Episode 211 - How Mary Sure Are You?
Mar 23, 2015
Hello hello hello! This week Ozoneocean and Banes pirate another of HippieVan's much discussed newsposts. When the test for Mary Sue was brought up in our recent writing tests Quackcast it generated some heated talk so HippieVan went a little deeper into it and people responded again. Banes and I discuss those responses and try to come up with some sort of consensus on how to more properly use the Mary Sue test and some of its pitfalls: i.e. it's highly context sensitive and can't be used easily on certain genres (Superhero etc), it's also something you as a writer typically don't have to worry about unless you're inexperienced- or so Banes and I believe.
Topics and Show Notes
Topics and Show Notes:
Featured comic:
Psycho Babble - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Psycho_Babble/
Linkatronics:
Posts read from here - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2015/mar/05/avoiding-the-mary-sue-a-contest/
Results of the Mary Sue comic contest - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2015/mar/19/mary-sue-contest-submissions/
The dreaded test - http://www.springhole.net/writing/marysue.htm
Contributions from:
Call Me Tom - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/The_Understanding/
Tupapayon - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/tupapayon
Strixvanallen - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/strixvanallen
VinoMas - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/VinoMas
bravo1102 - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/bravo1102
KimLuster - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/KimLuster
HippieVan - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/HippieVan
JustNoPoint - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/JustNoPoint
Peipei - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Peipei
usedbooks - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/usedbooks
irrevenant - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/irrevenant
Kou the Mad
Hayakain - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Hayakain
Special thanks to:
The world's greatest Musician and BBQ chef, Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
The most attractive man in the world and most intelligent Co-host, Banes - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
Super qualified and amazingly beautiful featurer, Kawaiidaigakusei - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/
The theme song by Gunwallace this week was for:
Devil Spy - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Devil_Spy/ by Jaymzeecat.
Episode 208 - Testing Your Writing
Mar 1, 2015
In this Quackcast Banes and I discuss some methods for testing your writing, well mainly your characters, to see how well you really know them. We use a comedic character creation template that we have found is perfect for testing and learning more about your established characters, no matter how serious they are. It consists of four interrelated elements: Point of view; Exaggeration of the point of view; Faults; Relatability / Humanity. We also talk a little about the dreaded dangers of the Mary Sue... you never want your writing to fall in that putrid, cancerous hole of smelly excrement where your main character is perfect and all the others worship them. And lastly the very useful Bechdel test for seeing how rounded your female characters are. There are 3 rules: You have to have at least two named women; They who talk to each other; It's about something besides a man. We were both a bit sad about the death of Leonard Nimoy. R.I.P. Mister Spock.
Episode 202 - The Lady is a Stranger
Jan 19, 2015
Howdy Pardner, is you ready fer a western adventure? For Quackcast 202 we decided to build on the experiment we started in Quackcast 201. We constructed a play quickly with four people all working together. It took us all 3 hours to write, collaborating on a Google doc and over skype to make a half hour play, and it seems to have turned out pretty nicely! This is the last for now in our writing exercises. We only really show the play here and not the 3 hours of umming and ah-ing as we worked on it, because that was too much to edit down, but if it's something people would like to hear maybe we'll make a condensed version available some time in the future. For now please enjoy our little Western romance, train and bank heist adventure! And Bane's great piano playing! Oh, and the great intro music by Gunwallace called "Solosteel"!
Episode 187 - Epilogue for the 2014 DD Awards with Niccea
Oct 6, 2014
As an Epilogue to the fantastic 2014 DD Awards I interviewed Niccea, who did all the main wrangling and organising behind and in front of the scenes on the awards to try and make them happen. And make them happen she DID. The 2014 DD comic awards were a smashing success, with great, high quality contributions by many people as well as great help judging and organising. The annual DD Awards turn into a great little community project with everyone vying to compete to be the best in heir comic categories as well as to try and get new readers through the recognition that the awards provide them. The competition between the presenters is also something that results in some great work. So HOORAY for another successful DD awards!
Episode 179 - Token representation in comics
Aug 11, 2014
There's no question in my opinion as to whether representation of different kinds of people in fiction matters. Having spent my childhood poring over superhero comics in which the girl's job is usually to turn invisible and press a button or something, I remember being impressed and delighted by some of the badass female characters in The Spirit. Lady-people could be cool, too?! Is it insulting when comics add token characters to their line up, or does it really make a difference? And what makes a token character anyways? -HippieVan. Banes, HippieVan and I focus on the subject of token representation in media, mainly comics. This discussion was inspired by a newspost HippieVan made in response to a new character in the Archie comic, which got a lot of interesting responses.
Episode 174 - Endings, part 1
Jul 7, 2014
This is the end, Beautiful friend, This is the end, My only friend, the end... so drones Jim Morrison in the classic Doors song, but this isn't the end, rather it's a Quackcast ABOUT endings! Today we talk about the ends of stories: how do your write good ones? What makes a good ending? What makes a bad ending? What do you hate? What do you love? Well, many people had something to say on this topic of endings, and it's a very useful subject because ending a story is the hardest part of writing it! We could all use a bit of help in this regard, so listen in for tips and tricks in part one of Endings, a 3 parter! Our very first one!!!
Episode 163 - Hip to be shark!
Apr 21, 2014
HippieVan, one of our wonderful news admins, made a newspost about the latest Archie comic sales tactic/plot device, killing off Archie, in the context of "Jumping The Shark", and it was quite a popular topic of discussion. Jumping the Shark is the term we use for a TV Series (but it could be anything), that has reached a bit of a creative desert so the writers attempt a silly stun or the introduction of a new character or theme or something that breaks the narrative and the story dynamic, all in an attempt to re-energize the failing series. Sometimes it works, but often it's a sign that the thing is on its deathbed. And that's what Hippie joined us to talk about: Shark jumping! In the meantime, we find a shark of our own...
Episode 142 - Drawing on iPads and Androids
Nov 18, 2013
This week Kawaii gives us a detailed rundown of many of the drawing apps available for the ipad! Banes talks about some for the iphone and I mention some for Android devices. People should send in pics they’ve done in mobile drawing apps to Kawaii’s email - kawaiidaigakusei@gmail.com, we'd love to showcase them in a Newspost! don't forget to tell us what app and device you used.
