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Telling an egalitarian story means fighting back against a lifetime of cultural programming, not to mention systematic bias in production, publishing, and marketing. So even when we try to make our stories just, problems we haven’t noticed can sneak their way in. Graded on a … read more »
Archetypes tell us what role a character plays in a story. Many of these roles are critical for storytelling, but some are just the opposite. Troublesome roles allow storytellers to cut corners, reducing the overall quality of the tale. Take these five archetypes: Read more »
Character death is a tricky subject, whether in prose, roleplaying games, or television. Sometimes a character can pass before their time, especially if an actor’s contract expires or a critical hit goes the wrong way. On the other hand, the death of a beloved character … read more »
Chris, Mike, and Oren discuss the upsides and downsides of including non-humans in stories. They list their pet peeves with non-human races, and describe works with great or terrible depictions. Read more »
With emotional drive comes the character depth your audience will love. These inner forces are incredibly flexible. They can form the backbone for your entire story or simply add another dimension to the plot and characters you already have. Read more »
Grace joins Oren, Mike, and Chris in discussing how artificial personalities are gendered. They mention computer voices in use today and the explanations given for their gender. They describe female and male robots and AI in science fiction, and how their depiction differs. Read more »
Chris, Mike, and Oren praise their favorite and least favorite endings. They describe what makes a great ending, and outline the traps that storytellers fall into while crafting their finish. Read more »
When storytellers are cornered by a tough plot problem, our first instinct is to ignore the problem by making our characters behave irrationally. Then we use character dialogue to handwave it and hope the audience doesn’t notice how unrealistic it is. Just take these six excuses. Read more »
Once in a while, storytellers slip up when crafting a protagonist. A character that was supposed to be an audience favorite becomes the focus of malice and frustration instead. While each person’s taste in characters is unique, some traits are likely to inspire intense dislike. … read more »
Stories can end in countless ways, and no one can tell you which one is the right one. But these tricks can give your ending – whatever it is – some extra pizzazz. None of them will work for every story, but try them on. You might find the perfect fit. Read more »