Plenty has been said about giving characters flaws - we've talked about it around the site, on the Quackcast and out loud, to ourselves, on the bus and in the park.
Characters gotta have flaws!
But something I've thought about more lately, in the years well after starting my ...
Gimme Strength
Banes at 12:00AM, Nov. 19, 2020The Highway to Hell
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Nov. 14, 2020
Unless they are an old-timey Disney villain or similarly classic cartoon villain, nobody wants to be evil or bad starting off. Nobody's ambition is to be the villain in their own story. (note I say ‘villain’ and not ‘antagonist’)
Everyone is out to be the hero.
So why aren ...
Romanticising Something Terrible
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Oct. 24, 2020
Who doesn't love pirates?
Kids love to dress up as them in Halloween or during carnival season. There was whole a whole era of Hollywood where pirate movies were the blockbuster vein of gold. Pirates in fiction are charming, fun, dastardly, and the epitome of adventure.
Pirates in real ...
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 ...
Defining Events
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 16, 2020
What made a character be who he/she is? What is it that drives them, and why?
That's the allure of any origin story: we get to see how characters we look up to or love or love to hate came to be who they are.
Most, if not ...
The Genre Defines the Lines
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 9, 2020
We grin and support John Wick as he ploughs through dozens of people per minute in his revenge quest over his murdered dog and ruined car, but we gasp with shock when the Wicked Witch of the East pursues a single person to take revenge for killing her sister with ...
The Means Make the Villain
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 2, 2020
There are the mustache-twirling villains, that enjoy being evil. They're deliciously fun!
Then there are the nutjob villains. Those that are basket cases one way or the other, psychopaths or antisocial, unfettered madmen with a logic of their own that wreaks havoc upon the world. They're also very ...
All is Lost
Banes at 12:00AM, April 30, 2020
I've talked many times about story structure. Even with a structural approach, there are a lot of questions to be answered, struggles to be had, and hard thinking to be done to make a story work.
One big moment that I like thinking about early in the writing is ...
QUACKCAST 475 - Tropeagedden! overuse of fashionable tropes...
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, April 21, 2020 LISTEN on our new player!
Listen on Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/drunkduck-quackcast
Or TuneinRadio - https://tunein.com/podcasts/Books–Literature/Drunkduck-Quackcast-p1150194/
Certain tropes or stylistic ways of telling a story can get really, really popular and trendy very quickly and it seems like they're everywhere! Suddenly many ...