The first thing you need to know before we get into this discussion is the following: You can't copyright a style. It's true! Copyright protects an artist's expression of an idea, but not the ideas themselves, the technique, or procedure in making that style. Keep that in ...

Imitation Flavor
Amelius at 10:14AM, Dec. 30, 2018Convergent Creation Part 2
Amelius at 12:21PM, Dec. 16, 2018
Last weekend we discussed that strange phenomenon of independent creation, where there's more than a passing resemblance to another work but it's not a case of plagiarism. Interestingly, not long after I posted that I saw not one but two instances of independent creation being brought up (though ...
Convergent Creation
Amelius at 1:15PM, Dec. 9, 2018
Inspiration strikes! A new idea forms, and you're really excited about it. You want to take your time, however– you want this to be great, and no great thing just springs fully formed from one's brow. For years you toil, tweak, refine, moving ever closer to the point ...
When the middle of your story sucks
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Dec. 7, 2018
When creating a story, either for comics or novels, the easiest parts to write are usually the beginnings and ends because hell ,they’re the fun bits right? You burst out of the gate, ready and raring to go, your gaze on that sweet, sweet finale but there’s a ...
One Bad Apple, part 2
Amelius at 12:09PM, Dec. 2, 2018
So if vampires are a hot mess and haters are at the gates what can YOU learn from vampires? Well, a lot, vampires are not the only over extended sub-genre out there. Let's explore another genre that is trying to avoid ending up in a similar space, superheroes, specifically ...
One Bad Apple
Amelius at 6:52PM, Nov. 25, 2018
It's a vampire, break out your torches and pitch forks! The geek have inherited the earth, but far from it being an accepting utopia, the acceptable targets have just changed and the haters run free. There are a lot of things that people like to crap on, but few ...
Amanda Palmer and the Fraud Police
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Nov. 23, 2018
In my quest to improve myself by reading more than one book this year, I made a point to try and finish one that was given to me last Christmas, (I think anyway). Namely, Amanda Palmer’s, The Art of Asking. There was a passage in there that really jumped ...