Guilt is a powerful tool in the creative process.
No, I'm not talking about the guilt you feel because you haven't updated in six months which pushes you to sit down and finish that darn page (though that helps too, we've all been there).
Guilt is very ...

Guilt
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 25, 2019Realistic Escalation
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 11, 2019
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 ...
Unanswered
Banes at 12:00AM, May 9, 2019
What's in the Box?
An iconic part of the movie Pulp Fiction is the McGuffin that Jules and Vincent deliver to their boss, Marcallus Wallace. It's a briefcase that, when you open it, glows on the face of the person looking at it and absolutely astonishes them. Is ...
A Proposed Counterargument
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 4, 2019
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 ...
Emotional Impact
Amelius at 1:10PM, April 14, 2019
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 ...
Handling Controversial Historical Characters
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, April 13, 2019
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 ...
Targeted Practice
Amelius at 8:06AM, April 7, 2019
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 ...