The Nuts and Bolts of Writing

READ THE PROLOGUE/TEASER OF "THE BOOK OF JOEL" HERE: https://tapas.io/series/The-Book-of-Joel/info 

For more information on the series, check out my site: https://www.fortunusgames.com and check out Joel's character profile: https://www.fortunusgames.com/post/joel-farber 

Follow Tete on Instagram: @tete.depunk 

Follow her on DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/tete-depunk 

PODCAST TWITTER: https://twitter.com/nuts_writing

PODCAST INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/nutsboltswriting.podcast/ 

Listen to our podcast on Anchor (links to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): https://anchor.fm/fortunus-games

Joel is on the left and Andrei is on the right! Artwork is by Fortunus Games and this episode was edited on Anchor.fm, where we also got our transitions and sound effects from.

This episode features Tete and Fortunus' live role play featuring Tete's character, Andrei Novokshonov, and Joel Farber!

Joel is the main character of the upcoming graphic novel by Fortunus Games, "The Book of Joel," and is also a side character in the graphic novel, "Sam in New York."

Follow Tete on deviantArt and Instagram for more stuff about her characters!

Links to read the graphic novels (preview, in the case of Joel's story) are here: Read Our Works | Fortunus Games

Read more about Joel here: Joel Farber - Character Profile (fortunusgames.com)

PODCAST TWITTER: https://twitter.com/nuts_writing

PODCAST INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/nutsboltswriting.podcast/

Listen to our podcast on Anchor (links to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): https://anchor.fm/fortunus-games

Read Endlessmidnightmoon's "Beyond the Grey Skies" on Tapas: https://tapas.io/series/beyond-the-grey-skies/info

Her website: https://www.endlessperiodicals.com/beyond-the-grey-skies/dramatis-personae

Read Helevorn's "Tales From the North" on Tapas: https://tapas.io/series/Tales-from-the-North1/info

Follow Helevorn on Instagram: @helevorn_bor

Follow me on Instagram: @fortunusgames

My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fortunusgames

Artwork in the thumbnail is by Helevorn.

We cover the following and more: 

ASVALD

1. Asvald is also a character in Sons of Disobedience. How does he appear there?

2. How does he interact with other characters (Rannveig, Aidan, Yngvar, Hakon, Helgi and Lars)?

3. Would you call Asvald psychopathic?

4. Your said you have a quite a few characters who would be seen as having personality disorders in our time. Why is that? And how are you representing this issue?

PODCAST TWITTER: https://twitter.com/nuts_writing

PODCAST INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/nutsboltswriting.podcast/

Listen to our podcast on Anchor (links to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): https://anchor.fm/fortunus-games

Read Helevorn's "Tales From the North" on Tapas: https://tapas.io/series/Tales-from-the-North1/info

Follow Helevorn on Instagram: @helevorn_bor

Follow me on Instagram: @fortunusgames

Artwork in the thumbnail was done by Helevorn. 

We cover the following and more: 

THE SLAVE AND THE TROLLS

1. What can you tell us about the style of this story?

2. What are the trolls in medieval Scandinavia?

3. So, by comparison, how are they represented in your story?

4. Apart from medieval literature, what inspired you in the way you created the trolls?

5. Asvald is also a character in your novel Sons of Disobedience. Is this incident with the slave and the trolls referred to there?

6. What was the most difficult thing to write in this story? 

7. How did you solve this problem?

PODCAST TWITTER: https://twitter.com/nuts_writing

PODCAST INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/nutsboltswriting.podcast/

Listen to our podcast on Anchor (links to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): https://anchor.fm/fortunus-games

Follow Helevorn on Instagram: @helevorn_bor

Follow me on Instagram: @fortunusgames

My Redbubble shop: https://www.redbubble.com/people/FortunusGames/shop?asc=u

In the upcoming Valentines' comic, Helevorn and I will be releasing a crossover collaboration comic taking place in Ardalion’s seedy bookstore!

Get ready to meet Ardalion, the Mephistophelian, lascivious, trouble-making owner of "Ardalion Books and Gifts," a seedy anarchist bookstore that Sam, Frankie, and Joel frequent as teens and young adults.

There, they will meet Eyolf from Helevorn's Tapas novel, "Lucky Wolf," who will be there to introduce his newest book - about love, of course.

Frankie will also meet a charming girl, Rannveig, who seems to be interested in him...

This will be released on Feb 14, 2021!

PODCAST TWITTER: https://twitter.com/nuts_writing

PODCAST INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/nutsboltswriting.podcast/

Listen to our podcast on Anchor (links to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): https://anchor.fm/fortunus-games

Follow Helevorn on Instagram: @helevorn_bor

Follow me on Instagram: @fortunusgames

My Redbubble shop: https://www.redbubble.com/people/FortunusGames/shop?asc=u

In this podcast episode, we will talk about my short story, “Farewell, My Father’s Son,” which will be part of the "Sam in New York" anthology which will be released on March 6, 2021. Subscribe to it here: https://tapas.io/series/Sam-in-New-York-The-Anthology/info

This short story covers an alternative timeline in Sam’s life where Sam’s life takes a turn for the worse. He becomes an actor but is not successful, and starts developing a complex about being a bad son to his parents.

This is a very #psychological story, and at turns, will be quite dark.

This short story was written for Owl Canyon Press' Hackathon contest in 2020, so the first and 20th paragraphs were not written by me, but were provided by Owl Canyon Press. Check out their website here: https://www.owlcanyonpress.com/

We cover the following questions and more:

1. What is the "Sam in New York" anthology? How did it come to be?

2. What is the premise of "Farewell, My Father's Son"? What is the AU it takes place in? It seems similar to Finding Sam (my short story Webtoon from summer 2020) in some ways (in terms of setting and what kind of situation Sam finds himself in). 

3. How will the art be like for this illustrated short story? Will there be a difference from the art in your graphic novels, like "Sam in New York"?

4. What does this story explore about Sam? Is Sam less confident than he normally is due to the "bad" things he encounters in this timeline? Is he someone whose confidence level changes depending on what he experiences? 

5. What new characters (if any) will we be introduced to in this short story?

PODCAST TWITTER: https://twitter.com/nuts_writing

PODCAST INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/nutsboltswriting.podcast/

Listen to our podcast on Anchor (links to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): https://anchor.fm/fortunus-games

Follow Helevorn on Instagram: @helevorn_bor

Helevorn on deviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/helevornart

My Redbubble shop: https://www.redbubble.com/people/FortunusGames/shop?asc=u

In this episode, me and Helevorn talk about her character, Elisar, who is a priest from 18th century Romania. He is one of the main characters in her upcoming Tapas novel, "Outlaws." 

The art of Elisar in the thumbnail is done by Helevorn!

We cover the following and more:

1. Can you summarize for us who Elisar is, and what role he will play in Outlaws?

2. Can you share with us some of the influences on Elisar's story (music, art, myths, etc.)? 

3. What has inspired you to enter him into OC-training on deviantArt? What is OC-training?

4. Will you be exploring Elisar's relationships with others? For example, Amza and Murgu, amongst others.

5. Elisar is the character in “Outlaws” with the most pronounced character arc. How would you describe the way his character changes throughout the story?

6. What brings about these changes?

7. What role does religion play in Elisar's personality and beliefs?

8. Can you tell us more about how Elisar sees love and romance in his life?

9. How is the OC-training going so far? What other aspects of his life and personality are you planning to refer to in the training?

10. How do you think OC-training will help you to flesh out Elisar more?

PODCAST TWITTER: https://twitter.com/nuts_writing

PODCAST INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/nutsboltswriting.podcast/

Listen to our podcast on Anchor (links to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): https://anchor.fm/fortunus-games

Follow Tete on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tete.depunk/

DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/tete-depunk

Art in the thumbnail is by Tete.Depunk and can be seen in full here on deviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/tete-depunk/art/Guess-Who-OC-Training-Round-13-Gerda-of-Liekki-867139940

In this podcast episode, we talk about Gerda of Liekki, who is from Tete.Depunk's series in development, "Gerda and the Frost Lord'! 

We cover the following and more:

1. It's been a while since we last talked about Gerda. What has made you want to re-enroll her in OC-training again? How much has she changed since we last saw her in 2018?

2. Can you share with us some of the influences on Gerda's story (music, art, myths, etc.)? What has inspired you to make the changes we've seen since 2018?

3. Will you be exploring more of Gerda and Kai's relationship this time around? Last time, you focused more on her origin story and the time she spent in the human village as a midwife. 

4. Can you tell us more about how Gerda ended up in Kai's world? Will this be covered in more detail in OC-training?

5. How do you think OC-training will help you to flesh out Gerda even more?

6. Which OC-training task do you think will be the easiest? The hardest?

PODCAST TWITTER: https://twitter.com/nuts_writing

PODCAST INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/nutsboltswriting.podcast/

Listen to our podcast on Anchor (links to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): https://anchor.fm/fortunus-games

The characters we mention here are from the following works: 

-Ardalion, Sam, and Frankie are from "Sam in New York" by Fortunus Games

-Yngvar, Aidan, and Eyolf are from "Lucky Wolf" by Helevorn

Read Fortunus Games' "Sam in New York" graphic novel here: 

https://tapas.io/series/Sam-in-New-York/info

Also on Webtoon: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/sam-in-new-york/list?title_no=501948

READ Helevorn's Lucky Wolf here on Tapas: https://tapas.io/series/Lucky-Wolf/info

1. What can you tell us about the plot of this book?

2. How does it differ in style from The Picture of Dorian Gray that we discussed last time?

3. The characters. 

4. Important moments. Quotes.

5. Themes: love, social norms and morality, Hellenism and homosexuality, social class

6.  How has the book influenced your characters, style and plots?

7. Maurice was written in 1913 was only published in 1971, right after Forster’s death. How does he explain his decision to not publish it during his life?

8. It is quite an underappreciated book, not the one that Forster is most acclaimed for, even now when the subject matter isn’t as controversial. How has the book been received by critics?

9. This is a book that feels very contemporary in the straightforward and honest narrative style and in the happy ending for Maurice’s love life. In what aspects do you think the book differs from popular representations of homosexuality in fiction nowadays?

9.5. How did the author's personal life influence this book?

10. How much is Forster’s sexuality (held a secret from the public) embedded in his writings?

11. From his biographies, what do you think is Forster’s personal attitude towards romantic relationships and sexuality and how does it compare to that of the 3 main characters of Maurice?

PODCAST TWITTER: https://twitter.com/nuts_writing

PODCAST INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/nutsboltswriting.podcast/

Listen to our podcast on Anchor (links to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.): https://anchor.fm/fortunus-games

Read Fortunus Games' "Sam in New York" graphic novel here: 

https://tapas.io/series/Sam-in-New-York/info

Also on Webtoon: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/sam-in-new-york/list?title_no=501948

Questions for PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT: Intro: Today, we're talking about Portnoy's Complaint, which was first published in 1969 and is written by the award-winning American author, Philip Roth. It was very controversial in its time and got banned from a number of countries for its candid and vulgar treatment of sexuality. 

1. Let's start with the plot - is there a plot? Or is it just a collection of thoughts? 

2. Why was the book so controversial? What did Roth seek to accomplish when writing this book? What was he trying to address in society about sexuality? This was written in the 60s, during the Sexual Revolution in the US.

3. What is the role of vulgarity in this work? What does it say about Portnoy as a character? Roth as an author? Attitudes towards women and vulgarity - what is the relationship here? Why was this book accused of being misogynistic?

4. What are the similarities between Portnoy's Complaint and the Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray? Both works feature sexual libertines as protagonists and also attack traditional sexual morality. What are the differences? (talk about tone, perspective, etc.) Talk about Dorian Grey vs. Portnoy - both are libertines, but are so different in some ways. 

5. Other themes in Portnoy's - Jewish-American identity (esp in light of Israel, assimilation, esp Portnoy's obsession with "conquering America through fucking"), parent-child relationship (Portnoy seeks to liberate himself from his strict parents' expectations through his libertine lifestyle and vulgarity, since he was always pressured to be a model citizen and perfect son)

6. Influence on Fortunus' Works - Ardalion and Portnoy's similarities, esp their attitudes towards sex and traditional morality, cynicism, and flow of consciousness technique, brutally honest tone - also, Sam's relationship with his parents has some degree of similarity, although they are nowhere as controlling as Portnoy's, and Sam's reaction towards his parents' strictness is different.