I may have told this story in this spot before, but years ago I worked with this book called “The Artist's Way”, which included fun exercises meant to unlock the creativity most of us adults don't access regularly.

The main ongoing exercise done throughout the whole process of ...

For of all sad words of tongue and pen,
The saddest are these: “It might have been!”



Whether it's a webcomic, graphic novel, book, TV Show or movie, there is generally a “promise” made to the audience on some level. Maybe it starts with a thumbnail image and a ...

Iron Man and the multi film arc - revisited


There are spoilers below for the Iron Man and Avengers movies, Civil War, and Spiderman Homecoming


The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been breaking new ground in movies with their various interconnected films for about ten years.


The MCU began with Iron Man ...

Today we'll talk sequel and series character arcs

Last Week we talked about character arcs. They're an important element of fiction writing…although a lot of the time, there is no arc! But a strong, unpredictable character arc can be a great help in driving a story from ...

A character starts in one state of being, and ends in a very different state of being.

The Character Arc in a nutshell!

Every time the subject of character arcs comes up around the site or on the Quackcast, one of the first examples that comes to my mind is ...

The first time I noticed the power of contrasts was in my friend's music. He's a massively talented songwriter, and aside from interesting melodies and chord progressions and powerful insights and images in his lyrics, he uses contrast a lot. Laughter and tears, being high but low, trapped ...

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 ...

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 ...

Say My Name

There are titles that fit perfectly with their subject, titles that could fit multiple subjects/contexts, and titles that don't work at all.
Recently I've seen several titles referenced that made me say “I HAVE to see that/read that!”.

A title can be handy ...

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 ...