As a general rule, the internet is obsessively comprehensive about geeky things, but it’s always had a few baffling blind spots, so let’s ...

One last quick one: One form of dialogue that’s always likeable is a confidence collapse. The hero tries to do something strong (or supp...

Kids are some of the hardest characters to write because their syntax is so specific and inimitable. As with any type of syntax, every se...

I’ve been quite dismissive of dependence on backstories, but they can be great if they’re quick, illuminating, and full of specific humani...

I’m still working on long-term stuff, but in the meantime I figured we could do another week pulling from the “Humans of New York” site....

Hi guys, I’m working on some longer-term blog stuff, so give me a bit.

So I’ve updated all of the older v2 TV checklists to the current v3! Check them out to see lots of new answers and relive the oldies but g...

As I mentioned last time, Michael Lewis creates great characters from real-life material. He interviews his subjects at length, interview...

How do you make heroes sympathetic when they’re well-off and getting much wealthier? This is a problem in movies like The Big Short , as ...

You might recall that, a few years ago, I quoted the book “The Big Short”, so I’m on record as liking that, too, but I will be the first to ...

It haunts me still, that baffling dismissal I got from my manager: “At a certain point it all rolls downhill .” I’ve spent years trying to...

Now let’s look at one aspect of The Martian that was stronger in the book than the movie, and figure out why. I saw the movie first, and ...

One of the many charges that was leveled against The Force Awakens was that of Mary Sue-ism. Wikipedia defines a “Mary Sue” as “an ideal...

I have so much to say about this movie that I’ll spend the week on it, but, as with the other movies, let’s start with a rule it exemplifi...

This time let’s talk about some of the things we covered in the Books vs. Movies series.  In some ways, novelists have it much easie...

This movie does one of those things I hate, but it gets away with it, so let’s try to figure out why. I’ve complained in the past about m...

It's ridiculous, I realize, to rank a movie like this above serious and powerful movies like The Revenant or Spotlight, but I always try...