Building Mass Effect: How Bioware Imagines the Future
Whatever the Reapers are working toward, it must be big!
Analysis: Page 5
Five Villains With Contrived Wins
When the villain wins, it builds tension - but only if it's a credible win.
Five Stories That Neglect Tension
Without tension, readers get bored fast.
Episode 341: Underused Characters
A dissertation on why trees can absolutely be characters.
Five Characters With the Wrong Skill Set
Characters need to be carefully crafted to fulfill their role in the plot.
Avatar Villains Ranked From Worst To Best
Thanks to Unalaq, we now know that the Avatar setting is divided into a good/evil binary.
Project Hail Mary Shows When Flashbacks Do and Don’t Work
The author of The Martian tries to make flashbacks work and only partially succeeds.
Five Useless Characters and How to Fix Them
Let's find the smallest edit that will get these protagonists contributing to the team.
Star Trek’s First Episodes Ranked, Part 2
Are the best four Star Trek premieres actually good?
Star Trek’s First Episodes Ranked, Part 1
There’s good Trek, there’s bad Trek, and there’s okay Trek.
Episode 336: Star Trek Optimism
No spec fic story is more iconic for optimism than Star Trek.
Building Age of Myth: How Sullivan Employs the Neolithic
Sullivan's setting has lots of novelty, but bronze and copper swords don't work that way.
Six Twists That Hurt the Story
All too often, storytellers sacrifice their story's integrity for a short-lived surprise.
Lessons From Three Bad Fight Scenes
For instance, you shouldn't need vague and unexplained magic to justify why people are fighting.
Five Stories With Weak Stakes
What a villain is going to do matters more than what they’ve already done.
Five Badly Motivated Villains From Popular Stories
A character’s motivation tells us why they’re doing what they’re doing.
Five Stories That Suffer From Muddled Atmosphere
Clashing themes and inconsistent tone can ruin a great story.
Six Stories With Weak Romantic Attraction
Many storytellers neglect attraction in their rush to get the characters dating.
Five Fascinating Monsters From Speculative Fiction
The best monsters have novelty: something fresh and interesting to offer.
Five Baffling Tech Explanations in Spec Fic
We've reboozled the fintoozler to find silly examples of terrible technobabble.
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