It was early morning on a Thursday, and I had just prepped the classroom for the day before I headed outside to wait for the children to line up after the bell. I was knitting a scarf when a little girl named Angeline walked up to me and started up ...

It’s the ultimate horror.
You are trapped with your very own demons.
You cannot escape- you will not be excused.
You will need to look at them, as they look back at you, and do a reckoning.

At least until dessert.

In my opinion, in all creative writing/art ...

I was not anticipating the long lines and large crowds for Black Friday this year, but my shopping haul from this past weekend was delightfully fruitful. I decided it was time for a “Treat. Yo. Self.” spending spree (Tom Haverford-style from Parks and Recreation).

I played a lot of video ...

I came across a little blurb the other day about Mary Sues, and fanfiction, and how the writer of a fanfiction is basically writing a fantasy, inserting themselves as the character at the center of attention, immaculate, glittering and perfect. Basically everything you want to smack into a different galaxy ...

In my newspost last week about the “No Hugging, No Learning” mantra, I mentioned that I was basing a throwaway character – a loveable misanthrope – on a real-life friend of mine. It’s something I’m tempted to do fairly frequently; I spend most of my time in an academic environment ...

I found myself at a crossroads two weeks ago where I felt that my mind and my heart were in two separate places. I would carry on the same routine for months, following the motions of getting to work, performing a mundane task, and then driving home with heavy eyelids ...

Everyone loves a good thriller, a titillating mystery, a tale full of twists and turns (that make sense), something that challenges you to find the answer before you’re given it at the final act.
I’m not sure how many like sitting down to construct them.

Don’t get ...

Recently I wrote a throwaway character for my comic based on a real-life friend of mine. In short, he’s a loveable misanthrope. And because he’s based on a real human being, I felt like I owed the character something: he won’t grow, or change, or become a ...

Stuck in the Middle - Midpoints

I've often found the Midpoint of a story difficult to find and difficult to write.
It's one of the big three pillars in story structure, and it's the
most subtle.

The Midpoint doesn't have the “dragged into a new world” of ...

No matter what the genre, plot and general tone of your comic, death always is absolute.

Or alternatively, death is used as a very efficient comedy device (if anyone remembers the numerous ways Dirk dies in Dragon’s Layer). Unsurprisingly so, I think, since real comedy is based on tragedy ...