The Villains of Each Buffy Season, From Worst to Best Buffy runs the gamut on villains, from the highest highs to the lowest lows. October 3, 2020June 16, 2021 by Oren Ashkenazi in Analysis
Q&A: Is a Romance Between a Leader and a Follower Always Problematic? Answered by Chris Winkle December 9, 2019August 26, 2021 in Social Justice, Storytelling
Episode 142: Vampires It is time to discuss… THE VAMPYRE. October 29, 2017August 26, 2021 by Oren Ashkenazi, Wes Matlock, and Chris Winkle
Episode 73: Limits on Magic While it might be fun to imagine a world where magic has no limits, it won’t work for your story. May 8, 2016August 26, 2021 by Mike Hernandez, Chris Winkle, and Oren Ashkenazi
Episode 72: Escalation It’s a basic rule of storytelling: the stakes get higher as the story goes forward. April 24, 2016August 26, 2021 by Chris Winkle, Mike Hernandez, and Oren Ashkenazi
Six Unrealistic Worlds From Popular Stories These fictional landscapes captured our imaginations, but on second glance they start to break down. March 4, 2016July 20, 2021 by Chris Winkle in Analysis, Worldbuilding
Episode 68: Deep Worldbuilding Part 2 Mike brings Chris and Oren back for a deeper dive into the depths of deep worldbuilding. February 28, 2016August 26, 2021 by Mike Hernandez, Oren Ashkenazi, and Chris Winkle
Seven Bizarre Moral Implications From Popular Stories Don't try to live by what these tales tell you. January 15, 2016July 22, 2021 by Oren Ashkenazi in Analysis
Three Technologies Dropped for Breaking the Show These devices got out of hand too fast for their writers to manage. August 9, 2015July 26, 2021 by Mike Hernandez in Analysis, Worldbuilding
Five Ways to Handle Characters With Different Power Levels How to handle unbalanced powers without capsizing your story. June 13, 2015July 31, 2021 by Oren Ashkenazi in Storytelling
Episode 48: Politics in Urban Fantasy Mike, Chris, and Oren discuss politics in modern genre settings. May 24, 2015August 26, 2021 by Mike Hernandez, Chris Winkle, and Oren Ashkenazi
Ditch These Five Character Archetypes Choose a different model for crafting your protagonist. March 27, 2015August 1, 2021 by Chris Winkle in Storytelling
Six Characters Who Should Have Died The Reaper should've been more aggressive in pursuing these characters. March 8, 2015August 1, 2021 by Oren Ashkenazi in Analysis
Episode 42: Using Non-Humans in Stories Chris, Mike, and Oren discuss the upsides and downsides of including non-humans in stories. March 1, 2015August 26, 2021 by Mike Hernandez, Oren Ashkenazi, and Chris Winkle
Six Emotional Motives for Your Characters How to give your protagonist a purpose they care about. January 16, 2015August 3, 2021 by Chris Winkle in Storytelling
Six Plot Excuses No One Wants to Hear Everyone's tired of these nonsensical storytelling justifications. November 28, 2014August 4, 2021 by Chris Winkle in Storytelling
The Three Traits of Annoying Characters Why some characters get on our nerves—and what you can do to avoid it. November 14, 2014August 4, 2021 by Chris Winkle in Analysis, Storytelling
Five Tricks to Invigorate Your Ending How your story's climax can pack the biggest dramatic punch possible. November 7, 2014August 4, 2021 by Chris Winkle in Storytelling
Episode 33: Growing a Beard and Jumping the Shark Oren, Chris, and Mike discuss TV shows that get noticeably better or worse during their run. October 26, 2014August 26, 2021 by Mike Hernandez, Chris Winkle, and Oren Ashkenazi
Five Villains Who Follow the Heroine’s Journey These baddies transformed themselves throughout their stories—and made it believable. October 3, 2014December 2, 2022 by Chris Winkle in Analysis, Storytelling
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