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I love those characters who bitch and moan and want to do things differently, although they don't usually take up the leadership role themselves, they just THINK they should be leader instead, but they ...

Quackcast 731 - Contrariancast
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, March 18, 2025Against the Grain
Banes at 12:00AM, March 13, 2025
I love a character in an ensemble cast that runs counter to the rest of the people around them.
Really, it's the best way to make a character stand out. The one who has some kind of contrast to everyone else, in terms of their priorities, or beliefs, or ...
A Fair Playing Field
Gunwallace at 12:00AM, Feb. 6, 2025
Picture credit: Interaction Institute for Social Change | Artist: Angus Maguire
Today (Thursday 6th February) is Waitangi Day in New Zealand, although due to the nature of time zones you will probably be reading this after the day if over for us.
Waitangi is a place in NZ, the name meaning ...
How Long is a Piece of String?
Gunwallace at 12:00AM, Jan. 30, 2025
Banes is taking a short break for the Thursday post, so I'll be filling in for a some unspecified number of posts. How many exactly? Well, how long is a piece of string? How long is the coastline of Britain? That was an academic paper ('How Long Is the ...
This and That (the power of contrast)
Banes at 12:00AM, Jan. 23, 2025
One of the main drivers of story is the principle of CONTRAST.
A character in a traditional story arc begins one way and ends up in a very different state of being - the underdog to the victorious hero, or the innocent, unaware victim to the final survivor, or the selfish ...
The Break Into 3
Banes at 12:00AM, Jan. 16, 2025
Last Week we looked at the “Break Into 2”, the transition between the beginning of a story: The “Before” picture of the Protagonist and their world, and the “Upside Down World” of Act 2.
So, a little later in your average story will come the “Break Into 3”. This leaves ...
The Break Into 2
Banes at 12:00AM, Jan. 9, 2025
always someone breakinnn' into twooooo…
AN important part of a story is the good old “Break into Act 2”.
It's not the easiest story structure moment to recognize, but it's one of the early ones I thought about and tried to notice in movies I watched.
Many people ...
The Comic Strip
Banes at 12:00AM, Jan. 2, 2025
a couple of three-panel archie newspaper strips.
When I was a kid in Canada, we had “Saturday Funnies” in the newspaper. These were full pages (if memory serves, it was maybe 2-4 pages) of full color cartoons. You had your Beetle Bailey, your Family Circus, your Andy Capp, your Marmaduke ...
And Now Let's Party Like It's 1994!
Banes at 12:00AM, Dec. 26, 2024
Greetings! I hope you've all had an enjoyable holiday season so far, no matter what you're celebrating and regardless of actual ‘holidays’ are part of it for you.
The end of the year is still about a week away, but this will be my last regular Newspost of ...