Banes was the brains behind the Quackcast this week! His idea is that a character's internal struggle and how that conflicts with the realities they face can be a great driver for a story. -cribbed from listening to Vince Gilligan of Breaking Bad fame. Banes is a much better story writer than me so I can't explain it as well, but a good example is Walter White from Breaking Bad who starts off as a mild mannered dad and struggling chemistry teacher who moonlights at a car-wash to make ends meet- his internal struggle is that he actually sees himself as an unrecognised genius and someone who was unfairly wronged in life and so never reached his full potential. With his cancer diagnoses, the debits and worries that introduces into his life and the opportunity to fix everything by breaking the law, that interacts with his internal conflict to turn him into a drug kingpin/mafia boss/evil villain.

It's a very interesting way to do character development! It can really inform how you change and craft your characters in interesting ways. Unfortunately I had taken a strong painkiller for toothache before the cast so I was not mentally able to understand the topic correctly haha! Part of the Quackcast I talk about how internal struggles are not needed for all characters and that James Bond is a good example of that- he's better when he as no conflict between his internal struggle and an external conflict and he's just supremely confident. Examples of Bond where he does have internal struggles are weaker versions of the character.

Have you given your characters internal struggles to help them develop and change the story when that internal struggle conflicts with the challenges they face? Or can you look at your stories and see that in your characters?

This week Gunwallace gives us a lovely musical theme to The Art of Running Away - A thoughtful early morning cup of coffee in a cold, empty room, alone. Contemplations on life, mortality, and the dancing motes of dust in a stray beam of sun, illuminating a disk of warm light on the floor, occupied by a single, happy cat.

Topics and shownotes

Links

Featured comic: The Light Thief - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2025/aug/11/featured-comic-the-light-thief/

Featured music: The Art of Running Away - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/The_Art_of_Running_Away - by Portocor, rated M.

Special thanks to: Gunwallace - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Gunwallace/ Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/

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