writing a historical fiction, it's very likely that you will need to include some actual historical personalities along with your historically-adept yet fictional cast.

Depicting a historical character is hard enough when there's a general consensus among historians and popular belief about who ...

I watched a great series of interview clips with a writer/producer/teacher named Dr. Ken Atchity on the Film Courage channel. He talks about screenwriting, and productive creativity in general. Great interviews from a guy who I find quite inspiring, and in a down-to-earth kind of way.

Here's ...

When I see artists just getting into the craft or people simply looking to improve their art ask for advice, the most omnipresent answer is “practice”; I don't like that answer. It assumes the person asking the question doesn't realize this is obvious, and hasn't already been ...