Reverse-Engineering Conflict in a Story
part one

Conflict is the basic material of a scene, and of a story. I've talked a lot over the years about structure and genre, and how all that stuff can work.

Another way to create a new story, and new characters, is to ...

Waiting to meet at the arranged time for a date is such an awkward feeling: aprension, anxiety, and boredom all wrapped up together! That's what Erin feels as she waits for the time to go and meet Rick in the shuttle bay of their spaceship, the “Carnivorous Pigeon”. They ...

Photo: Attack of the Killer Tomatoes TV Series (1990)

A click of the remote would tune into mutant turtles riding a pizza shooter while commercials for Nickelodeon Gak and Floam consumed the screen. It was a real zany time to grow up in the early nineties thanks to the creative ...

Hello hello hello!!!!

To all those who were wondering, The Duck’s Anthology “The Duck: REANIMATED” IS FINALLY OUT!

It is here boys and girls, lad and lasses, my people with dummy thicc asses.

BUY IT HERE!

A lot of work and love went into this anthology, and I am ...

So this is a trope that unfortunately is very true in life as well. TV tropes calls it “We ARE Struggling Together” and I call it ‘the divided front’.

When the Big Bad is so bad that everyone agrees to set aside their differences to fight it off, then usually ...

In the early parts of the story, it helps the quality of the thing and the experience of the audience to layer in the details that will come into play later.

These are little character and world details that will come into play later - the sword that falls off the ...

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Schemers can be part of some great stories when they're done well! When they're done badly though they're very annoying! Schemers, plotters and planers ...

A few new generation consoles were released at the end of last year, yet the need to replace or update any gaming systems currently plugged into the television never came up. Chalk it up to old fashioned, old school preferences. However, a dusty box stacked with several original Playstation and ...

If you are in a fairy tale and encounter an Old Woman… never take that meeting lightly. It's usually a test of character: the manner in which you respond to her will be a measure of how kind, decisive, clever, obliging, evil, rude, crass, abusive, or idiotic you are ...

Conflict in a story is not only necessary, it can be the juiciest part of your comic. Think about it! We often remember and recount the parts of a movie, comic or show where the emotions were the strongest. A solid vitriolic scene can result in one hell of a ...