In Swan Lake, the black swan Odile is transformed by her warlock father into the white swan, Odette, and posing as Odette she tricks the prince into breaking his oath to the white swan- because clearly making life-binding oaths to a woman you know so little you can mistake her ...
White Swan, Black Swan
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Sept. 29, 2018Justifying the Tragic Backstory
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Sept. 21, 2018
Throughout literature and modern media, many faults and drives for leads, damsels and villians have often been motivated by a tragic backstory so much so, that to employ one for your story may appear trite or cliche. There is, however, a way to use a tragic backstory effectively and can ...
White Hats
Banes at 5:04AM, Sept. 20, 2018
When Superman returned to the big screen ten years ago or so in “Superman Returns”, the movie was intended to be a direct sequel to the two original movies with Christopher Reeve. I was surprised at how mopey and depressing the movie felt.
Which is to say, the movie felt ...
Questioning Rumpelstiltskin's Motives
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, Sept. 10, 2018
As children, we are more open and willing to believe the things that are presented to us as facts. We don't even question the validity of some statements, just take them as truths because that is the way it is.
One example of this was when I was sitting ...
The Sacrificial Lion
Tantz_Aerine at 6:09PM, Aug. 31, 2018
One of the toughest tropes in any kind of narrative work, from novels to comics to movies is the Sacrificial Lion - but not for what might be an obvious reason: having to axe a top tier character. It's because the trope is something that will affect and carry through ...
When you hate your characters!
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Aug. 31, 2018
You’ve gone through the arduous process of fleshing out your world, the themes and the lore and you’re standing back looking at your shining new playground; but there is a blight standing right in the centre that you can no longer ignore. You hate your characters. Maybe it ...
Enter stage left - Introducing new characters
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Aug. 24, 2018
Last week, we looked at killing off characters. So it seems only fitting to follow it up by talking about introducing new characters into your story! This is your quick cheat sheet to helping ease your readers into getting to know the new players in your world.
Try to introduce ...
Taking a swim with the fishes - Offing your characters
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Aug. 17, 2018
There comes a time in any webcomic creator’s career where they have to be mean to their characters. And there is nothing meaner than letting the proverbial Sword of Damocles fall on a beloved (or equally unloved) character and watching their head roll to the chorus a shrill cries ...