I was watching the 2015 series of Poldark the other day and I noticed something strange;
None of the characters have the moral grey areas and twists that we expect of characters in modern stories, where they behave one way but it turns out they were thinking the opposite all ...

Emotional Charges and Diminishing Returns

Many writing methodologies suggest mapping out the emotional change of each scene. The scene either starts positive, and goes to either negative or “extra positive”, or starts negative and goes to positive or “extra negative” by the end of the scene.

So if a lovelorn ...

One of the great things about the original Star Wars movies was the strong sense of a grand, adventurous, and terrible history before the movie started. So much is hinted at through Obi Wan Kenobi about the Jedi Knights, Anakin Skywalker, great friendships, laser swords, and terrible war and loss ...

SINGLE PAGES vs. The GREATER WHOLE

I'm at a nice place in my webcomic right now. Well, it's nice as the writer, at least.
The characters have a nice history now, with some adventures behind them, some established relationships, and a stable of supporting characters who can be ...

Remember those large headphones that were perfect for a walkman? Or turning up the volume in a car stereo on a long drive. Listening to music can add a new dimension to an otherwise normal day.

There are some motion picture soundtracks that are so artfully put together that they ...

LISTEN!

This week we interview the artist and creator of the comic Kings Club, AmeliaP! Her comic was featured and Gunwallace also gave it a theme tune that was featured in Quackcast 335. AmeliaP is a talented professional comic creator and game designer. We couldn't interview her directly because ...

I was a big fan of all the Indiana Jones movies back in the day. When the fourth one, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, finally came out, it was exciting times! Harrison Ford only seemed to get cooler with age, and what a treat it would be to see ...

I'm a bit obsessed with “before” versions of characters. Where they start. The damaged dude or dudette who shows up at the beginning of a story REALLY needing a change in their lives, and usually not knowing it.

Even when the plot kicks off, these folks often don't ...

A young orphan. A mysterious man in a cloak. A gorilla that can sing Italian Opera. A cute little green dinosaur. Welcome to the planet Barter, a planet that is supposedly a Black Market planet. Chapter One starts off with a young girl talking to a ghost in a junkyard ...

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Dialogue is one of the most important elements for storytelling in most webcomics (there are exceptions). But dialogue is often hard for beginners, writing out imaginary conversations to push stories forward, show characterisation, or expositions are skills that don't come naturally! Banes has given us a helpful newspost ...