There's generally a tennet about character building for a villain in a story or webcomic that urges the creator to humanize them by giving them a backstory that “fleshes them out”. Often, “humanization” of a villain is taken to mean that they come across as more sympathetic or appealing ...
Everyone Was Innocent Once
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Dec. 23, 2023A Wayback Playback
Banes at 12:00AM, Dec. 7, 2023
I have a handful of hobbies that mean a lot to me - from an early age, reading, and music (drums at first), and drawing were all important pastimes.
The other day I found an old workbook dated from when I was eight years old. It was an A to Z ...
No One of Consequence
Banes at 12:00AM, July 13, 2023
One of my favorite tropes (at least I think it's a trope. Not sure how common it is) is the “unknown hero”.
It's when a character who's known to us, the audience, maybe very well, and is at least somewhat important to us.
The character dies and ...
The Slippery Slope (Or How to Make a Great Villain Origin Arc)
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 6, 2023
Villains are tremendously important for a story. They set the framework and standard for a lot of things in an unsaid but definite manner: how far your villain is willing to go sets up audience expectations for how big and how dire the stakes will be in the story.
If ...
Quackcast 629 - Reevaluation cast
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, April 4, 2023 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/
Have you ever watched a series devotedly then lost touch with it for some reason for a while and then gone back to it a couple of ...
Another Approach to Story Structure
Banes at 12:00AM, March 16, 2023
I'm a big fan of story structure. It can be a big help to figuring out how to put a story together in a way that works. Not that structure needs to be followed in a slavish way, or that one structure applies to every story.
But it can ...
Poetry Time 11: Nine Lives
Andreas_Helixfinger at 12:00AM, Oct. 23, 2022
Poem Nr. 11: Nine Lives
Nine. I see the light burning to darkness.
All so swiftly. All so blindly.
Eight. I hear the alarm screaming to deafness.
All so widely. All so loudly.
Seven. I taste the medicine spoiling to sickness.
All so queasily. All so badly.
Six. I sense ...
Quackcast 603 - Players, Cads, and "fun" boys
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, Oct. 4, 2022 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/
We are talking about the trope of the Cad, AKA the Player. F***boys are their little scrappydoo kid-brothers, we call them “fun” boys for obvious reasons ...