Tag: tropes

Craft & Voice

The Woman in the Doorway Is a Lie

Backlit, cigarette going, trouble in a good dress — and no interior at all. Why the femme fatale is the genre's laziest furniture, and what to write instead.

Craft & Voice

The Mob Movies Lied to You

No speeches. No guns waved over dinner. What the mob movies sold you was opera. Here's the uglier, quieter truth.