by Liz Bureman |
Part of storytelling is creating something memorable. You want your readers to remember your characters, the world that you’ve created, and what happens to those characters in that world. This is nothing new; back in the earliest days of storytelling, before we had the written word, those who were responsible for the oral tradition had to make sure it was preserved.
One of the most effective ways to enforce memory is through repetition, and so one of the most common storytelling techniques was born: the Rule of Three.
by Liz Bureman |
I have a couple of guy friends who live together who are Star Wars fans. Calling them fans is actually an understatement.
The Star Wars canon follows the theme of last week with a truckload of characters. But what happens when you take the complete opposite approach, and pare down your cast of characters to one person?
by Liz Bureman |
On the recommendation of a coworker, I started reading Ken Follett’s Century Trilogy. The books are apparently known for Follett’s meticulous historical research, but when I first opened Fall of Giants, I was wondering why no one had warned me about the seven-page list of characters.
Seven. Pages. Of character names.
by Liz Bureman |
This past weekend, ABC Family had a Harry Potter marathon. My roommate recorded the first part of the Deathly Hallows, and we’re watching it now as I’m writing. It’s oddly fitting that the close of this discussion of heroes, villains, anti-heroes, and anti-villains happens while watching a film of the series that encompasses basically every shade of hero and villain that we’ve covered.
by Liz Bureman |
I don’t have a very big DVD collection, but one of the discs on my shelf is Catch Me If You Can. I really enjoy this movie, for a few reasons. I love anything that is based on a true story, plus you really can’t go wrong with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. Come on now.
By nature of the story content, you have a pair of characters who are on opposite sides of the law, but they’re both painted as sympathetic characters. DiCaprio’s Frank Abagnale, Jr. is clearly meant to be the one whom the audience sympathizes with, but Carl Hanratty, played by Hanks, is the man on the right side of the law. He’s clearly the anti-villain to DiCaprio’s anti-hero.
What other degrees of anti-villains are there?
