Episode 213 - What makes a good character? Part one
Apr 6, 2015
After several interesting discussions about Mary Sues, we'd like to talk about characters a little more. We asked people to let us know their thoughts on what makes a well written character VS a poorly written one. People talked about their favourite and least favourite characters in fiction and why they dug or don't dig them… as well as their own characters and how they put them together! Banes and I blather on a lot so this will be a multi-parter as we talk about what makes good characters. And as usual there's the great theme by Gunwallace! This time a classical number for the Adult comic Tina's Story.
Topics and Show Notes
Topics and Show Notes:
Featured comic:
Mechanaflux - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Mechanaflux/
Links:
Based on Banes' forum post - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/176844/
Contributions from:
Genejoke - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Genejoke/
Special thanks to:
Music by Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
The theme song by Gunwallace this week was for:
Tina's Story - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Tinas_Story/ by Zenia. Rated A 18+ (NSFW)
Episode 212 - Gateway Comics
Mar 30, 2015
Tantz Aerine, Pit Face and Abt Nhil join Banes and Ozone to discuss the kinds of comics that are good intros into the medium for people who aren't into them: Gateway comics! You know the sorts of people; "Comics are for kids", that sort of thing. Well the idea here is to show them different! What comics would convince someone to give the medium a second glance? What comic or strategy could possibly convent people to the glorious cause of comics? Tantz, Pit, and Abt tell us what they think, we also read what HippieVan suggests (the topic creator), and the people who contributed to HippieVan's original newspost.
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.
Episode 210 - DD Fashion Show!
Mar 16, 2015
Have you heard the word about the DD Fashion Show Free For All that's currently going on? No? Well now's your chance, so listen up good! Banes and Ozoneocean interview VinoMas aka Travis Michael Moore about the great community project he's running. Here's the low down: You go to the Fashion Forum in the links here (http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/13117/), desing an outfit for one of the figures there and post it in the catwalk thread for all to see and admire! You can put the outfit on your own figure and offer your own figure up for use as a model too if you like. Join in the fun, it's super easy. As long as you're a member of the forum and know how to host pics on photobucket.com or some other image sharing service you're all set! NOW GO TO IT!!
Episode 209 - lurv triangles
Mar 9, 2015
Around about Valentine's day, HippieVan's mind turned to thoughts of love... and she conceived of a great newspost idea that was very popular with people! Love triangles are very good for generating drama in your writing without having to worry too much about forcing that through external events. And because they're primarily driven by you characters as well as affecting them it's a great way to build on your characterisation through the drama. In HippieVan's words we outline a few notable love triangles in fiction, both classic, and contemporary, then we include the contributions the DDers who were good enough to add their two cents to the subject.
Episode 206 - Turning An Idea Into A Comic
Feb 16, 2015
Back in January our own HippieVan was in a quandary as to how to turn a creative idea she had into a webcomic, so she decided to put it o the DD community and croudsource their wisdom via a newspost. Banes and I thought the topic would make a good Quackcast, especially since we could read out all the interesting and informative posts people made on the subject! Banes has also approached the idea previously for Quackcast 68 where he outlines a screen-writing method called "save the cat", also known as "The Banes' Method". That Quackcast was since deleted but as a special treat I will re-upload it!
Episode 197 - The sidekicks take over the QC
Dec 14, 2014
Carrying on from last weeks Quackcast inspired by Kawaiidaigakusei's Thoughtful newspost article "An Ode to Sidekicks", this time the DD community weighs in on the subject and they give us their wise, educated and highly considered expert opinions on the subject of the sidekick in stories! Again Kawaii joins Banes and I, but this time she practices her amazing talent for amusing voices, so for the first time since Skoolmunkee there's someone other than Banes and I doing a voice. Rachel Maddow drops in and even Matt Foley to tell us about his VAN down by the RIVER! All in all what people have to say about the different aspects of sidekicks in fiction is really quite interesting, have a listen and see! Oh, and Gunwallace's epic theme for Harkovast is fantastic, I can't wait for a Peter Jackson Movie adaptation!
Episode 196 - The Sidekick-cast
Nov 30, 2014
The topic of the Quackcast was inspired by Kawaiidaigakusei's Thoughtful newspost article "An Ode to Sidekicks" that examined the varied subject of The Sidekick. She was inspired by Geoff Peterson, the much loved animated skeleton on the Craig Ferguson show and she went on to examine some sidekick types using DD comics as examples. In our Sidekick-cast we cast the net a bit wider. We try and have a chat about all the different types of sidekicks we can think about (and there are a LOT); sidekicks in books, films, comics, talkshows... Heroic sidekicks, villain sidekicks, lackeys, lieutenants, backups, stand-ins, partners and all the various types in between and beyond! We mentions such obvious luminaries such as Dynomutt, Scoobydoo, Scrappy Doo, Dr Watson, Robin, a swathe of Dr Who Companions, and more! Banes is hilarious, Kawaii is insightful, Ozoneocean is opinionated ad boorish.
