It so happens that as I write these lines, I have a terrible headache. So I can't gather my thoughts enough for the third installment of my discussion of motivations and ideologies and actions, but I think I'm good to write what I'd promised- my review of ...

Nowhere to Hyde

Last time we talked about characters who are not what they seem. Folks who are introduced one way but are revealed to have a secret nature, or hidden depths, or a hidden agenda.

Another type of “hidden side” I enjoy is a little less universal, but can ...

Last time we talked about motivation in people, and its relationship to behavior. And I must say you all had great comments I feel deserve to be addressed, so instead of a four-part tour to the world of what makes people tick, I will add a fifth part where I ...

edward norton in “primal fear”

One of the things I like in fiction is characters who are not what they seem.

Like all things, this sort of thing can be done well, or badly, or somewhere in between. It can be fascinating and surprising, or cliche and predictable. It can ...

As any psychologist will tell you, no matter how it is explained, motivation is key.

There is no behavior that lacks motivation- a reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way.

Even our most subconscious actions have motivations, from tics to small morning rituals.

The thing that ...

Who's it for?

In writing instructional books, there used to be this bit about deciding who your story/screenplay/series is FOR. This is a notion used in the industry (so I've read) to figure out who the audience is going to be for a given project. In ...

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“Toxic fans” is a bit of a catch cry now and that has seemed to turn into the idea that any fan who is critical of something ...

While binge watching Schitt’s Creek, I started to see the emerging love story between Alexis Rose, Mutt the bad-boy, and Ted the veterinarian. That was when I wanted to discuss one of my favorite comic tropes of the alpha male versus the beta male.

In Spiderman, Harry Osbourne is ...

An alternate universe (AU) is, in case anyone isn't aware, a story taking place in a fantastical, alternate historical timeline that usually kicks off from a specific event in actual history that takes a different turn from the one that it did in reality.

Alternate universes are fascinating. From ...

Last week, we took a look at what a prologue was and how it could be used. Just to catch you up, a prologue is an opening of a story, or in this context, a comic, that establishes the scene, theme and/or tone of the rest of the narrative ...