Narrative & POV

  1. LocalScriptMan videos

    I already posted several of his videos on the topic of Character Web, but he frequently puts out great videos I want to collect where I can quickly find them. So here's a place to do that, no particular topic. What if Character Sheets weren't awful? He says he used to talk about theme (he sure did, it was all over his character web videos), but now he's moving away from that. It seems like he's working up his concepts into some kind of grand overarching narrative, a sort of universal...
  2. Getting all Emotional

    Almost a year ago I made this post: A few really good articles on Deep/Close POV A recent post on the First Three Sentences thread made me look back into it, and I read through some of the articles again. My opinion of deep POV changed several times as I learned about it, but eventually I realized it's one of those things that can be good or bad depending on how it's handled (isn't that everything related to writing?). From the second link I discovered a course. She has two modules that...
  3. What can be learned from Buffy?

    When I first joined this message board, I had just finished watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer, the series, from beginning to end. I think it was the best show ever made, bar none. Despite some heavy contenders like Breaking Bad, or Jessica Jones—none of them have anything like the perfect mix of creativity, humor, and fun Buffy offers, along with intense drama, sometimes to the point of tragedy. I bought the entire series as a DVD box set, which included behind the scenes for some episodes,...
  4. Looking into the Creation of the MCU

    Don't be put off by the name of the channel (It Was a Sh*t Show)—this guy actually does a deep dive into the making of various movies, and he's extremely fair in his reporting. I think the name is mostly clickbait, though when you look deep enough, the making of most movies really is a shit show, even the ones that come out excellent. It's basically a miracle when Hollywood is able to make a good movie. He gives plenty of praise where it's due, and Marvel deserves a lot up to a certain...
  5. The Altered Self

    I hadn't heard of a sci-fi genre called The Altered Self before, or of Evolutionary Horror. And yet some of the most powerful books and movies I know of fit into one or both. I guess it's because I never really looked into sub-genres. But honestly, I don't think truly evolutionary horror would be frightening at all, since evolution takes like millions of years and affects, not you directly, but your very distant descendents. The reason these movies and stories are so intense is because it...
  6. Examining the writing in Sail and The Man Who Liked Dogs

    These are my two favorite hardboiled stories I've run across so far, both of them in the same book—The Hard Boiled Omnibus, published in 1952 and edited by Joseph T Shaw. It's a collection of some of the best stories from Black Mask magazine. I've already linked to Sail twice, but I feel I should include links here for both stories: Sail by Lester Dent The Man Who Liked Dogs by Raymond Chandler I find the beginnings of both stories to be the strongest parts. With Sail the main body almost...
  7. A few really good articles on Deep/Close POV

    I ran across these while searching for some information just now. They explain deep or close POV in much greater depth than I've seen before. The Nuances of Deep POV This is a multi-part series, be sure to click through to the other parts. 17 Things To Know About Deep POV Before You Start Writing Apparently all their posts that mention deep POV? There are a LOT! It looks like a massive blog, and they have online courses. Deep POV—What’s So Deep About It
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  8. Different types of novels and novellas, according to John Gardner

    Last night in John Gardner's Art of Fiction, I ran across several different forms for novels and novellas, and I want to get the info down here. I'll start by linking to several articles I'll be looking up on these types: 'Energeic' novels Aristotle's approach, three-act structure etc Juxtapositional novels Lyrical novels With an element of musical rhythm and repetition in the structure and/or the prose Ellen Vrana wrote about lyrical writing in her Quora article. Scroll down to What is...
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  9. Free Indirect Discourse

    Not only does the name sound cool, but it's an important tool that ties in with my earlier posts about direct and indirect writing. What is it? I'll quote: "Free indirect discourse is a method of conveying a character’s internal thoughts by embedding them within the narration, rather than expressing them directly." It's actually a technique taken from first person writing and transferred to third person. It's only when it's done in third that it's called free indirect discourse. I don't...
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  10. Dreams/nightmares

    I really don't know what to call them any more, they start as dreams and develop into nightmares or something else in between? At first you could be in control and little by little you lose that control. You notice it, all you have to do now is see what happens and pray you wont feel anything that's coming. You feel the fear, the pain, all the feelings. I cannot run away from it anymore, or hide. I can only take a glimpse of what is to come. Just a glimpse. Since is not the first time any...
  11. Fantasy 101; Characters

    Characters are the bane of my existence. Are they too dry? Too monotonous? I can never tell. So, of course, I chose fantasy as my genre of choice. The genre that requires the most complex characters. After all, I am the dumbest person you will ever meet. Take my newest novel, for instance. The two main characters are supposed to be insanely different, with similarities that aren't really notable. And yet, I can't tell if that point is actually getting made, or if I make the similarities too...
  12. Transitioning from one POV to another within a scene

    In which I examine how the POV was handled in a short story called Next-Door Neighbor by Don D'Ammassa in a book called 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, with a particular focus on how he transitioned from one pov to another.
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  13. The Queen's Decision

    Book-01: Meet the Locals Chapter 01: The Queen's Decision
  14. I need help deciding on a place for a pack of werwolves

    I need help deciding on where and what area or town on the west coast could be preferably close to what I need for the pack land in the werewolf book I am writing . Any help is very appreciated and accepted . so here it is what is needed exactly : 1). west coast town 2). a small town at least 30 mins from any small city were they would have the necessities like a mall or fancy restaurants and of course humans would be here but not in the werewolf town 3). in this small town I'd like to...
  15. Alone...

    I find it so funny that in a world with what 8 billion people give or take the ones we don't know about.. That people are getting to the point where we feel we are better off alone. Because it's peaceful.. Now I will just say I like my alone time just as much as the next person. I like to feel at peace and not having to worry about walking on eggshells or being afraid of what might come out of my mouth that might possibly offend someone. For the whole 26 years I have been on this planet...
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