The Nuts and Bolts of Writing

Hi, everyone! Today, we’re airing an extra episode, which is also on YouTube: https://youtu.be/HrxnePtKegI This episode is not about writing, but about fundamentalist Christian homeschooling, which we’ve previously talked about in Episode 183: The Dark Side of Religious Homeschool in the United States - With Tete DePunk. You can watch that Episode 183 on YouTube: https://youtu.be/l7IEQHiUq74 In th...

Read the transcript here: https://www.fortunusgames.com/post/ep-184-5-tarot-analysis-two-of-swords-minor-arcana-balance-and-partnership This week's tarot card from my Fortunus Games tarot deck  is the Two of Swords, featuring Sam's mother, Raisa Abramova , from my @tapascommunity #graphicnovel, Sam in New York . The Two of Swords shows a blindfolded Raisa holding two crossed swords. The blind...

Fortunus Games talks about the new direction of the podcast starting this week.  Season two will cover the following and more: Concise tips for writing non-escapist fiction, since many of the episodes I had previously recorded with my co-hosts were very escapist. Many episodes fixated on Character A meeting Character B, which is fun, but doesn’t say much about the writing process. Concise tip...

Watch on YouTube. Read the transcript: https://www.fortunusgames.com/post/ep-183-5-tarot-analysis-ace-of-swords-minor-arcana-success-new-ideas-and-breakthroughs

Watch on YouTube. My LinkeTree: https://www.linktr.ee/fortunusgames   Check out this podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvd4C7fSOawTalthFUirt-iRNtxKPANfW  On Anchor.fm: https://anchor.fm/fortunus-games  Tete. Depunk's social media:  @Tete - DePunk  on YouTube, @tete.depunk on Instagram, and @punk_tete on Twitter   R.N. Roveleh's social media: &...

Read the transcript here . Watch on YouTube. At last, we've come to the last card of the Fortunus Games tarot deck ’s Suit of Coins/Pentacles - the King of Pentacles featuring Lev Abramov , Sam's father, from my graphic novel, " Sam in New York .”

Watch on YouTube (with PowerPoint slides) . Read the transcript of this video here .   In this episode of "The Nuts and Bolts of Writing," R.N. Roveleh (a.k.a. Helevorn) and I, Fortunus Games, review and analyze Joseph Conrad's 1899 novella, "Heart of Darkness."   R.N. Roveleh is the author of "Lucky Wolf," a  psychological historical novel about the tumultuous relationship between...

In Episode 181 of The Nuts and Bolts of Writing podcast,  @Tete - DePunk  and I talk about how she stopped using writing as escapism. She talks about how the 2022 Yale playwriting contest changed her approach to writing her novel-in-progress, "70 Fierce Years."   You can read a preview of  @Tete - DePunk  's "70 Fierce Years": https://tapas.io/series/70-Fierce-Years/info &...

Watch on YouTube (with PowerPoint). Helevorn (Instagram: @helevorn_bor) and I review Simon Sebag Montefiore's historical novel, "Red Sky at Noon."  We explore the following and more:    What prompted me to read this book? What are the flaws of this book?  What are the pros of this book? How was the romance? Why did you not like it? Why was Benya an unappealing protagonist? How...

This week's tarot card from the Fortunus Games tarot deck is the Queen of Pentacles. It features Sam’s mother, Raisa Abramova , from my graphic novel, " Sam in New York .” As the Queen of Pentacles, Raisa is sitting on a stone throne with carvings of vines, goats, and other representations of success and pleasure. She's holding a coin with both hands and she's looking at it as if she wants to nurt...

Watch on YouTube . @wrenby_m and I will be talking about their #costume designs for Josofín, the main character of their #graphicnovel, "The House on Caple Hill."   This will be episode 179 of my podcast, @nutsboltswriting.podcast. It will be available to the public on YouTube starting today at 8:00 PM EST, and it will be on audio-only platforms like Spotify, Anchor, etc. starting December 11...

Watch on YouTube . Read the transcript here. This week's tarot card from the Fortunus Games tarot deck is the Knight of Pentacles. It features Katya Luneva from my graphic novel, " Sam in New York .” Katya is sitting on a black horse while looking at the coin in her hand. She seems to be carefully observing the coin and isn't in a hurry to get anywhere. Behind her is a giant field that has been pl...

Watch on YouTube. Today, Endlessmidnightmoon and I talk about her series, "Ignite." You can read it here: https://tapas.io/series/Ignite-btgs/info   In particular, we answer the following questions:   1. How do you think you approached the side characters differently as compared to Beyond The Grey Skies?    2. Who do you think is your favorite to write apart from Lorenzo?

Watch on YouTube. Read the transcript. This week's tarot card from the Fortunus Games tarot deck is the Page of Pentacles. It features Tom Melbourne from my graphic novel, " Sam in New York .” This card stands for financial opportunity and progress in career and life, which is a perfect fit for Tom since he goes from rural Alaska to New York City to establish an eventual career as a lawyer. For no...

Watch on YouTube. @wrenby_m and I have a livestream podcast episode where we talked about Wren's artistic influences and how their art style evolved.   As you can see from the artwork by @wrenby_m, there are many influences, including:   Sailor Moon Over the Garden Wall Cartoon Saloon Miyazaki (specifically "My Neighbour Totoro") 70s-80s manga like Claudine Adventure Time   @tete.de...

Read the transcript here. Watch on YouTube. This week's tarot card from the Fortunus Games tarot deck  is 10 of Pentacles. It features Sam Abramov , Lina Williams , Lev Abramov , and Hannah Abramov from my graphic novels, " Sam in New York " and " Finding Sam. " The 10 of Pentacles shows Lev, the patriarch of the Abramov family, in a beautiful robe with two loyal dogs at his feet. His son Sam...

Tete DePunk and I review Lightyear (2022)! Watch the video here on YouTube . Watch to find out whether we thought it was better than The Batman (2022) @thebatman, which we reviewed on Episode 159 (watch it here on YouTube ). Watch my impromptu reaction/mini-review of Lightyear (2022) on YouTube .  Watch my impromptu reaction/mini-review of The Batman (2022) on YouTube .

Watch on YouTube . Read the full transcript . This week's tarot card from the Fortunus Games tarot deck  is Nine of Pentacles. It features Lina Williams from my graphic novels, " Sam in New York " and " Finding Sam. " The Nine of Pentacles shows Lina standing in a beautiful vineyard. Like the woman on Nine of Pentacles, she's dressed in a beautiful robe that symbolizes her high station in lif...

Tete Depunk and I review Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel" (2013).   Links:   My reaction to Man of Steel My review of Kingdom Come Me and Tete's review of the Red Son comic Me and Tete's review of the Red Son movie Me and Tete's review of The Batman (2022)  Tete's novel, "70 Fierce Years"

Watch on YouTube . Read the transcript here . This week's tarot card from the Fortunus Games tarot deck  is Eight of Pentacles. It features Pinchas Farber , Joel's father as seen in my graphic novels, " Sam in New York " and " The Book of Joel ." This card stands for crafting, skill development, and mastery. That’s why it shows Pinchas laboring over eight pentacles. He's currently working on...

Watch on YouTube . In this episode, @endlessmidnightmoon talks about her alternative universe (AU) story, "A Different Time," which is a different take on one of her main series, "Beyond the Grey Skies."   Check out @endlessmidnightmoon's "A Different Time" here .  Subscribe to her "Seeking Lull Tides" anthology here .  We discuss the following questions and more:   1. What do...

Watch on YouTube. Read the full transcript here . This week's tarot card from the Fortunus Games tarot deck  is Seven of Pentacles, featuring Sam Abramov from my graphic novel, Sam in New York ! The Seven of Pentacles features Sam looking at his abundant crop. He's toiled for years to get to where he is, but he's finally seeing results! He is both tired and happy at the same time.

Watch on YouTube . Read the full transcript .  This week's tarot card from the Fortunus Games tarot deck  is Six of Pentacles, featuring Katya Luneva as the central figure and Sam Abramov and Malka Spitzer as the two "extras." All of these characters are from my graphic novel, Sam in New York ! The Six of Pentacles shows Katya handing out coins to those who need them. Although Katya is n...

Watch on YouTube . Today, me and  @R. N. Roveleh  /  @Dr. Metalhead   (Instagram: @helevorn_bor) are going to be reviewing a movie from 2021, Ridley Scott's "The Last Duel."    "The Last Duel" is about a trial by combat in 14th century France, where two men duel over an accusation of rape.  The squire Jacques Le Gris is accused of raping Marguerite, the wife...

Watch on YouTube . Read the full transcript here . This week's card from the Fortunus Games tarot deck is Five of Pentacles, featuring Sam Abramov and Katya Luneva from my graphic novel, Sam in New York ! The Five of Pentacles symbolizes adversity, loss, and poverty. It shows Sam (left) and Katya (right) in the middle of a snowstorm. They are looking away from each other and the only source of lig...