The Nuts and Bolts of Writing

The Nuts and Bolts of Writing

By Fortunus GamesEducation
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The Nuts and Bolts of Writing episodes

  • EP 195: The difference between writing a story and creating "original characters"

    Hi, everyone. Today, it’s just me, Fortunus Games, the host of this podcast.

    Today, we’ll be talking about a topic I’ve been thinking about since last September, when I met Tete Depunk in real life for the first time and we realized something at the Toronto Zoo. It was a grey, dreary day, and we were going to talk about our characters when we realized we didn’t want to. Instead, there were so many things happening in front of us that our previous obsession with characters seemed to pale in comparison.

    So, this prompted me to make a podcast episode about the differences between writing a story or graphic novel and creating “original characters,” in deviantArt parlance.

    Tete and I explore the following questions:

    1. What do you think is the difference between writing a novel or creating a graphic novel versus just creating “original characters”?
    2. What is the fine line between writing a character-centric story and becoming obsessed with characters to the point you’re using them as emotional crutches?
    3. How can you avoid unhealthily becoming obsessed with characters?
      4. 39 min
    4. EP 194: Interview with author DC Diamondopolous

      Host Imelda Wei Ding Lo (a.k.a. Fortunus Games) talks to author DC Diamondopolous, whose short story, “Life with Angie,” appeared in Issue Five of our literary zine, “The Unconventional Courier.” 

      DC Diamondopolous is an award-winning short story and flash fiction writer with over four hundred stories published internationally in print and online magazines, literary journals, and anthologies.

      Some of the awards she‘s won include first place at the Honest Story Telling Challenge of 2022, two Pushcart Award Nominations, and two Best Of the Net Nominations. She’s also a three-time finalist in ScreenCrafts Short Story Contest (which includes “Life with Angie”).

      You can see more of her award-winning works on her site, Dcdiamondopolous.com.

      DC's stories have appeared in: Progenitor, 34th Parallel, So It Goes: The Literary Journal of the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library, Lunch Ticket, and others. DC’s recently released collection Captured Up Close (20th Century Short-Short Stories) has two Pushcart Prize-nominated stories and one nominated for Best of the Net Anthology.

      Her first collection of stories was Stepping Up. She lives on the California coast with her wife and animals.

      In this episode, we’ll be talking to DC about her latest book, which you can order on Amazon, Captured Up Close: 20th Century Short-Short Stories. We will also talk about her approach to writing and what she’s working on now.

      Imelda asks DC the following questions:

      1. Can you tell us about Captured Up Close: 20th Century Short-Short Stories? What kind of short stories have you included in this collection? What prompted you to write them?
      2. Why do you like to write historical fiction?
      3. What is the approach that you take?
      4. Do you also write on current topics?
      5. Why do you think it’s important to have a weekly writers' group?

        6. Links:

        “Life with Angie” by DC Diamondopolous: https://tetedepunk.wixsite.com/theunconcourier/post/life-with-angie

        DC’s most recent book, Captured Up Close: 20th Century Short-Short Stories: Amazon.com: Captured Up Close: 20th Century Short-Short Stories: 9798986273129: Diamondopolous, DC: Books

        DC’s first book, “Stepping Up”: https://www.amazon.com/Stepping-Up-DC-Diamondopolous/dp/1914130057/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=stepping+up+by+dc+diamondopolous&qid=1628516027&s=books&sr=1-1

        36 min
      6. EP 193: How to stop sexualizing your characters

        Hi, everyone! Today, me and Tete talk about a topic that is extremely important to both of us: how to stop sexualizing our characters.

        For the longest time, Tete and I have been sexualizing several of our male characters. For me, it was Joel Farber from my graphic novel, “The Book of Joel,” and for Tete, it was the protagonist of her novel, “70 Fierce Years,” Andrei Danilovich Novokshonov.

        Sexualizing your characters can have a lot of detrimental effects on the writing process as well as on your life, if taken to the extreme. We explore this by asking the following questions:

        1. Why did we sexualize our characters?
        2. How did we wean ourselves off sexualizing our characters?
        3. When are we tempted to sexualize our characters? How can we stop it?
        4. What is the connection between sexualizing your characters and focus? Does sexualizing your characters detract from the writing process?

          5. The artwork for this thumbnail is from the romance novel, "Royally Yours" by Emma Chase.

          Read Tete’s “70 Fierce Years” (draft version) on Tapas: https://tapas.io/series/70-Fierce-Years/info

          Read my “The Book of Joel” on Tapas: https://tapas.io/series/The-Book-of-Joel/info

          37 min
        5. EP 192: Interview with Sarina Langer, author and podcaster

          Today, we have an amazing guest: writer and podcast Sarina Langer!

          I, Imelda Wei Ding Lo (a.k.a. Fortunus Games), have previously been on her podcast, The Writing Sparrow podcast, which is all about writing, publishing, and marketing your book. It’s a great resource for indie writers of all stripes. On her podcast, I talked about how to write and publish graphic novels, since I’ve self-published two graphic novels, “The Book of Joel” and “Sam in New York.” I’ve included a link in the description.

          So, onto our guest’s bio! Sarina Langer is a dark fantasy author of both epic and urban paranormal novels.

          In her free time, she usually reads one audiobook, one ebook, and one paperback (one for every occasion), plays video games, and obsesses over mythology. She has a weakness for books on writing and pretty words. You can follow her on Twitter @sarina_langer.

          I, Imelda Wei Ding Lo (Fortunus Games), asked Sarina the following questions:

          1. Can you tell us about your current projects? What books are you working on, and which will be released in the next couple of months?
          2. How would you describe the process of releasing a book? How is the process of finding an editor like, and what should your relationship with your editor be like?
          3. How do you find releasing a digital book versus releasing a physical copy? How is releasing an audiobook like?
          4. How do you approach marketing when it comes to your books? How do you pump up hype for your books, and what role do social media and newsletters play in marketing? Are physical events like book fairs useful in this time and age? Are they worth the cost, in your view?

            5. Links:

            • The first book of Sarina’s “Chaos of Esta Anderson” series, “A Dream of Death and Magic”: https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Death-Magic-Chaos-Anderson-ebook/dp/B0B7JG7LZF
            • Sarina’s podcast, The Writing Sparrow Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1356037
            • Sarina’s Twitter: @sarina_langer
              • 35 min
            • EP 191: Interview with poet and author Leslie Cairns

              Today, Tete DePunk, one of the co-hosts of The Nuts and Bolts of Writing, will be interviewing poet and author Leslie Cairns, who submitted her poem “Family Trees”,” to Issue 2 of our literary zine, “The Unconventional Courier.” She also submitted her short story, “Owl, Lunar, Twig” to Issue 3 of The Unconventional Courier.

              Links to both of her works are at the bottom of the description.

              Leslie's Bio:

              Leslie Cairns (She/her): Leslie Cairns holds an MA degree in English Rhetoric. She lives in Denver, Colorado. She is a Pushcart Prize Nomination for 2022 in the Short Story category ('Owl, Lunar, Twig'). She was an honorable mention in Flash 405's call in Exposition Review (2022). She also won a Valentine's Day Writing Competition with Short Story Today (2023). Her poetry chapbook about eating disorders and therapy, titled 'The Food is the Fodder', is available for purchase and to read through Bottlecap Press.

              You can follow Leslie on Twitter @starbucksgirly

              Tete DePunk asked Leslie the following questions in this interview:

              1. What inspired you to write “Owl, Lunar, Twig”?
              2. What inspired you to write, “A Menagerie of Animals”?
              3. You said that for both of these works, you had to overcome doubts when writing these respective works.
              4. How did you overcome the doubt? Do you often face doubt when you set out to create a work?
              5. How would you advise others to overcome doubt in their creative or personal journey?
              6. What is the best encouragement you’ve encountered in your creative journey?

                7. Leslie’s works for "The Unconventional Courier"

                Family Trees: https://tetedepunk.wixsite.com/theunconcourier/post/family-trees

                Owl, Lunar, Twig: https://tetedepunk.wixsite.com/theunconcourier/post/owl-lunar-twig

                40 min
              7. EP 190: The importance of organization

                We’ve had some amazing author interviews lately, and we’re going to receiving even more. Before we dive into more interviews, however, let’s pause to talk about the importance of organization - for this podcast and for writing more generally.

                In this episode, I talk about why I'm not going to post the Fortunus Games tarot deck analysis videos for the podcast (but they will continue being available on my personal Instagram @fortunusgames and YouTube channel) and what my next steps for "Sam in New York" and "The Book of Joel" will be now that I've become more organized in my personal and creative lives.

                Links:

                Fortunus Games tarot deck

                Sam in New York

                The Book of Joel

                5 min
              8. EP 189: Interview with writer and playwright Thomas Misuraca

                In this episode, Tete DePunk, one of the co-hosts of The Nuts and Bolts of Writing, interviews writer Thomas Misuraca, who submitted his short story, “Words Enough and Time,” to Issue 6 of our literary zine, “The Unconventional Courier.” I’ve provided a link to the story in the description.

                Tom Misuraca studied Writing, Publishing and Literature at Emerson College in his home town of Boston. After graduation, he moved to Los Angeles where he splits his time between writing and graphic design. Over 120 of his short stories have appeared in publications worldwide. In 2021, his story, Giving Up the Ghosts, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Two of his novels have been published, including the vampire parody novel, Lifestyles of the Damned. He self-published a collection of his early short stories entitled If You Read This, You Will Die.

                He is also a multi-award winning playwright with over 150 short plays and 13 full-lengths produced globally. His musical, Geeks!, was produced Off-Broadway in May 2019. This year, his full-length play, In Dogs We Trust won second place in The Robert J. Pickering/J.R. Colbeck Award for Playwriting Excellence. He won the award in 2014 for his superhero nursing home play, Golden Age, which will have its West Coast premiere at The Tehachapi Community Theatre this June.

                You can follow Tom's Twitter @GeeksMusical and Instagram @tmisuraca.

                Tete asks Tom the following questions in this podcast:

                1. How do you decide if a story is going to be a play or a piece of prose?
                2. Do you ever find they can be interchangeable?
                3. Do you prefer writing dialogue or descriptions?
                4. How does the creative process differ between the two?

                  5. Tom’s short story, “Words Enough and Time”: https://tetedepunk.wixsite.com/theunconcourier/post/words-enough-and-time

                  Tom’s social media:

                  Twitter: @GeeksMusical, Instagram: @tmisuraca

                  32 min
                5. EP 188: Interview with Cynane Shay, author of “Taking Off the Tinfoil Hat”

                  Hi, everyone! Today, we have a guest, Cynane Shay, the author of an upcoming book about fundamentalist Christianity in the United States, “Taking Off the Tinfoil Hat.” You can find her on Instagram @taking.off.the.tinfoil.hat and on her website, http://takingoffthetinfoilhat.com/.

                  Cynane grew up in a small conservative town in Florida. She grew up alongside many fundamentalist Christians, many of whom now believe in conspiracy theories about Biblical end times, QAnon, and the Flat Earth.

                  In “Taking Off the Tinfoil Hat,” she seeks to explore how these crackpot conspiracies led to the dismantling of her patriotism, evangelicalism, and her entire worldview. Her book will also be a warning commentary on the increasing polarization in the U.S. and how current events eerily parallel historical Fascism.

                  I, Imelda Wei Ding Lo (Fortunus Games), asked Cynane Shay the following questions:

                  1. How did you get the idea to write this book?
                  2. How have you been writing this book? Do you follow a set schedule? Or do you write whenever you have energy or inspiration?
                  3. Research is often the hardest part of writing a book, especially non-fiction. How do you find the process of doing research for your book? As you told me, you are an engineer. Do you think your scientific background has helped you with finding sources for this book?
                  4. Your book has a very important message about the increasing polarization of politics and beliefs in the U.S. How will you be marketing your book? Will you be going on any talk shows and podcasts?

                    5. Follow Cynane on Instagram @taking.off.the.tinfoil.hat and on her website, http://takingoffthetinfoilhat.com/.

                    1 hr 4 min
                  5. EP 187: Valentine’s Day Special - How To Write Non-Escapist Romance

                    Watch this on YouTube.

                    Read the transcript of this episode.

                    Happy Valentine’s Day! Hope you are having a great time with those you love, which can be your significant other, parents, children, and other family members and friends.

                    We will be talking about a subject that me and the other co-hosts have been thinking a lot about: How to write romance in a non-escapist manner.

                    Listen to learn tips for writing non-escapist romance from co-host R.N. Roveleh and myself! 

                    6 min
                  6. EP 186: Interview with author Tejaswinee Roychowdhury

                    Update: April 14, 2023: This episode was featured on Superstition Review's blog! The feature also includes a never-before-seen text interview with Imelda Wei Ding Lo (Fortunus Games), the host and interviewer in this episode.

                    Watch this on YouTube.

                    Hi, everyone! Today, we have a guest, Tejaswinee Roychowdhury, who was one of our contributors to Issue Three of our literary zine, “The Unconventional Courier.” She submitted the thought-provoking short story, “Where Does The River Go?” which is linked below.

                    Tejaswinee is a writer, poet, and artist from West Bengal, India. Her fiction and poetry have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2023, her work has been or is scheduled to be widely published such as in Dreich Magazine, Muse India, Paddler Press, Amity (Hawakal, 2022), The Unconventional Courier, Roi Fainéant, Taco Bell Quarterly, Kitaab, and more.

                    She is also the founder of The Hooghly Review, Tejaswinee is also a lawyer and can be found tweeting at @TejaswineeRC.

                    I, Imelda Wei Ding Lo (Fortunus Games), asked Tejaswinee the following questions:

                    1. What were you inspired by when you wrote your story for The Unconventional Courier, “Where Does The River Go?”
                    2. What books and themes inspired you the most as a writer?
                    3. You are a lawyer (as am I). Has your legal practice and studies influenced your approach to writing? If so, how?
                    4. What kind of stories do you plan to write in the future? Will you be publishing any books?

                      5. Tejaswinee’s Twitter: @TejaswineeRC

                      Her literary journal, The Hooghly Review: https://www.thehooghlyreview.com/

                      Read Tejaswinee’s short story for Issue Three of “The Unconventional Courier”: “Where Does The River Go?” https://tetedepunk.wixsite.com/theunconcourier/post/where-does-the-river-go

                      30 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…