"There are precious few at ease / with moral ambiguities / so we act as though they don't exist." That's a lyric from the show Wicked, in which the Wizard - here portrayed as wholly a bad guy, rather than an ultimately harmless 'humbug' - sings about why he deceived the ignorant and superstitious people of Oz. I … Continue reading On Moral Ambiguity
Writing
Nanowrimo Sample
Nanowrimo is in full swing and I'm actually on a path to completing it this year! I thought I might share the first chapter that I've come up with, just to see what people think. Keep in mind that, as a first draft written more for speed than precision, anything or everything in it is … Continue reading Nanowrimo Sample
How to Write Stupid Characters
Writing my Flat and Complex Characters post, describing the flaws in how Launchpad is written, it struck me that a major problem with him and similar characters (again, Soos from Gravity Falls) is that their stupidity is done in a very lazy way: they simply say or do whatever is most inappropriate or most idiotic, … Continue reading How to Write Stupid Characters
Lazy Writing and Lack of Consequence
Something I’ve noticed about a lot of contemporary films is that they seem to have an almost childish inability to consider real-world consequences. I’m not talking about complex things that the average person wouldn’t think of; I’m talking major factors about how people behave or how the world works. Let me illustrate with two particularly … Continue reading Lazy Writing and Lack of Consequence
The Difference Between Flat and Complex Characters
Now that the Ducktales revival is about half-a-season old, I can say that, while it is good, it’s not quite as good as I had hoped it would be. Part of the problem is that they go for the joke far too often, preventing the characters from developing much weight and consequently from engaging us … Continue reading The Difference Between Flat and Complex Characters
How I Would have Written ‘Black Panther’
As I've said before, the more I think about Black Panther the worse the writing in the film gets. As a side effect, I found myself thinking about how I might have done it instead, had I been in charge of writing it. The result was the following rough outline, which I now present to you … Continue reading How I Would have Written ‘Black Panther’
Establishing Morality
In addition to establishing setting, character, and plot, it is important, when writing a story, to establish morality. That is, to make sure the audience will consider your protagonists to be on the right side and your antagonists on the wrong. It needs to feel that the protagonists deserve to win. Obviously, this is not … Continue reading Establishing Morality
Multilevel Motivation:
Today I want to talk about a characterization trick I’m going to call multilevel motivation. This is where a character’s actions are driven by several different and often conflicting motives at the same time, creating a more psychologically complex and realistic storyline. Let me explain with an easily understood, but very well done example: the … Continue reading Multilevel Motivation:
Making a Character Prodigiously Powerful Will Not Make Them Interesting
So, I was watching the trailer for 'The Last Jedi,' where Luke is telling Rey that he's only seen her kind of power once before, that she's amazingly in tune with the Force and so on and so forth and I thought "Man, I am tired of the heroes in these kinds of stories being … Continue reading Making a Character Prodigiously Powerful Will Not Make Them Interesting
Writing Only Leads to More Writing
My goal at the moment is to write a sellable essay every day. Initially I was worried about whether I'd have enough material, but then I quickly discovered that essays are like bacteria: they multiply and divide exponentially! So, I was working on a piece about Jimmy Stewart for CatholicMatch. While making my point, a … Continue reading Writing Only Leads to More Writing
Serpent's Den 