Reading late 80s Swamp Thing. They’ve got a really subtle way of doing flashbacks; they just…

November 08 Comments Off on Reading late 80s Swamp Thing. They’ve got a really subtle way of doing flashbacks; they just… Category: Feed, Tumblr

Reading late 80s Swamp Thing. They’ve got a really subtle way of doing flashbacks; they just switch the frames on page from squared to rounded edges. Nifty.

“Not being sure what story you’re in anymore is a different experience depending on whether or…”

June 03 Comments Off on “Not being sure what story you’re in anymore is a different experience depending on whether or…” Category: Feed, Tumblr

“Not being sure what story you’re in anymore is a different experience depending on whether or not you were expecting to be the hero of that story. Low-status men, and especially women and girls, often don’t have that expectation. We expect to be forgettable supporting characters, or sometimes, if we’re lucky, attainable objects to be slung over the hero’s shoulder and carried off the end of the final page. The only way we get to be in stories is to be stories ourselves. If we want anything interesting at all to happen to us we have to be a story that happens to somebody else, and when you’re a young girl looking for a script, there are a limited selection of roles to choose from.”

I Was A Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

“How do you tell a powerful story that addresses systemic flaws when you’re doing an explanatory,…”

March 21 Comments Off on “How do you tell a powerful story that addresses systemic flaws when you’re doing an explanatory,…” Category: Feed, Tumblr

“How do you tell a powerful story that addresses systemic flaws when you’re doing an explanatory, rather than a scenic, narrative? Lithwick and Dobson have provided a primer.”

Nieman Storyboard reviews Dahlia Lithwick’s Slate piece on a man wrongfully convicted of rape 34 years ago.

via Nieman Storyboard

In her story, written for Slate and edited by Will Dobson, Lithwick consistently underplays the drama. She spends just two sentences describing the moment that attorney-advocate Jonathan Sheldon found Barbour and told him of his exoneration – and she does it with a quote. 

But providing some emotional connection is key, and Lithwick knows that Barbour – a human being who was robbed of five years of his life, his new marriage and his relationship with his daughter – is the heart of her story. And so she uses his experience as a narrative thread running through what is largely an explanatory piece.

Not every story will be written in scenes. And in this case, the writer deliberately avoided many of the personal details about Barbour and his life that had already been covered by local news organizations. But Lithwick shows how finding the narrative touchstone in an explanatory piece and returning to it in the right rhythm can draw readers through complicated events into a better understanding of not just one person’s tragedy but widespread injustice.

(via futurejournalismproject)

The Iron Triangle of Interesting Characters from Superhero…

August 20 Comments Off on The Iron Triangle of Interesting Characters from Superhero… Category: Feed, Tumblr

The Iron Triangle of Interesting Characters from Superhero Nation’s post ‘How to write interesting characters’ is trending on my Pinterest today. So I figured I’d reshare it. Enjoy!