Tag: backstory

What Went Wrong with the Star Wars Prequels?

I am a serious nerd. I grew up on J.R.R. Tolkein and played Dungeons and Dragons all through high school. Trekkie conventions, RPGs, Renaissance festivals, you name it. I had the punch mark on my Geek Card. I still remember being 3 years old standing in line with my father and uncle for hours as we …

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Scene Antagonists–The Making of a Hero

Last week we talked about the antagonists that drive the action thread of the story. This week, we are going to talk about a different type of scene antagonist…the antagonist that drives the inner change of a character. This will conclude this series on antagonists. To write truly great stories that will resonate long after …

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What "Finding Nemo" Can Teach Us About Story Action

  From the WONDERFUL movie Finding Nemo Last week we took a break away from talking about the antagonist because I needed you guys to be able to see how fiction looks when broken down to its fundamental parts. All fiction can be boiled down to cause, effect, cause, effect, cause, effect. But, beyond that, …

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Anatomy of Conflict

Okay, last week I promised that we would resume talking about antagonists today. Well, I lied. My blog, my rules :P. Actually, I want to teach you guys more about scene antagonists and how they ratchet up the tension and drive the story’s momentum. The thing is, however, a lot of new writers don’t understand the …

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Antagonists–The Alpha and the Omega of the Story

Law Abiding Citizen 2009 For the past month or so, we have been discussing the antagonist, and how vital he/she/it is to the story. I’ve run critique groups for seven years. I also have edited literally hundreds of manuscripts, and one thing that most new writers do not accurately understand is the antagonist. I have …

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