You know what the worst part of most traditional stories is? The protagonist. Protagonists are never the best part of anything. This is why ensembles were invented. Protagonists are like... walls. They’re functional, and you can decorate them a little bit, but it’s the rare wall that really grabs your attention.
In early August, Instagram introduced “Stories,” a new feature the company asserted would let users “share all the moments of your day, not just the ones you want to keep on your profile.” What the platform neglected to mention, however, was that a near-identical feature exists elsewhere—on Snapchat.
We all love characters who are good at what they’re doing. Nobody wants to root for someone who screws up constantly or walks into traps we can see a mile away. But at the same time, it can be hard to love someone who’s too perfect. So how do you make us believe in, and love, a major badass?
Nigerian author Wole Talabi has posted his list of the 10 best African science fiction and fantasy stories of 2015. They include Afro-cyberpunk, a reimagined fairy tale, magical realism, and far-future SF. Definitely worth checking out! [via Metafilter and BoingBoing]
Outside the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, there’s an installation. In a still-bubbling lake of asphalt, a mammoth drowns to death while a crying baby mammoth reaches out its trunk. This is one of the most depressing pieces of statuary I have ever seen.
We don’t know much about the future that these very, very short stories come from. But we do know that they have zombies, a robust Craigslist’s Missed Connections section, and very, very few words.
For some people, the internet is like the wild west: a lawless play-pen where they can get away with being an asshole to anyone they’d like. You know—trolling.
Welcome back to the Connected States, the project that involves me living in a van for a year, driving around and telling stories. After going live last week I was absolutely overwhelmed by the positive response. I received so many tips, well-wishes, and offers of help that I haven’t been able to respond to them all…
So you've written some sparkling dialogue, and even made sure your characters don't all have the same "voice." But there's still a problem with your dialogue — you feel weird writing "he said" and "she said" over and over again. Is there any way around this? What can you do to avoid this repetition?
We thought we knew the extent of human shame. We thought wrong. After publishing some of your most mortifying follies involving Gchat, AIM, texting, and email last month, even more stories of the dreaded "wrong window" poured in. And they were so, so much worse.
Last month, Nebula award-winning author and editor Eugie Foster passed away at the way too early age of 42. Eugie was, and is still, one of the most impressive people I've ever known.
Can you spin just six-words into a whole story? We hope so, because we want to hear your best (and shortest!) science fiction epics.
Fables and other moral stories made their way into our books and cartoons when we were kids, but somewhere along the way, we've probably forgotten some of the important lessons they teach. Maybe you've heard these, maybe you haven't, but here are some of the best lessons that you can learn no matter what age you are.
Six years ago, photographer Joey L. was accidentally caught on film by a fellow snapper. Six years later, the pair discovered they'd been within meters—and caught each other on camera. Here, we republish Joey L.'s account of what happened.
It doesn't matter if it comes from a book, a movie or a friend: Conflict is what triggers the majority of the stories we know and love. And the essence of that conflict has changed a lot throughout history influenced by how society evolved. Illustrator Grant Snider sums up this evolution in just one clever comic strip.
Raise your hand if you've ever gone on a vacation (or even to an event for a day), taken a bunch of photos, sworn you'll put them in an album for your friends and family to see, only to leave them languishing on phone or SD card for many months. I do it pretty much every time. Google+ Stories, a feature that begins…
Every year, the science fiction and fantasy trade journal Locus asks the public to select from its editors' picks for the best science fiction and fantasy of the previous year (or write in your own nominations). The ballot for the 43rd Annual Awards is now open online – go cast your vote!
How do we discover new cities to visit? How do we remember where we've been? With all the tools at our fingertips, I'd still argue it's actually not all that easy. Hi, which just opened to the public today, is a beautifully designed way to find, share, and tell stories about places.
In this modern age, there aren't many sleeping beauties to wake, dragons to fight or treasures to hunt. But there are plenty of ageing family members whose Wi-Fi needs fixing—and that's the tack this animated fairy tale takes.
The fundamental concept behind Kurt Vonnegut's master's thesis in anthropology at the University of Chicago was, in Vonnegut's words, "that stories have shapes which can be drawn on graph paper."
