In this episode of Storyline Sessions, award-winning sci-fi and fantasy author Sam Paisley share his writing journey, talks about how psychology influences his work, dives into symbolism of the magic system in his debut novel and many more exciting topics.

Sam's website - https://elementsoftime.ca/

Sam's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/elementsoftimebook/

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Timestamps:

00:00 - Start

00:47 - Conversation start

01:04 - Awards

02:34 - Nine years of writing his debut novel

05:02 - Long books - editing and pace

08:14 - Importance of giving your story enough space

09:39 - Writing multiple POVs

14:48 - Film and TV influences

16:34 - Creating his magic system

20:05 - First draft vs final version

22:06 - Plotting process

24:22 - Knowing when a scene/chapter/story is over

25:35 - Getting good feedback and improving

31:10 - Experience with the writing community

35:48 - Book signing in Sam's high school and writing for young people

39:53 - Benefits of reading and understanding psychology

44:16 - Working on other projects and 2024 goals

46:57 - Reading vs listening to books

47:34 - Cover art process

51:34 - The Elements of Time symbolism

56:48 - Creating merch

58:32 - Signed copies and bookmarks

1:00:17 - The most important moments of 2023

1:01:55 - Outro

In this episode of Storyline Sessions, horror author and Bram Stoker Award nominee Laurel Hightower shares her experience with writing grief and different sensitive topics, being traditionally published, choosing the right cover art and many more interesting subjects.

Laurel's website - https://laurelhightower.com/

Laurel's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/laurelhightower/

Laurel's Twitter - https://twitter.com/HightowerLaurel

Follow Storyline Sessions Podcast on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/storyline.sessions/

Riverside.fm affiliate link (I receive a recurring commission with no additional cost to you): https://www.riverside.fm/?via=marko

Timestamps:

00:00 - Start

01:04 - Conversation start

01:18 - Silent Key reception

03:25 - Switching up genres and writing strong characters

06:23 - Picking the right cover

08:08 - Traditional vs self-publishing

12:01 - Editing process

14:52 - Co-editing short story anthologies and representing important issues in genre fiction

20:02 - Every Woman Knows This and writing about women issues

26:10 - Diversity in genre writing and biases

28:23 - Grief in horror

32:52 - Audiobooks

36:10 - Short vs long form

39:00 - Below novella and Bram Stoker Award nomination

42:50 - Cryptid horror and other types of horror Laurel enjoys

45:50 - Using pen names

47:55 - Splatterpunk

50:15 - Give Me Your Fingers

51:25 - Piracy

54:25 - Day job impact on writing

57:48 - Day of the Door (new novel)

01:00:42 - Mike Flanagan

01:03:05 - 2023 favorites

01:06:20 - Outro

In this episode of Storyline Sessions, the author of dark fantasy epic Gunmetal Gods and progression sci-fantasy Lightblade Zamil Akhtar shares his experience with the Kickstarter success, talks about his writing process, influences, gives some horror movie recommendations and many more interesting subjects.

Zamil's website - https://zamilakhtar.com/

Zamil's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/zamilakhtarauthor/

Timestamps:

00:00 - Start

00:35 - Conversation start

00:42 - Kickstarter success

05:23 - Growing as an author

07:12 - Building a community

08:42 - Different influences on Gunmetal Gods and its setting

11:53 - Zamil's prose and descriptions in fantasy

14:31 - Writing process

17:51 - Historical fiction

19:26 - Worldbuilding and gaming influences on Lightblade

20:58 - Creating magic systems

23:16 - RPGs

24:08 - Grimdark and horror

26:49 - Lovecraft, Ito and writing a horror novel

28:55 - What Zamil likes in modern fantasy

30:25 - Using tropes vs experimenting

33:14 - Fantasy adaptations

35:16 - Potential Gunmetal Gods adaptation

36:34 - Changing genres and using pen names

38:49 - How he came up with Lightblade

40:32 - Difference between writing Gunmetal Gods and Lightblade

41:40 - Future plans for Lightblade

43:05 - Endpoint for Gunmetal Gods

45:26 - Editing process

48:24 - Traditional publishing vs indie publishing

50:24 - Audience supporting authors directly

54:15 - Reviews

57:18 - Horror movies

58:00 - Hidden gems recommendations

01:01:20 - Future plans

01:02:42

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In this solo episode, Storyline Sessions host Marko Bogdanović shares his favorite tools for writing, editing, recording and everything in between.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Start

00:46 - Writing tools

03:35 - Podcasting tools

05:28 - Outro

Follow Storyline Sessions Podcast on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/storyline.sessions/

Riverside.fm affiliate link (I receive a recurring commission with no additional cost to you): https://www.riverside.fm/?via=marko

DISCLAIMER: Unfortunately, this was the best audio I could salvage from my talk with Bryan as there were some sound issues. I decided to publish the conversation because I think it was great and it would be a shame for you not to hear it. It's listenable, but just wanted to put a disclaimer out because this isn't the norm. Hope you'll still give it a chance!

In this episode of Storyline Sessions, the author of SciFi/Fantasy novel The Forsaken Planet Bryan Wilson talks about how he managed to complete his debut novel after 20 years, his influences, experience with the writing community, the sequel The Son of the Prophets and many more interesting topics.

Bryan's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bryan.wilson.author/

Timestamps:

00:00 - Start/Disclaimer

00:56 - Conversation start

01:24 - Landing on the series name (Power of the Stars)

01:56 - Second book cover reveal and thoughts on book art

06:31 - 20 years in the making

09:05 - The story evolution

10:11 - YA vs Adult fiction

12:18 - Influences

16:11 - Prologues

18:38 - Info-dumping

22:45 - Writing process and pace

26:22 - Beta readers

28:32 - Dealing with perfectionism

32:24 - Construction business, local community and writing

35:03 - Fan interactions and dealing with reviews

40:08 - The indie writing community and working with other authors

44:40 - Promoting his work

47:30 - Crowdfunding and audience connection

50:58 - Adaptations, The Wheel of Time, The Rings of Power

56:58 - Future plans for the Power of the Stars series

59:46 - Outro

Follow Storyline Sessions Podcast on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/storyline.sessions/

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In this episode, we are starting a new type of videos on the channel - original fiction written by the Storyline Sessions host Marko Bogdanović. This will not affect the usual content, there are still author interviews and talks about storytelling coming each Thursday.

"No Return Address" is a magical realism short story about a girl on a tropical island where the letters from around the world end up in search of the right recipient.

If you prefer reading to listening, you can find the story here - https://bit.ly/No_Return_Address Follow

Storyline Sessions Podcast on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/storyline.sessions/

Music used in the video - In Your Memory - Peace Reels (from Canva Pro)

In this solo episode, Storyline Sessions host Marko Bogdanović shares his recommendations for cozy winter books, graphic novels and short stories of different genres, including fantasy, sci-fi and horror.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Start

00:09 - Intro

00:44 - Novels

00:47 - Hogfather by Terry Terry Pratchett

01:35 - Misery by Stephen King

02:28 - Drood by Dan Simmons

03:18 - Northern Lights/The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

03:46 - Winternight trilogy by Katherine Arden

04:15 - Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky

04:40 - Let the Right One In by Jon Ajvide Lindqvist

05:07 - Short stories

05:18 - A Pail of Air by Fritz Leiber

05:43 - Nightfall by Isaac Asimov

06:17 - Wendigo by Algernon Blackwood

06:52 - At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft

07:16 - Graphic novels

07:25 - Grandville by Bryan Talbot

07:57 - Snowpiercer by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand, Olivier Bouquet and Jean-Marc Rochette

08:32 - Glacial Period (Louvre Collection) by Nicolas de Crécy

09:19 - Outro

Follow Storyline Sessions Podcast on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/storyline.sessions/

In this episode of Storyline Sessions, Aidee Sea, the author of After Death Comics, talks about many topics including the process of creating webcomics, building a community, differences between writing short form and long form stories and AI's impact on art.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Start

00:54 - Conversation start

01:05 - Horrorween comics - 4 years running

02:32 - Long form comics

03:39 - The After Death Comics origin and mixing genres

07:05 - Aidee's process

09:11 - Constructing stories in webcomics

12:07 - Deciding between ideas

14:56 - Keeping your style vs writing for the audience

18:06 - The business side of creative work

21:32 - Sponsorships, Patreon and crowd funding

25:05 - Separating yourself from your work

27:24 - Current events and universal feelings in comics

29:45 - AI and art

33:31 - People (not) stealing artists' work

35:12 - Comic Collaborations

39:00 - Unexpected genre that Aidee would like to try

40:55 - Gaming and game influences

43:29 - Working on video games

46:38 - People and horror in different media

47:26 - Influences

50:11 - Writing and testing jokes

52:30 - Readers' reactions and leaving clues for them

58:31 - How to keep readers engaged

1:01:07 - Limitations and creating different types of comics

1:02:34 - Other comic authors as inspiration

1:04:12 - Working on "traditional" comics

1:06:46 - Horror film of the year

1:07:44 - Spoilers for the Barbarian (2022)

1:09:03 - Taking lessons from horror movies

1:09:35 - Future plans for After Death Comics

1:12:13 - Outro

You can find Aidee at linktr.ee/afterdeathcomics

Follow Storyline Sessions Podcast on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/storyline.sessions/

riverside.fm affiliate link (I receive a recurring commission with no additional cost to you): https://www.riverside.fm/?via=marko

In this solo episode, Storyline Sessions host Marko Bogdanović talks about his visit to the annual international Belgrade Book Fair and shares some key points from the talk with Simon Sebag Montefiore - British historian, television presenter and author of popular history books and novels.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Start

00:15 - Introducing the Belgrade Book Fair and its importance

01:32 - This year's overview

02:12 - Simon Sebag Montefiore

02:50 - Simon on his writing process

04:04 - Simon on witnessing historical events and research

05:52 - Simon on his dreams coming true

06:42 - Simon on writing history books

07:16 - Simon on working with BBC

07:57 - Simon on the idea behind his World book

08:46 - Simon on great historians

09:07 - Jerusalem - City of stories

09:22 - Time travel - my question for Simon

11:19 - Publishing landscape in Serbia

11:58 - COMICS

12:20 - Board games and Brandon Sanderson

12:32 - Antique and used books

12:52 - Conclusion

Follow Storyline Sessions Podcast on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/storyline.sessions/

In this episode of Storyline Sessions, the author of Harbinger of Justice and a YouTube channel host Andrew Watson talks about how he got into the Booktube/Bookstagram community, inspirations and the process behind his debut novel, as well as its reception.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Start

00:37 - Conversation start

00:51 - Spooky season video collab and reading horror

02:25 - Starting with BookTube and creating a community

07:11 - Filmmaking, visual mediums and choosing writing

08:56 - Getting into self-publishing

10:45 - The reality of traditional publishing

14:22 - Choosing his editor and cover artist

16:07 - Process of working with the editor and cover artist

20:20 - Fantasy cover trends and using maps

22:28 - Book reception after first 3 months

25:12 - Choosing your POVs and writing process

28:50 - The Shadowbinders Trilogy and beyond

31:50 - Magic system and worldbuilding

35:22 - Ancient Egypt influence and other inspirations

41:56 - Potential adaptations of Harbinger of Justice

43:19 - Picking topics for videos and algorithm

45:50 - Applying different knowledge to writing and being visual

48:57 - Reviewing other authors from the community

53:17 - Book festivals

55:07 - Signed books

59:36 - Books, going digital and attention spans

1:03:32 - Working on the next book

1:04:47 - Beta readers

1:10:35 - Pressure after the debut and not rushing

1:13:06 - The trend of making everything a franchise

1:15:37 - What to expect from his future work

1:17:10 - Outro

You can find Andrew on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@the_fools_tale/videos and Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the_fools_tale/

Follow Storyline Sessions Podcast on Instagram - / storyline.sessions - https://www.instagram.com/storyline.sessions/

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