Call him the main character, the lead, the hero, the player character; most every good story has a protagonist. He (or she) is the person we follow. Either because they provide the viewpoint and let us into the world or because they’re out on a grand quest. A lot of stories rise and fall based… Continue reading Protagonists and Such
Tag: Lost
Time Doesn’t Flow Linearly
Well, actually time does go linearly in real life. But this is fiction I’m talking about. Y’know those stories where events are told in the order of the sequence of events? Well this isn’t about that. Lost’s early episodes followed a basic format: focus particularly on one character on the Island all the while showing… Continue reading Time Doesn’t Flow Linearly
The Consistency of Continuity
The way reality (and by proxy, stories) works is that if one thing happens then something else does. Because of this, we have a natural sequence of events that happens. It’s a consistent sequence of events that have bearing on each other. Man, describing continuity is difficult. Basically, if something happened, it happened. Events that… Continue reading The Consistency of Continuity
Everyone’s Got A Story
If you meet me in person, chances are at some point I’ll ask you what’s your story. Who you are. What brought you from wherever you’re from to where you are what now. Because whatever the reason, it’s your story and tells a good amount about you. So naturally, when I watch/play/read something, I’m looking… Continue reading Everyone’s Got A Story
A Series Of Arcs
I decided to sit down and watch some old How I Met Your Mother episodes once, and by old I mean Season One. It was weird to watch since everyone was well, so different from where they are in the more recent seasons. It’s jarring in light of where they end up. This, of course,… Continue reading A Series Of Arcs
Imply, Don’t Show
Every aspiring writer is at one point treated to the ancient adage of “show, don’t tell”. The idea is that rather than telling us that Sam is an impressive diplomat, it works better if the writer describes her being a great diplomat. It gets boring (and annoying) if a writer keeps on saying that a… Continue reading Imply, Don’t Show
Sacrifice
There’s this trope in fiction called the Heroic Sacrifice. The idea is that a character gives himself up so another can live or succeed. When done right it can be an incredibly powerful writing tool. Doesn’t have to be sacrificing your own life, though. At the end of The Dark Knight, Batman has just saved… Continue reading Sacrifice
The Artificial Family
I grew up on a ship. Well, not really grew up exactly, more spent four very key years of my youth onboard a ship. It’s a long story. The thing about living on a ship, though, was that with only two hundred people on board it was a small community. Smaller still were the number… Continue reading The Artificial Family
Perilous Tension
Tension tends to drive a story forward. Well, tension and characters. But this is about tension (which relates to characters). Anyway, one source of tension, especially in movies that can be classified as action and adventure, is peril. Everybody loves peril. We see our characters and we ask ourselves “dude, what happens next?” And that,… Continue reading Perilous Tension
The Magnitude of Medium
As I hope you’ve noticed over my past few entries, I like stories. I read them, I watch them, I play them, I, um, listen? to them. In any case, here’s something I’ve noticed: the medium of a story is, in the hands of a deft writer/creator, an incredibly powerful tool. Let’s start with books.… Continue reading The Magnitude of Medium
