Hooks and Cliffhangers
In long prose novel writing, one of the ways you keep the reader engaged in the story is to directly connect one chapter to the next. If you intrigue the […]
Elements
Scene Sizes
When I’m wearing my long prose hat, I’m often asked “how long should my scene be?” Looking at the size itself is largely irrelevant and the answer is always the […]
A Cornerstone of Good Story – TIP
In Storycraft for Comics I discuss the three fundamentals of “good” (or genuine) story. One of them is unpredictability. If you’ve ever read a story that was bad (for any […]
Genre Masquerading As Theme – TIP
Sadly, a lot of scripts from new/inexperienced writers that fall on my desk don’t have a theme.The writer either: * Doesn’t know it (consciously). * Doesn’t have it. * Or […]
Tone, Mood, Style and Genre
Another group of writing elements (and terms) folks often commingle and confuse: Tone, Mood, Style and Genre. It’s understandable how folks often get these terms jumbled up as they all […]
Character Trifecta
Pop quiz hotshot. There’s a bomb on a bus. Once the bus goes 50 miles an hour the bomb is armed. You’re sitting on the bus on your way to […]
Ensemble Casts
In a Q+A post, someone asked: How many main characters are too many when writing a first issue? When you’re scripting for a single protagonist, your story can be written […]
Creating Characters That Stand the Test of Time
Two things you can often catch me talking about are theme and characters–the backbone of story. If you think about it, you’ve read and seen a million characters in your […]
Writing Solid Villains
When bad guys ain’t that bad. Writing Solid Villains. Though I haven’t seen it, I’ve heard a lot of guff about this Kylo-Ren character from Star Wars, so I figured […]