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Writers regularly grapple with the task of finding an idea that they can transform into a compelling narrative. This is not as simple as it may seem, as the process requires a certain level of creativity, skill, and patience. In many cases, the initial idea is not enough. It needsContinue Reading

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Google’s Earth Studio gives concept artists and authors of transmedia stories, graphic novels, and illustrated books another tool for developing cityscapes. While the graphics are not photorealistic, the 3D graphics rendered in Earth Studio can be the starting point for image compositing. There are issues with the visual quality ofContinue Reading

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Sci fi authors often find it challenging to get a handle on future technologies and portray them in a plausible manner. This is particularly true for technologies in the near future (i.e. 20 to 25 years out) because readers can be quick to see fantastic technologies as not being realisticContinue Reading

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When creating sci fi technologies, understanding the concept of competitive advantage is important. One of the big irritants for me are sci fi and fantasy visuals that include technology that looks “cool” but is totally useless or worse, a hinderance to the user. Competition is essentially a contest between two orContinue Reading

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I continue to be amazed at the technology that is being developed for visual storytelling. The latest surprise is EbSynth. It makes the job of converting video into painting-like animations. The best part…it’s free! I’ll post some video examples that I did in an afternoon while learning the software. ThisContinue Reading

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An interesting question on how to create the science and technology for science fiction stories pops up regularly on one of the online groups I am part of. A lot of writers seem to be unsure just how to approach science and technology. Their uncertainty is understandable — when yourContinue Reading

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Creating strong scenes is an essential skill for writers. Over the years, I’ve struggled with writing scenes but it was only when I began to study the structure of comic books and graphic novels that I saw a simple framework for structuring scenes. My first efforts were done in aContinue Reading

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This is an updated version of my diagram on story structure. I’ve pulled together information on story structure from a number of different sources to identify aspects of story structure that are common to many of them. This chart includes information on story structure from Aristotle’s three-act structure, Freytag’s five-actContinue Reading

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Open domain, Creative Commons, and stock photographs are a great resource for transmedia creators. Millions of photos can be downloaded and used in videos, motion graphics, and comics. Using the photographs as they are will work for some photo comics, but other visual styles can be created using filters toContinue Reading