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Social justice is intrinsic to storytelling. Fiction has a long history of championing the oppressed, and spec fic fans are particularly proud of that tradition. We love to pontificate about how Star Trek portrayed a racially diverse bridge crew like it was no big deal … read more »
We’ve previously discussed how every story requires a throughline – the plot arc that binds the story together. Most manuscripts desperately need to prioritize a single plot arc and cut whatever doesn’t fit within that. But like most things, throughlines are more complex in practice … read more »
I don’t think it’s controversial to say that killing is abhorrent. But in my novelette series, particularly the latest story, there is a great deal of cultists to be killed. I don’t particularly want to dive into the protagonist’s slow mental breakdown at the horror … read more »
Many stories use the possibility that the hero will die to keep the story tense. But since heroes live through most life-threatening situations, it’s difficult to convince savvy audience members that your hero could meet their end. To get the drop on your audience, you’ll … read more »
Thinking through hero’s journey and story archetypes (newbie here!) and was watching the recent Pixar movie Moana. My question is, what do you see as the function of or reason for a story to choose a relatively inanimate/neutral sidekick like Heihei (Moana’s chicken, that, though providing some … read more »
The Lessons From Bad Writing series has long been one of our most popular segments here at Mythcreants, and for good reason. Authors learn a lot from seeing a popular book’s early chapters broken down and analyzed, and spec fic fans enjoy our snarky comments. But … read more »
While all rules can be broken, breaking them successfully takes a robust knowledge of storytelling principles. How do you know when breaking a rule is successful? In concept, that’s simple; you’re successful when you gain more from breaking the rule than following it. Of course, … read more »
Sometimes it’s obvious who’s right and who’s wrong. The hero is kind and good, while the villain is cruel and evil. But what if that’s not the case? What happens when morality isn’t black and white but rather a shade of gray? That’s what we’re … read more »
Everyone likes characters that go against the status quo, whether that means holding an unpopular belief, having a different worldview, or seeing events differently from the average sentient being. But for these norm-breaking characters to work, storytellers need to write them well. Read more »
What is a story’s message, and what is its theme? Are those different things? Have we been using words wrong this whole time? This week we aim to find out. Listen as battle lines are drawn over academic vs common word usage, and then as … read more »