“I can hear you. Who are you? What are you doing under the balcony?” Andrew leans over and directs his attention toward the mysterious stranger he had just heard rustling and urinating in the bushes outside his home moments earlier. “Hello..”, the stranger replies back, “I, uh…I was just ...

QUACKCAST 513 - Mask of the Mandalorian
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, Jan. 12, 2021 LISTEN on our new player!
Listen on Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/drunkduck-quackcast
Or TuneinRadio - https://tunein.com/podcasts/Books–Literature/Drunkduck-Quackcast-p1150194/
The Mandalorian is pretty unique in that he keeps his face hidden almost the whole time. This is very rare in TV and movies, the rule is ...
I Spent Winter Break Playing that Futuristic Game that Takes Place in the Year 2077
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, Jan. 11, 2021
Last month, I bit the bullet and downloaded the simulation video game that is at the center of much controversy at the moment because of its performance on older generation console systems. The game in question is Cyberpunk 2077, a game that takes place fifty-seven years in the future where ...
When Nothing Is Normal
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 9, 2021
Usually when building a character, we go for their general personality in terms of traits, the routine/general behavior they would display, the routine/general things that would interest them and so on.
If you are writing a slice of life story, or a sitcom style series, or anything that ...
En media res
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Jan. 8, 2021
You’ve got your amazing idea down for a story but how do you begin? You want to make your first chapter amazing! En medias res means opening in the midst of the plot. This way, exposition is bypassed, allowing you to fill it in more gradually, either through dialogue ...
Dat MASK, tho
Banes at 12:00AM, Jan. 7, 2021
Masked, Unknown Characters
Fiction, certainly in the movie/TV/comics visual mediums, are full of characters whose identities are hidden by masks.
On The Mandalorian, the title character follows a strict creed that says he is not supposed to let another living being see his face, so he always wears ...
Back From The Dead
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 2, 2021
So we've talked often about how letting a character die in a story is something that should be used very frugally, because once death occurs, it should be permanent. In most settings, death shouldn't be something that is reversible. If not, it will lose its impact, and the ...
The Empire Strikes Back is 40 - and More Baffling Silliness from Disney Lucasfilm?
Banes at 12:00AM, Dec. 31, 2020Spoilers for recent Star Wars, eg the Mandalorian.
It went unspoken in my year of Newsposts, but 2020 is the 40th Anniversary the release of The Empire Strikes Back.
that's not true! That's impossible!
No, man! Search your feelings! you know it's true! Forty damn years!
Though ...
Merry Christmas
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Dec. 25, 2020
It’s Christmas.
As we wind down from this exhausting year, take the time to relax and count all the rays of sunshine amongst the gloom. In spite of the upheaval in work structures, I have found more time for my hobbies and art. In spite of the lockdowns I ...
Handwaves, Explanations and Just-Go-With-Its
Banes at 12:00AM, Dec. 24, 2020
The long-running series Supernatural just came to an end and I enjoyed the last couple episodes. Even though I haven't seen the last few seasons and don't plan to, I knew the series fairly well from its first 6 or 7 years. I could say more about this ...