Just the name inspires awe, a level of attention and gravity. Because it was a name before it became a noun: she was the ancient Greek goddess of revenge and retribution against those who committed any kind of hubris.
In stories though, a character that takes the position of nemesis, …
My city had a massive snowfall on Boxing Day this year – the day after Christmas, for you non-Canadians. Nothing too unusual for a Canadian winter, but even so the city always seems to grind to a halt when it happens. After having a neighbour help him get his car …
I was hanging out with my family over the holidays, explaining that I wasn't sad or sick, but had been rubbing my eye because there was some dust or a hair or something stuck behind the eyeball. It was quite uncomfortable.
Witness the birth of Salamander, a super-heroine granted powers by a fire salamander.
Erin is a fairly average 22 year old working in a pet store until the store is hit by an arson attack, when her life is in danger things take a dramatic change.
Chekhov's gun is the principal (as I understand it), that if you have some item, fact or piece of information introduced into your story that you draw specific attention to, then you'd better use it some how later on in your story. The simplest example is a gun: if …
Last week, ozoneocean resurrected a forum post from a little more than eleven years ago by necroposting the "Tablet Recommendation?" topic on the General Discussion forum board. The post is definitely dated, yet it still holds up to the idea of allowing for time to pass before purchasing a big …
To me this is one of the most fascinating elements of storytelling. The idea behind Chekhov’s Gun is to employ parsimony in the information comprising a plot and content: If something isn’t essential to the story, just don’t include it. Little by little, it became more “if there’s a gun …
Sorry about last week’s missed newspost, everyone! Last week’s post happened to fall on “friend Christmas.” I’m the world’s worst adult, and spent the day eating so much holiday junk food that I got sick and had to go to bed rather than finish writing. I hope you were all …
They are often created by one person and don't need to answer to editors, publishers or money-type-people. They can be made by just you, and can be made for an audience of just a couple friends or relatives…or just for yourself!
Witch Natasha gathers her ingredients, makes all the right preparations, chants the dark magic words and… nothing. She tries again and then notices a perky young lady behind her. Young, happy-go-lucky, naive Giselle isn't quite the succubus Natasha had in mind when she decided to summon a demon! My pet …
What defines evil in fiction? I say the simplest one is bad guys are selfish, good guys are selfless. That is massively over simplistic but it's a good easy template for basic hero's and villains. Basic ones I was just doing a quick thought experiment to work out an …
The year 2016 was not as horrible as some people thought it to be. I did go through some personal changes that might not be seen as monumental in the wide scope of the world. I have always been a true romantic–a label given to me by an English professor …
Happy New Year’s Eve! Thinking about the new year that is just about to begin, I thought to talk about beginnings in stories, and especially in webcomics.
How a story begins, the very first pages of it, are key for catching the audience’s attention and keeping it. The audience decides …
In the words of Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka: "Hold your breath. Make a wish. Count to three. Come with me. And you'll be. In a world of. Pure Imagination."
Imagine a world where everyone woke up one day and fully committed to doing the right thing. Blood donation lines would …