This February, Jo (@pebblysand) and Blayne (@btelling) celebrate Valentine's Day/Month with a dive deep into writing arguments and fight scenes! Because what’s more romantic than a well-crafted battle of words (or wands)?
In this episode, we discuss the purpose of fights in fiction, the importance of tension leading up to them, and how to make them feel organic in our narratives. We explore different types of fights, from small spats to full-blown confrontations, and how they impact character development. We break down the writing of physical fights—including why they’re so difficult to get right and how to make them effective without getting lost in unnecessary detail. Lastly, we discuss the tricky balance between letting things go unsaid and wanting our characters to engage in screaming matches — because sometimes silence is the most powerful argument of all.
In other fandom news, we cover the recent controversy surrounding the sexual abuse allegations made against Neil Gaiman, fandom reactions to problematic creators, and the delicate relationship between fans and the works they love. On a lighter note, we talk about the latest Hunger Games book excerpt, the continued existence of TikTok in the US (for now), and the phenomenon that is Sexy Death Eater TikTok. (Yes, it’s real.)
This week, we mention:
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