The Nuts and Bolts of Writing

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This week's card from the Fortunus Games tarot deck is the Four of Cups featuring  Benjamin Cox from my graphic novel, “Sam in New York”!

I chose the Four of Cups to represent Ben because he is someone who struggles with facing reality. He has thrown himself deep into religion and academic study to escape the problems plaguing his life - his loveless marriage, lack of real friends, and his inability to heal from the scars of his abusive childhood. For all of his intelligence and wit (and maybe because of these traits), Ben is unable to escape the constraints that he has erected for himself.

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Joel from my graphic novel, "The Book of Joel," is an INTJ-T (turbulent)!!!! 

Read more about this personality type here. 

Read "The Book of Joel" here.

Read Joel's character profile here.

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This week's card from the Fortunus Games tarot deck is Three of Cups featuring  (from left to right) Joel Farber, Sam Abramov, and Frankie Amato from my graphic novels, “The Book of Joel” and “Sam in New York”!

This card symbolizes the joy of social contact, so Joel, Sam, and Frankie were the perfect pick for this. It's a card of celebration, support, and friendship.

Although these three are good friends in high school (Frankie and Sam more than Joel with Sam or Frankie), they do drift somewhat apart as they get older. Sam and Frankie remain close, but Joel drifts quite far from Frankie and Sam.

That’s because he feels like he has little in common with them, which was always the case. Even during high school, Joel always felt he was the third wheel, with Sam and Frankie dominating most of the conversations.

Sam and Frankie share a lot more in common - although Frankie is more serious and less extroverted than Sam, both young men are extroverted, somewhat mischievous, and like seeing people’s reactions. Frankie drifts away from this after high school, but these sides of him emerge when he talks to Sam.

However, Joel never really had these personality traits. He mostly talked to the other two about debate club (since they all enjoyed pissing off certain people at debate club) and the things they didn’t like. As you know, Joel is someone who can spend a long time talking about things he doesn’t like, and that really intrigued Sam and Frankie.

So, a bit more about the imagery of this card. The three young men are dancing in a circle and they’re raising their cups high in celebration. They’re looking at each other in appreciation and they’re bound by their friendship. There is a sense of them supporting each other and celebrating each person’s unique contributions to the group. And this is how Sam, Frankie, and Joel interacted in high school. And as we will see, they drift apart, as many young people do, after high school.

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Read "Ignite" here. 

Today, me and @endlessmidnightmoon talk about her newest Tapas novel, "Ignite." 

We explore the following questions:  

1) What is the structure of Ignite? How does it compare to Beyond the Grey Skies?  

2) Why did you choose to write Ignite backwards? How did you know the ending first? Did it just suddenly come to you?  

3) How do you write Beyond the Grey Skies? Do you go with an outline or do you write it as you go?

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Check out all of my finished Fortunus Games tarot deck cards here.

This week's card from the Fortunus Games tarot deck is Two of Cups featuring Malka Spitzer and Joel Farber from my graphic novel, “The Book of Joel”!

The Two of Cups shows Malka and Joel exchanging cups and vowing to love each other.  Above them is the Caduceus of Hermes, a staff with two snakes around it that symbolizes exchange, trade, and commerce. The staff is topped by a lion's head, which represents the fiery sexual energy between Malka and Joel.

In short, the card symbolizes attraction, confluence, harmony, unity, and mutual respect.

This is the perfect card for Joel and Malka. Out of all of my couples, Joel and Malka understand each other the most. As my friend Tete describes it, their relationship is instinctual. They just understand each other so well. A lot can be said with the smallest of gestures.

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Read "Ignite" here. 

Today, me and @endlessmidnightmoon talk about her newest Tapas novel, "Ignite."

 We explore the following questions:  

1) When did you get the idea for Ignite, your new series?  

2) What time does it take place? Does it take place before or after Beyond the Grey Skies?  

3) Who is Lorenzo, the main character of Ignite?  

4) How is it like writing Lorenzo compared to the De Moreni siblings, who are the protagonists of Beyond the Grey Skies?  

5) One thing that really stands out about Ignite is the theme of duty versus desire. How do Cosimo and Lorenzo navigate the tension between duty and desire?

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It's now time for the Minor Arcana of the Fortunus Games tarot deck!

The first suit I'll do is the Suit of Cups, and the Suit of Cups starts with none other than the Ace of Cups!

The Ace of Cups signifies new beginnings, inner peace, and hope, happiness, and empathy. In love and relationships, this card signifies the beginning of a new relationship, pregnancy, and fertility.

Malka Spitzer from my graphic novel, “The Book of Joel,” was the perfect pick for this because she realizes in a pivotal scene that she loves Joel. She accepts this with grace, happiness, and hope. Contrast this with the cynical and doubtful Joel, who panics, feels uncomfortable, and denies his feelings when faced with the reality that he may be falling in love with Malka.

It's not until the kiss on the rooftop (which we saw in Chapter 2) that both of them come to terms with their feelings for one another and realize the future they can build together.

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Tete.Depunk reviews "The Batman" movie starring Robert Pattinson and Zoe Kravitz. 

I ask her the following questions to get her opinion:  

1) What were your expectations for this movie? Did the movie meet them?  

2) What was your favorite part of the movie?  

3) Is Pattinson's Batman your favorite Batman? Which was your least favorite Batman?  

4) How did you find Batman's relationship with Catwoman in this movie?  

5) How does this Batman compare to The Dark Knight from 2008? And the Snyderverse portrayals of Batman?  

6) What did you think of the villains in this film?  

7) What did you think of the cinematography?  

8) How was the score like?  

9) What's your rating?

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Hi everyone! This week, we’ll look at Judgment, the last card of the Major Arcana in my tarot deck, the Fortunus Games tarot deck.   

Check out the Fortunus Games tarot deck here. 

For "Judgment," I chose Ben and Doris Cox from my Tapas graphic novel series, Sam in New York, since Judgment features the Christian concept of Judgment Day. 

However, there's a little twist - Ben and Doris belong to a sect of Christianity (non-denominational Protestant that's influenced by Pentecostalism and Charismatic Christianity) that believes that there will be a Rapture before Christ's Second Coming (which will then lead to Judgment Day).  

So here, Ben and Doris are actually waiting for the Rapture. The Rapture is a theological position held by some Protestant Christians about an end-time event where believers will be taken into Heaven. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the world will be plunged into a seven-year tribulation period, which is when the Antichrist comes to power.

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@tete.depunk and I talk about what she thinks of getting rid of two of her characters, Kai and Gerda.  

We explore the following topics:  

1) I know we've already trashed Kai, but it's time to trash Gerda too now. Why's that the case? Why have you decided to trash her now?  

2) In retrospect, what was the most frustrating thing about working with Gerda and Kai?  

3) Does this have to with how they are external characters? That is, their personalities and stories were determined by their reaction to external events, but they themselves had little to no distinguishing personality traits, other than tropes.  

4) Which was more frustrating to work with, the medieval fantasy version or the magic realism version in 19th century?  

5) Do you think Gerda and Kai were determined too much by their victim status as well? For instance, Gerda was defined by the fact she was a magic user who was discriminated against by non-magic people.   

She also went through a bad marriage and had little going for her until she met the Frost Lord. Kai also had similar trappings, since he was a slave and he had lost his first wife.