Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share The Nuts and Bolts of Writing
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
The Nuts and Bolts of Writing
By Fortunus GamesEducation
The Nuts and Bolts of Writing episodes
- EP 42: Writing Short Stories (7) - "Family Records" by Fortunus Games
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
In this episode, me and Helevorn talk about my short story, "Family Records," which will appear in the "Sam in New York" anthology you guys helped to unlock during Inksgiving! The anthology is slated to be released some time in 2021.
This story is a flashforward to 1985 from the point of view of Sam’s daughter Hannah looking back at her father’s last few years.
The thumbnail here was drawn by the awesome Akitku and features an older Sam looking back at an old photo of his favorite Yiddish actor, Boris Thomashefksy. Check out Akitku's Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/akitku/
Akitku is a friend of ours and she also has an amazing Tapas comic, "Brothers' Keepers," which is a medieval fantasy. Check it out here:
https://tapas.io/series/Brothers-Keepers/info
We cover the following themes in this episode:
1. Plot, style & themes. Which of the paths in the visual novel does this follow?
2. Hannah. Personality, interests, relationship with Sam.
3. Old Sam. How have his youth struggles resolved? What does he miss most from his past? What does he regret/ is most proud of?
4. The Lower East side over time. How are his children and grandchildren adapted to like in America vs. how Sam was?
5. Will you explore other outcomes from the visual novel?
47 min - EP 41: Writing Short Stories (6) - "The Călușari" by Helevorn
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
In this episode, me and Helevorn talk about Helevorn's short story, "The Călușari," which is a historical fantasy short story set in medieval Romania.
You can read it on her deviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/helevornart/gallery/59192571/the-calusari-illustrated-story
We cover the following topics:
1. A. What are the Călușari ?
B. Origins & Symbolism.
C. Costume & Roles
2. Plot, style & themes.
3. Characters: Codrin and Savina
4. Fantasy elements.
5. Historical fantasy. Fantasy inspired from folklore, magical realism
48 min - EP 40: Writing Short Stories (5) - "Stillness" by Fortunus Games
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
in this episode, Helevorn and Fortunus Games talk about Fortunus' as-of-yet unpublished short story, "Stillness," about the character of Tom and the difficulties he encounters when he moves to New York City from rural Alaska to go to law school.
This story will be part of the "Sam in New York" anthology that will be released next year on Tapas! Thank you for all of your support this Inksgiving on Tapas - without your donations, the anthology would not have been unlocked (it was one of the ink goals - and we surpassed the goal of 10,000 by spades!).
We cover the following:
1. Plot, style & themes
2. Tom’s family - Elements of Aleutian culture
3. Tom and New York. How does Tom accommodate in the big city and at a prestigious university? Is he what he has prepared for?
4. Tom and Sam - what kind of relationship do they have?
1 hr 11 min - EP 39: Writing Short Stories (4) - "Midsummer" by Helevorn
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 "Midsummer" by Helevorn here on Tapas: https://tapas.io/series/Midsummer2/info
In this episode, Fortunus and Helevorn discuss Helevorn's short story, "Midsummer," which is about her characters Lars and Helgi, two teenaged boys from rural 10th century Norway. It is a slice of life story set in medieval Scandinavia.
We discuss the following:
1. Plot, style & themes
2. Homosexuality in Norse times
3. Characters - How do Helgi and Lars fit with this Norse mentality regarding “manliness”?
4. How would their attitude and relationship differ from that of another homosexual couple, Yngvar and Eyolf?
5. In Sons of Disobedience we get to see a different side of Helgi and Lars, where they also appear as raiders. What does this side of them look like? What does it say about their mentalities and personalities?
1 hr 16 min - EP 38: Writing Short Stories (3) - "The Shave" by Fortunus Games
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
In this episode, Helevorn and Fortunus talk about Fortunus' unpublished short story, "The Shave," which is a short story told from the point of view of Raisa Abramov, Sam’s mother.
The plot trigger, so to speak, is the fact that: “Levka (her husband Lev, a term of endearment) had decided to obscure his face with a beard of Biblical proportions”. The beard is the symbol that the story revolves around.
We get to hear Raisa’s voice, her views on America and their immigration and her perspective on the conflict/ divergence of opinion between Sam and Lev.
We cover the following topics/questions (and more):
- How do you recent writings different from your old ones (Basmachi and Blue Star)?
- How did this story came to be?
- What can you tell us about the structure? How does it differ from other recent short-stories of yours?
- What are Raisa’s views on immigration?
- The story talks about the beginnings of her relationship with Lev. What did she like about Lev and what does she still like?
- How do young Lev and Sam compare? How has Lev changed, how did he get from being revolutionary to being someone who pushes on his son a generic middle-class life?
- What’s Raisa’s position in Lev and Sam divergence of opinions?
- Ardalion makes an appearance. Can you tell us more about Ardalion and how he interacts with Raisa?
- How does Raisa’s voice compare to Sam’s?
54 min - EP 37: Writing Short Stories (2) - "Holmgang" by Helevorn
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
Today, Helevorn talks to Fortunus Games about her short story, "Holmgang," which is the first in her anthology of short stories set in medieval Norway, "Tales of the North."
"Tales of the North" can be read on Tapas: Tales from the North | Tapas
Topics we cover include:
- How does the writing process differ when creating a short story vs. a longer piece?
- Plot and style - Inspiration from saga literature
- Characters: In what way is Hakon the typical Viking/ Norse hero? How does Sif differ from my other female characters?
- Editing done between 2016 and today: How did the characters evolve? How did the writing evolved?
- What is the format? Why did you choose to turn this into an illustrated story?
51 min - EP 36: Writing Short Stories (1) - "Ode to Odessa" by Fortunus Games
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
Today, Tete and Fortunus talk about Fortunus' unpublished short story, "Ode to Odessa," where Sam explores what his parents' lives may have been like back in Odessa, before they immigrated to the US.
Tete and Fortunus talk about the following themes:
- How Tete and Fortunus have chosen to write their short stories;
- What approaches differ between writing a longer work versus a short story (around 2000 words or so);
- How "Ode to Odessa" challenges certain tropes present in immigrant fiction and seeks to problematize the often xenophobic/Orientalist assumptions present in such narratives;
- How "Ode to Odessa" shows Sam's voice as an emerging writer;
- How "Ode to Odessa" explores Sam's complex feelings about his parents. On one hand, as we know, they have some conflicts due to Sam wanting to be an actor, while they want him to be a lawyer. Nevertheless, despite arguments arising from this, they are very close and love one another.
Artwork in thumbnail is by Fortunus Games and features young Lev and Raisa (Sam's parents) in the Odessa Opera Theatre.
59 min - EP 35: Writing Contemporary Fiction (1) with Wanda Walker
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
Today, Wanda walker, Helevorn, and Fortunus talk about writing contemporary fiction while exploring Wanda's approach to writing her novel, "Reflections of the Desperate and Dumb"!
You can read Wanda's book here on Tapas: https://tapas.io/series/Reflections-of-the-Desperate-and-Dumb/info
Artwork in the thumbnail is by Wanda Walker.
1 hr 39 min - EP 34: Returning to a Genre/Story (1) - Senka & Kai
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
Fortunus and Tete talk about Tete returning to her old fantasy story, "Gerda and the Frost Lord." We explore why she has chosen to return to her story and how one of her characters, Senka, prompted her to return to writing this story. She is currently writing a short story about the first time Senka met Kai, which we will discuss more about in future sessions.
Apologies for the lags this episode. Zoom was not behaving well.
36 min - EP 33: Writing Flawed Characters (4) - Joel Farber
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
Today, Fortunus and Tete talk about Fortunus' character from "Sam in New York," Joel Farber, Sam's friend from high school who is not, to put it mildly, the best kind of friend you'd hope for. We also segue into how Joel would interact with Tete's character, Sasha, and what his (largely unsuccessful) love life would be like.
Artwork of Joel is done by Fortunus. Read more about him on Fortunus' website: https://www.fortunusgames.com/post/joel-farber
Read "Sam in New York" on Tapas: https://tapas.io/series/Sam-in-New-York/info
Webtoon: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/sam-in-new-york/list?title_no=501948
1 hr 21 min
About The Nuts and Bolts of Writing
From the publisher's feed
Hosts Imelda Wei Ding Lo (a.k.a. Fortunus Games), Teresa (Tete DePunk), and R.N. Roveleh interview a wide range of writers and creators about their creative process and approach to writing. They also…
talk about their own writing journeys and offer tips for writing more effectively and efficiently.