Last Friday, I accepted an invitation to attend a lecture/open mic/live guitar/spoken word performance presented by an artist who made the occasion more interactive and allowed for audience participation and the creation of new forms of expression.
The speaker instructed everyone to bring a piece of paper ...
Gazing into the Viewfinder
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, Feb. 22, 2021The Unlikable Good Guy
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 23, 2021
Some characters are the heroes.
Some characters are the villains.
And some characters are just punchable. But not actually bad, or even antagonists- though sometimes they can be towards specific characters rather than the general plot goals.
Every time this type of character opens their mouth to say something, our ...
Danko's Flaming Heart
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Dec. 5, 2020
I couldn't have been older than 11 when I read The Flaming Heart of Danko by Maxim Gorky. And boy, did it cut me with the finest of fine glass. Even now thinking about the short story hurts somewhere deep in my soul.
And yet, I love it so ...
Nostalgia for a Time Never Experienced
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, Nov. 9, 2020
Anemoia describes the feeling of missing a time never experienced personally. Movies know how to inspire this feeling whenever a particular orchestra song from the previous century is played during a period piece of a Miami nightclub from the 1950s or whenever synthesizer pop and electric guitar solos transports people ...
Hidden Horror - Lifting up the Rock
Banes at 12:00AM, Oct. 22, 2020
On our last Quackcast I had a realization about one of the recurring elements that shows up in a lot of horror I like.
It's the hidden nature of horror. When someone, or something, appears normal or even extra sweet or appealing, but hides nasty stuff beneath.
It's ...
The Work of the Mentor
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Oct. 17, 2020
Might as well get it out of the way: if you're a mentor in a story, chances are you're going on a boatride over the river Styx at some point.
When a mentor dies it's often the signal that the main character, the one being mentored, is ...
QUACKCAST 494 - No antagonist is the best antagonist?
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, Sept. 1, 2020 LISTEN on our new player!
Listen on Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/adarunkduck-quackcast
Or TuneinRadio - https://tunein.com/podcasts/Books–Literature/Drunkduck-Quackcast-p1150194/
Does a story always need an antagonist embodied in the form of an active character? I don't think they do! We chat about examples of stories ...
Character Design Brainstorm: The Man (or Woman) of the Cloth
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Aug. 29, 2020
There are many tropes and many archetypes that we use for character designs. I had a couple of years go (have I really been at it this long!?) done a series of articles on the standard character type/functionality archetypes.
I'm thinking it's high time to explore archetypes ...
Choosing Your Genre
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Aug. 1, 2020
For better or for worse, we are creatures of categorizations. We love to label things, and to sort them into neat little boxes so that we are absolutely certain we know what to expect when dealing with each one. It is that sense of familiarity that we are looking for ...