In Skin Deep, an old comedy/drama by Blake Edwards, starring John Ritter, I found one of my favorite movies for a long stretch of time. I watched it over and over. But the part everyone talked about, with the glow-in-the-dark condoms – I really didn't like that. I preferred ...

The manchild is a very comic trope in fiction over the years. It's the kind of person who is an adult physically, but have not accepted adult responsibilities in some parts of life…or maybe any part of life. They are irresponsible in relationships or work or life in ...

Historical Drama/period pieces present multiple issues for the writer/creator to deal with.

In talking about the drama in his movie “Cinderella Man”, Ron Howard said that the drama was built into the story itself. Meaning the actual true events. The moving radio broadcast where the Depression-Era boxer Jimmy ...

The dream of money has to show up in fiction, at least to some degree - it's a very human driver/motivator.


Last week i talked about characters who are motivated by money. Here are some more thoughts on money and some of the different ways it's handled in ...

If ya gotta go, go in style, i suppose!

I think I've been restraining myself pretty well - so here's another Better Call Saul-inspired Newspost.

As I wait anxiously for the final handful of episodes to this show to appear, my mind has gone back over the series and ...

I don't wanna be remembered; I wanna be forgotten


MEMORY and MEMORY LOSS in FICTION

Playing with memory and memory loss is a handy device for fiction writers, from soap opera-type melodrama to exciting-but-thought-provoking stories like The Matrix, and in all kinds of stories betwixt and beyond.

Like any ...

Character Motivation

One thing I appreciate in well written stories is the hidden motivations of characters. Well written characters, just like real people, have contradictions to them. Desires and needs that are sometimes in conflict with each other.

Story structure tells us that a character has to WANT something. The ...

A million things have already been said and talked about regarding an artist's inspiration. A million more will be. From debates on what constitutes inspiration vs. poaching or plagiarism to what makes an artist inspired by other artists' work.

But what I want to talk about is not exactly ...

Water cooler gossip and rough days at work result in many indoor evenings at home filled with video games. Solemn Sad Blue “W”, is best friends with Mad Red “M”, an online streamer. Watch Sad W battle against servers of name-calling gamers and less than favorite game-picks in exchange for ...

Holy Unholy Alliance, Batman!

Last week we talked about what I called the “villain combo platter” with different types of villains that could make for multifaceted kinds of conflicts for the hero to face.

At the time, PaulEberhart mentioned the alliance between villains that happened at one point during Deep ...