There's a common saying in writing classes--one of the first you will ever hear--that goes like this: stories require conflict. If you don't have a conflict, you don't have a story. This is good advice most of the time, because characters who go through their whole story with nothing but smooth sailing are boring as… Continue reading Stories With No Conflict
Category: Plot
Why Battle Royale and the Hunger Games are Not the Same
Let's get back to the literature, shall we? There are a couple books out that have very similar premises. You've already read the title of this post, so you already know what they are--Battle Royale, by Koushun Takami, and The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. Both books (later adapted into movies, and in the case of Battle Royale even a… Continue reading Why Battle Royale and the Hunger Games are Not the Same
On Modular Stories
Because I feel like being contrary today, we're going to talk about something that most "literary" types love to do that drives me absolutely bonkers. Come on, modular stories--let's dance. For those of you who don't spend an absurd amount of time reading and thinking about story structure, a quick explanation: a "modular story" is a… Continue reading On Modular Stories
How the Cabin in the Woods Should Have Ended (SPOILERS FTW)
Yes, we are going to talk about this movie again. Shut up. It was amazing. But, it was not perfect. There is one thing about it that rubs me entirely the wrong direction, and it's at the very end so I couldn't write about it in my review. So now that I've been pestering you… Continue reading How the Cabin in the Woods Should Have Ended (SPOILERS FTW)
Genius Movie Concepts (Poorly Executed)
Most big-budget movies follow a very specific formula, which is why so many of them feel like copies of one another. There's something to be said for using this formula, but not everybody does. It's nice to break from form, and some stories downright require it--which is when we get truly unique films like Fight… Continue reading Genius Movie Concepts (Poorly Executed)
M.M. Jordahl 