Episode 253 - narrative order and the flashback
Jan 11, 2016
Doing stories that start with the climax, then flash back, tell what happened to get there: the old narrative style of switching the first few chapters around to make a more interesting story. Sometimes it works GREAT because it throws you right into the middle of things and you have to work your way back to that point… It works very nicely in The Hangover for example! Often it's used very badly- in anime particularly, where they use it for foreshadowing and a tease to try and get you interested in the rest of the story- but anime story structure is so formulaic that all it really does is give you a cheap spoiler. Other times it doesn't work well is when the writer isn't very good so the viewer loses their way in the plot… If the writer is GOOD though you end up with Pulp Fiction. You'll love Gunwallace's theme here- a super funky jazz track for the comic Nothing Important Happened Today. Enjoy!
Topics and Show Notes
Topics and shownotes
Featured comic:
Aidana - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Aidana/
Links:
Quackcast 253 VIDEO - https://youtu.be/4-Xi7qQK_Xg
Contributors:
tupapayon - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/tupapayon/
El Cid - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/El Cid/
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
The theme song by Gunwallace this week was for:
Nothing Important Happened Today - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Nothing_Important_Happened_Today/ by RymanNoodles, rated T.
Episode 250 - Tradigital art - Digital VS Traditional
Dec 21, 2015
There's not really a difference between digital and traditional art - art is art, your tools and media don't really matter, what's important is how its meant to be seen and what it's meant to be used for. But, people do like to discuss this though and so do we so that is exactly what we did! We opened the floor to people's opinions and experiences on the subject and everyone had their say. Gunwallace's theme for The Dragon Fists of Smorty Smythe reminds me strongly of The Journey of the Sorcerer by The Eagles!
Episode 234 - Climactic Climaxes!
Aug 31, 2015
What's best? One big climax, multiple small ones, early, or delayed? How much should you work UP to a climax? What about anticlmactic events, how important are they? Climaxes are really important in stories. Often you work up to them over the course of a whole series, but each episode or chapter can have them, maybe even every single page. I find writing “up” to climaxes a bit stressful because you have a lot of preasure and expectation there. And when it's over and you've actually achieved it, it can be a bit depressing: where do you go to from there? You can feel a little lost, at least I do. TALKING ABOUT WRITING HERE. My preference is for multiple climaxes. Do you always need climaxes in stories? I don't think you do personally… there are times when things work fine without one, but it does help better with endings. Sometimes climaxes can be TOO big. Way too much of a story can be invested in a climax, it subsumes everything, everything has to tie in with that specific story flow and that can be REALLY had to pull off. If it's not done right it can be massively disappointing. Anticlimactic. Pitface Joins Banes and Ozone to chat about climaxes in stories and read out the contributions from our climactic contributors. Gunwallace gave us a gorgeous theme for Just Another Day!
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 180 - Colour your world! part 1
Aug 14, 2014
For this week's Quackcast I asked people what colour techniques they use and BOY was I surprised by the high calibre of the responses! We had some heavy hitter contributions, people with colour skill beyond what I can conceive of, and I'm no slouch myself when it comes to colouring. We had such good contributions and the subject is so complex that that we decided to split it over two parts so we can properly discuss this very technical concept: COLOUR! Colouring is an important and advanced skill when it comes to comic art. At the most basic level you can restrict yourself to a simple palette with no shading or tones, if you want to be more advanced though there is no limit to how complex you can get. Hopefully the advice presented here can help you with your artwork!
Episode 178 - thematical thematology
Aug 4, 2014
For this DD webcomics podcast, Quackcast 178, we talk about THEMES. And no, we're not talking about those fine musical tracks that Gunwallace has been making for our comics. Theme is what's happening below the surface plot of a story. Plot is the events that happen, and theme is what it all means. We asked people What they thought about themes in their work, how they approach them, do you put themes in there on purpose, or does it happen by accident? Is a theme even necessary? We also asked people to talk about some of the themes in their work. We had some very interesting contributions. Themes in stories in comics, movies, TV shows and books are not things we tend to think about that much unless we're trying to be clever but they're an all pervasive and important part of any story nevertheless!
Episode 160 - SciFi spectacular
Mar 31, 2014
While out on a routine survey mission in the Asimov Nebula, space-Captain Ozone and security officer second class Stanley Banes find themselves face to face with a drunken rampaging mutated alien duckmonster! Join our spacefaring heroes as they ramble about some of their favourite SciFi and discuss some of the best and worst features of the genre. But more importantly; will they get out of this predicament alive and will they ever get their booze back?
Episode 144 - Bold New Experiment with the Top Ten!
Dec 2, 2013
For this Quackcast it's just Ozone aaaaaand HippieVan! We're discussing various things, the most important of which is the Top Ten rating system for the front page of DD. It has been frozen solid since the site stopped tracking stats about TWO years ago. Hopefully we'll restart hat when we figure out how to code it up, but for now HippieVan and Irreverent came up with a good idea: The Top Ten comics will be based on how many "likes" they have. This will be calculated every week by HippieVan. So now comics have the ability to get into the top ten if they can get enough "Likes", so start campaigning people and you'll have a spot on the front page! Unfortunately we're not including Adult rated comics in that list because those can't be seen by people who aren't signed into the site so would just look like blank boxes on the front page. Never fear though, Adult comics are still ranked proudly on the comic search page in their true like order.
