If you’ve ever been to an Artist’s Alley at a comic convention, the thought, Can this be legal? has surely jumped into your head. Easily half the artists exhibiting at any mainstream Comic Con or Anime Show make and sell fan art. And by “fan art” I mean merchandise featuring characters the artist does not own: […]
Man Vs. Man: The Hero’s Mirror
Perhaps of all the literary conflicts, comic books have championed Man vs. Man more than any other genre. The Man Vs. Man conflict manifests in the epic form of Heroes vs. Villains. There are many ways to use Man vs. Man in your script, but a Superhero-against-Arch-nemesis provides an excellent opportunity to examine a dynamic range […]
Man Vs. Machine: The Storyteller’s Frontier
If your robot army can be defeated accidentally by the likes of Jar Jar Binks, you have NOT crafted a strong Man Vs. Machine conflict. Man Vs. Machine is the newest of all the types of dramatic conflict. The Legend Of John Henry is the oldest Man Vs. Machine story I could think of. That […]
Man Vs. Society: Your Hero Will Change The World & The World Will Change Your Hero
Use caution when writing a Man vs. Society conflict into your script. If you don’t think through what a Man vs. Society conflict will cost your hero, you will wind up with a Man vs. Nature conflict instead. …except your storm will be made up of human faces. Last week, Chris talked about Man vs. […]
Man Vs. Nature: It’s More About Dying Than Surviving
The Man Vs. Nature conflict is not just about surviving in the wilderness like Tom Hanks in Cast Away, James Franco in 127 Hours or one of my personal favorites: Robert Redford in Jeremiah Johnson. “Nature,” for the purposes of designing conflict and plot, can mean the natural AND the supernatural. In fact, “Nature” is […]
