Episode 235 - Climax of the Climaxes
Sep 7, 2015
Pitface joins Ozone and Banes again for the second and last part of the climax cast! It's the climax of the climax casts!! We discuss what people think about climaxes in stories, their own and those they watch or read. It's hard to write up to climaxes and even harded to write down from them but they're a good way to pull in and then reward your audience. Different types of stories have to use different types of climaxes, i.e. long series may need to have one every chapter and then one at the end of the arc. You have to adjust to the needs of your story. We read great contributions from some very clever DDers in cool voices :) Gunwallace gave us a gorgeous theme for Just Busty Solar the hilarious adult comedy strip~
Topics and Show Notes
Topics and shownotes
Featured comic:
Tangled River - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Tangled_River/
Contributors forum thread:
Climax of the Climaxes! - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/177284/
Contributors:
KimLuster - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/KimLuster/
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace, Porn soundtrack guy - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
The theme song by Gunwallace this week was for:
Busty Solar - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Busty_Solar/ by Prototype, rated A.
Episode 233 - Formulas Forever!
Aug 24, 2015
Here we go again, back to formulas! This time we got some external input. Fellow DDers had a say about their idea about the utility of formulas and how they use them in their writing and comics. It's important to understand formulas in writing so you know what works and why it works, it can help you in your own work. And when you need to and you've got the ability you can create your OWN writing formula. But remember: the formula is just the bare skeleton, you have to add all the meat and flesh to it with the rest of your writing, don't let the bones show through! Listen to Gunwallace's beautiful theme for Brave New World! Oh, and one last thing… HAPPY BIRTHDAY TANTZ AERINE!!!!
Episode 232 - Creating a Rounded World
Aug 17, 2015
Hello, hello, hello! This is the second part of our hugely long expose on the tricky art of WORLD BUILDING! And it really IS extra loooooooooooog… that's because we take so much time crafting the Quackcast world for you. To recap: world-building is a big part of ALL fiction from SciFi and fantasy to your common or garden police shows or even comic strips. You create locations that have relationships with each other, characters that have jobs, families, friends, histories etc, all that is just as much world building as a fantasy world with a specific style of magic and monsters or a SciFi world with aliens and a 1000 year war. Typically, if you do your homework and set up your world nicely then it makes it easier to write stories within it, but you also have to remember not to show all that research to people in the form of big long explanations. Banes and Bravo1102 join Ozoneocean to talk about it! Listen to Gunwallace's lovely theme for Regarding Dandelions!
Episode 230 - Getting the formula RIGHT
Aug 3, 2015
We've talked about formulas before, but mostly in the context of escaping formulas and reinventing them. NOW however we're talking about using existing formulas to create a story, or creating new formulas and sticking to them to come up with your stories. Formulas can be a good tool to write with, along with their close sibling “the trope” they take elements that are proven to work and stick them on a solid framework for you to more easily create your story around. All you need to do is plug in your characters and situation and see how it all fits. Formulas are comfortable for people and make it easier for a writer to structure their story faster AND in a way they know should appeal to people. Enjoy Gunwallace's lovely theme for Rismo!
Episode 228 - Conflicting conflicts conflict
Jul 19, 2015
This time we're talking about conflict in webcomic writing, and any writing in general really. Conflict is one of the main drivers of a story, so you pretty much have to have it in there somewhere! But how do you approach it? Do you set it up really carefully or just put a bunch of volatile characters together and see what happens? I think for a lot of us we don't think too much about the science of our conflicts, rather we approach it artistically and develop things by feel and instinct because conflict is such an intrinsic trait. But understanding how you use it can be very useful when you're writing satisfying resolutions and climaxes. A good understanding of the types of conflict in your story is also pretty essential when you're writing a good comedy (it's a great source of humour!), and also when you're explaining or selling your work to the public: It's all very well to chat about your clever setting and your funky characters, but conflict is the reason they're IN a story to begin with and that's really what will get people wanting to read out it. I hope you enjoy Gunwallace's great porn style music type theme for Tales of Two Tiny Titty bars!
Episode 227 - Biggest webcomicing mistakes
Jul 13, 2015
Webcomicing is a learning process, you build on your knowledge and skills as you go, comics can take years to complete and your audience is usually pretty forgiving… Well learning is all about making mistakes and if you're like the people who contributed to this Quackcast, you make a hell of a lot of them! But hopefully you learn from them, or even better; learn from the mistakes of others. That's what this Quackcast was all about; sharing your biggest webcomicing mistakes. None of us are immune to them. They can be borne of hard to break bad habits, lack of experience or skill, or just plain stubbornness. If you make any that you'd like to tell us about, just share them in the comments bellow. I hope you'll enjoy the lovely Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy/Harry Potter-esque style musical theme for Wizarding Along The Way by Gunwallace!
Episode 226 - The Power of Contrast
Jul 5, 2015
In this Quackcast I interrogated Mr Banes on the subject of his first newspost: Contrasts. It's a subject near and dear to him, even his comic "Typical Strange“ has its name based on the concept, i.e. two words with the opposite meanings put together to create an effect. In imagery contrast is used to make darker shapes appear darker and lighter shapes lighter and to create a tension where those areas meet at the penumbra. In writing and comics it's much the same, ”laughter and tears“, ”good and evil", a sad scene contrasting with a joyous one etc. Contrasting makes both contrasted elements appear far greater than they really are, as well as serving as a source of tension, conflict, or humour. Banes and I talk about this in a rambling fashion. Gunwallace has a special treat for us today with a brilliant theme for Dead Leon! You'll want to ask him for a copy of his one ;)
Episode 225 - To Fan-service or not to fan-service
Jun 29, 2015
Today Banes and I talk about the subject of fan service in comics (and other pop-culture). This Quackcast was inspired by a newspost by HippieVan of that same title. We're helped in our discussion by the really interesting contributions of many smart people on DD... that we read out in High-larious voices! Is fan service a good thing? How do you think about it in stuff you read and see? Do you put it in your own work? Why? Why not? These were some of the things we talk about on the subject. Also, catch Gunwallace's great theme for Grueson!
