It is Orthodox Easter Week, and currently it's Resurrection Saturday, easily the most important day in the Greek Orthodox year. In Greece there are a ton of customs and festivities that have been taking place all through the Holy Week, culminating to today and tomorrow, Easter Sunday. One can ...

The Use of Customs and Folklore
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, April 7, 2018The 80s are Back!
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, April 2, 2018It is Thursday evening as I walk up to the ticket window and ask for two IMAX 3D tickets for the much anticipated movie feature. The man at the ticket booth prints me up two paper tickets and hands me some bulky, oversized gray 3D glasses frames. I the stadium ...
Music for the Mind
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, March 30, 2018
It is taking some time to gather my thoughts on the follow up to last week’s article, so for this post, I thought we could talk about something to helps keep me going and inspired, namely music.
Before Quentin Tarrentino begins a movie he often turns to music as ...
Bad Ideas
Banes at 12:00AM, March 29, 2018
It's easy to get lost in uncertainty, anxiety and self doubt when creating something. I often find myself spinning my wheels when working on a story, character, or what have you.
An interesting technique that I use all the time is the TEN BAD IDEAS list.
It goes like ...
Points of View - Propaganda and Marketing
Banes at 12:00AM, March 22, 2018
There are endless points of view out there, and everyone on the Internet can have a voice.
We talked on a Quackcast some time ago about agendas and anvilicious messaging in some movies, and other fiction.
I've become interested lately in the marketing and messaging involved in movies and ...
Burnout
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, March 16, 2018
I want to take a quick break for a second to talk about something creators go through but often don’t talk about. It is hard to see it coming and even harder still to lift yourself out of once you are there. This post is about addressing creative burnout ...
The Importance of Writing a Character with Flaws
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, March 12, 2018In the latest issue of Game Informer, a magazine produced by GameStop in North America, there was an entire article about a new game being released called “Night in the Woods” featuring anthropomorphic animals that exhibit mental health characteristics such as depression and bipolar disorder. This article struck a chord ...
Points of view - part two - Unreliable
Banes at 12:00AM, March 8, 2018
Last week we talked a little pov basics.
This time, how about we talk the fascinating device called the Unreliable Narrator. For anyone who doesn't know, this type of narration (usually first person in prose, but not necessarily) tells the story in question…but is not necessarily giving an ...
The Dance Scene
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 24, 2018
Just like the table scene, the dance scene can be an invaluable story telling tool: a way to showcase where your characters stand without having to force them to speak about it or have someone else infodump about it.
This stance can be on the characters that dance (i.e ...