Conflict!
It's the essential building block of drama. You don't have a story without the basics of “someone wants something, and something's in the way of getting it.”
Screenwriting books - books I really love and have given me a lot - will often say that amping up the ...

Conflict
Banes at 12:00AM, March 23, 2023'Good' People Do Nothing
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, March 11, 2023
Wrapping up this series of character designs for antagonists, villains, and even protagonists with toxicity as their flaw, I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the toxicity of inactivity.
The motto is well known- all that is required for evil to triumph is for good people to ...
Tough Love vs. Abuse
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 18, 2023
Tough love is so cool, eh? It's going to magic the “whining” right out of you, won't it? You just need to stick out through the harshness, and then when you reap the benefits, you'll realize your tough loving benefactor had the right idea. You'll be ...
Toxic Positivity, Toxic Acceptance (Part 2)
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 11, 2023
So last time, in Part 1 of this discussion of …sunnier villains or antagonists, we had left off talking about how toxic positivity is all about the toxic person's comfort. And that this need to impose a certain behavior, dogma, and/or approach to reality in their environment leads ...
Character trait: Toxic Positivity, Toxic Acceptance (Part 1)
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 28, 2023
Usually, antagonists or villains are emo and gloomy, angry and aggressive, suave and sly, or any combination of that. They are not generally associated with positive traits in their personality, or at least positively-associated traits.
And that's a shame, because real life sure does have a lot of variety ...
Your politics vs. Your characters' politics
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Dec. 10, 2022
Okay, this is a semi-rant and train of thought post, because I've had a couple whiskey and I'm Having Thoughts About Things. You have been warned.
There was one thing that always bothered me in villains that monologue in movies (I also see it in how social media ...
Vox Populi, Vox Dei
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Nov. 26, 2022
So this line has become famous lately since Elon Musk has been using it to reinstate banned Twitter accounts in the latest episode of the Birdsite Drama.
I'm not going to get into any opinion piece on what I think of this development but if you haven't joined ...
Bond villains vs. Batman villains
Andreas_Helixfinger at 12:00AM, Sept. 4, 2022
This is just a curious little topic that have recently come to my mind. From time to time I’ve seen people in popular media make comparisons between James Bond and Batman. First time I encountered this comparison was in an episode of Friends long ago. And I see people ...
Venting Your Frustrations Needs Elegance
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Sept. 3, 2022
So it came to my attention that J.K. Rowling has taken revenge against her ‘internet trolls’ by writing a new book called The Ink Black Heart. According to reviews (I haven't read the book) the plot of the book reflects the author's experience of mass-condemnation over her ...
FEATURED COMIC --> Hawk and Flo Adventures Part 1 Ice Cream Truck of Doom
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, Aug. 24, 2022
Hawk and Flo are two adventurous legendary heroes who take the safety of others seriously while taking their own safety less seriously. Their team size doubles when denim-clad Lacey Almer and the last space wizard join the group. Hawk and Flo begin an undertaking of hungry, hungry hamburgers; rooms filled ...