Episode 55 - Genres Revisited
Dec 13, 2011
My attractive assistant Skoolmunkee agreed to another guest appearance in order to re-adress this topic. I asked people about their favourite webcomic genres, why they like them and what makes them so cool and interesting, whether it's the genre they like to read or create in. The genres we covered chiefly in your previous genre Quackcast (number 29, http://www.drunkduck.com/quackcast/episode-29-genres-generally-speaking/), were fantasy, slice of life, post apocalypse, and spiritual, and declared that post apocalypse the winner. This time we all decide that steam/diesel/cyberpunk is best! We briefly try and tackle superheros, but nothing much comes out of it except the brown Lantern...
Topics and Show Notes
Featured comics:
Wyyrd Vintage - http://www.drunkduck.com/Wyyrd_Vintage/
Our contributors:
- Genejoke - http://www.drunkduck.com/user/Genejoke/
Some important factors about genre that you have to keep in mind as a creator:
- What genre does your work best fit into? - this helps when you want to be able to describe and “sell” your comic to others.
- What other comics are also in that same genre? - This helps when you want to know what comic you should advertise on or compare yourself to.
- What are the key identifiers of the genre you’re creating in? - this can help you better appeal to fans of that genre or even give you new ideas on directions of where to o with your comic.
- What can you use and what can you subvert?
Some writing or drawing exercises involving genre:
- Take a basic story premise and adapt it (briefly) into different genres. (Try a plot generator). Think about how the story changes to fit into that genre, what tropes it taps into, whether it has to follow rules, etc.
- Try taking a character from one genre and sticking them into another. (These stories tend to end up being kind of silly, but I’ve ready some pretty entertaining “wrong genre” stories.)
- A single piece of work usually is made up of several genres. Take a favourite comic or story and try to identify what’s being drawn into it.
- Writing exercise in genres - http://www.bisg.org/what-we-do-0-136-bisac-subject-headings-list-major-subjects.php
We're also starting a new radio soap. Anyone can contribute to the ongoing story here:
- http://www.drunkduck.com/forum/topic/174836/
Next week's Quackcast number 56 is the Christmas Quackcast! Please contribute by posting your stuff here:
- http://www.drunkduck.com/forum/topic/174847/
ayesinback at 4:24PM, Dec. 16, 2011
yup - I meant abstract when I wrote absurd (probably some kind of Freudian there). This was a really interesting Quackcast imo -- but for me, it did Not help sort out how one IDs a genre. Abby Sanders, for example, which was mentioned: It's funny (and that's why I read it) but what genre did you decide it was in? A "comedy" genre? Probably not, because the humor is delivered with supernatural characters and settings. So "supernatural"? What if a comic is based in a "quest" setting, but the dialogue and character motivation continually revolve around issues of morals and ethics -- Is the genre "adventure"? What if it's a love story, set in the ol American West: Romance or Western? . . . these and other questions
Ozoneocean at 7:37AM, Dec. 15, 2011
You're right Al, I set my volume too low. Normally I have it set too high so i wanted to counteract that but went too far :(
AlceX at 11:34AM, Dec. 14, 2011
I took way too long for me to get that brown ring joke... Worth it though. Nice quackcast, anyway. Oh, and is it just me, or was ozoneocean's volume too low? Had to crank up my speakers to hear him well. ( I always have my volume really low so it could have been just me)
RPGgrenade at 6:33AM, Dec. 14, 2011
I liked this one because i was talking about one of my favourite things =D And someday you'll get some good topics with awesome guests right? RIGHT?! that'd be cool.
skoolmunkee at 3:38AM, Dec. 14, 2011
That really wasn't where I was going with that, I'm pretty embarrassed about it actually, haha :] Thanks for the comments guys!
gullas at 1:37AM, Dec. 14, 2011
the real question is, what wouldn't an Icelandic terrorist croup expect to accomplish by kidnapping Skoolmunkee!
Ozoneocean at 11:49PM, Dec. 13, 2011
@Newway12 - Yeah, when a work can fit into many genres it's cool, like SciFi pirate movies!
Ozoneocean at 11:31PM, Dec. 13, 2011
I lied, I definitely do NOT want to read about the "Brown Lantern" D: BTW, thanks for the comments Newway12 and Banes!
Newway12 at 7:17PM, Dec. 13, 2011
I tend to prefer webcomics that fit into obscure genres or belong to two different genres that you usually don't see mixed together.
Banes at 12:03PM, Dec. 13, 2011
Interesting one, yet again! The writing exercise is really cool and challenging! And I'm gonna pick up that book "Don't Hurt Me!" ...it sounds tremendously exciting! ; )