Debbie’s Totally Random and Completely Insignificant Pop Culture Awards of 2013, Part Two

Time for Part Two of this year’s pop culture awards! Last week I concentrated exclusively on television. This week, I deal with movies, books, music and other entertainment topics. 1. The Complete Failure To Get The Point Award: The anonymous clowns who have approached Lionsgate Films about building a theme park based on The Hunger …

Writers, Know Your Archetypes: The Herald

In Part 3 of my series, “Writers, Know Your Archetypes,” I will examine the role of The Herald archetype in a story: 1. The primary function of herald characters is to give the protagonist “The Call to Adventure.” Or, to put it in more modern terms, their function is to kick off the plot. The …

Are Young Adult Movie Franchises Dead in the Water?

This past week Publisher’s Weekly linked to an article by Tara Aquino on the web site Complex.com about the failure of three YA movie adaptations this year: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Beautiful Creatures and The Host. While she doesn’t exactly come to the conclusion that young adult franchises are a dead commodity, she …

Pop Culture Roundup for August 2013

1. Batfleck: The casting announcement of Ben Affleck as the new Batman was the BIG news—if you’re a fan of superhero comics, probably the ONLY news of note. While on the one hand, I understand some of the concern (as well as the anger, hysteria, hilarity and sarcasm) I also think everyone needs to take …

The Difference Between Hero And Protagonist

SPOILER WARNING FOR JAWS, HARRY POTTER, THE HUNGER GAMES. The terms “hero” and “protagonist” have become nearly interchangeable. Writers and readers will nearly always refer to major characters in a story as the hero or the heroine. While every lead character who is a hero or heroine is a protagonist, not every protagonist is a …