『Writing and Selling Stories with Angelique Fawns』のカバーアート

Writing and Selling Stories with Angelique Fawns

Writing and Selling Stories with Angelique Fawns

著者： Angelique Fawns
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Season 2 of "Read Me A Nightmare" shifts its focus to conversations with writers, editors, and creators working in and around dark fiction — about craft, career, and the realities of making stories in the world.Visit www.fawns.ca to learn more. Please --if you enjoy the episode, leave a review!

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  • William Bernhardt & The Superman Wars

    William Bernhardt & The Superman Wars
    2026/08/09
    I came into William Bernhardt’s orbit when he invited me to his Writer Con, upcoming this September in Oklahoma City.(Anyone here going? Let me know! We can meet up.)We had an out-of-this-world talk about his new book, The Superman Wars.Almost everyone knows about the man from Krypton who, disguised as mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent working with the fearless Lois Lane, fights for the vulnerable and the oppressed. But few know the truth about this indelible character’s creation. From mobster tactics to decades-long courtroom drama, a beloved American myth was born, betrayed, and eventually reclaimed—almost eighty years after the character first appeared.New witnesses, unpublished manuscripts, personal letters, and more reveal the complex and dramatic history of Superman and his creator, Jerry Siegel. This is a David and Goliath clash with twists, turns, and devastating upheavals. An underdog tale of a creator who fought for his rights and finally found redemption in his battle for truth, justice, and the American Way. A story that has never been fully told…How did I not know about this? It’s fascinating to hear why William chose to tell this story. And we talk about way more than just this book. * We get into the true kryptonite that plagues writers, aka: take care of your IP.* The benefits of conferences* Indie versus Trad* Why I left my agent* Finding time to write* TV & Film optioning* And so much moreHere is his bio: William Bernhardt is the author of over sixty books, including the Daniel Pike legal thriller series (#1 best-selling novel The Last Chance Lawyer). His previous works include the bestselling Ben Kincaid series, the historical novels Challengers of the Dust and The Florentine Poet, three books of poetry, and the Red Sneaker books on fiction writing. In addition, Bernhardt founded WriterCon Programs to mentor aspiring writers. WriterCon hosts an annual writers conference, an annual cruise, small-group writing retreats, a magazine, plus free bi-weekly e-newsletters and podcasts. Hey, if you prefer talking heads and visuals, there is a YouTube version of our talk!CLICK HEREIf you want to learn more about William Bernhardt, more places to click:https://williambernhardt.comhttps://writercon.com/https://www.facebook.com/WriterConHQAngelique: Your newest book is The Superman Wars. What inspired you to write it?William: I thought this was an important story. Everyone knows Superman, but more importantly, this is the most pivotal creator-rights battle of modern times. Jerry Siegel’s struggle benefited countless creative people, not just those in comics. I wanted this story to reach a wide audience, so I decided it deserved a traditional publisher and a chance to be in bookstores.Angelique: I had no idea this drama existed in the background! William: You’re not alone. A lot of people remember the publicity campaign for Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1975 and think they know the story. They don’t. There were another fifty years of legal battles after that. Even many people in the comic book industry don’t know what really happened, and some of the versions that have been told simply aren’t accurate. I wanted to tell the real story.Angelique: I can’t believe this happened to the creator of the most iconic superhero of all time.William: It’s a cautionary tale. Don’t let what happened to Jerry Siegel happen to you. The threats may look different today, but there are still people and companies that would love to take your intellectual property. Every year at WriterCon, I meet writers who have lost thousands of dollars to vanity presses or other scams. Today we also have AI scraping and copyright issues. The lesson is simple: protect yourself. Don’t assume someone else will do it for you.Angelique: What’s the most shocking part of the story?William: Jerry Siegel knew from childhood that he wanted to be a writer. Like me, he started submitting work when he was very young. During the Depression, he desperately wanted to break into newspaper comic strips because that was where the money was.He and Joe Shuster spent years trying to sell Superman to newspaper syndicates, but no one understood the concept. Eventually they agreed to publish Superman through a comic book company. Unfortunately, just before Superman debuted, the company was taken over by Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz.(Authorial note for us Canadians: Joe Shuster was born in Toronto.)People often say Superman was sold for $130. That’s not exactly true. Jerry and Joe were paid $130 for the first thirteen-page story. Hidden in that agreement, though, was a clause transferring all rights to Superman to the company.Jerry signed it.I don’t think he fully understood what he was giving away. He was a young man without an agent, a lawyer, or anyone to advise him. Once Superman became an enormous success, he watched other people become millionaires while he received only a fraction of the profits.Meanwhile, ...
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    38 分
  • The Death of Sora & Surviving AI with Sylvie Soul

    The Death of Sora & Surviving AI with Sylvie Soul
    2026/08/02
    Addicted to Sora…and then forced to go cold turkey.Prefer the full video interview? Click here.What a conversation this was! I just love chatting with Sylvie, a new friend I met at the Toronto Indie Author Conference this spring.Do yourself a favour, and watch this VIDEO first, before you listen (or watch) the podcast. It’s a deep dive into Sophie’s Sora addiction.Not only is it hugely entertaining. (The motherfu@#*r day video is worth it alone) but it sets up some very serious concerns with social media addiction, the role of AI in our lives, and the usage of copyrighted property.Here is the link to all awesome things Sylvie Soul related.https://sylviesoul.comLove this stuff? It’s yours for free, but it takes a whack-a-doodle amount of time. Please help me keep sharing if you can!AF: You’ve been busy since our last chat in April. Spill?!SS: My first print sale! The Not Quite Write podcast ran a contest. I entered last fall, didn’t win -- but they reached out afterward and published my story anyway. A month later their first anthology was out, with me in it. It’s the first time I’ve had something you can actually hold. My husband took photos, and I posted them on LinkedIn and Instagram. I usually keep my writing separate from my day job, but coworkers saw it and wanted the link. And of everything I’ve written, this is the straight-up smut one. My pen name’s separate from my legal name, but there I am, downplaying it while everyone goes “share, share, share.” It’s hilarious.AF: It’s interesting that we can be embarrassed by our spicier or darker works. I’ve been battling with that myself.SS: I have even more respect for writers who are that candid. There’s a line from The Life of Chuck, the Tom Hiddleston film: “I contain multitudes.” You’re not just one thing. You can write flash fiction and speculative fiction and smut and historical and nonfiction. You don’t have to pigeonhole yourself for marketing. If you really want to follow your bliss, sometimes you have to explore and put yourself out there.(Authorial note: As a subscriber pointed out after reading this interview, “I contain multitudes” was originally written by Walt Whitman. But it is also used in the movie, Life of Chuck. And it’s the name of a song by Bob Dylan.)AF: I hid my horror writing for years, worried it would clash with my journalism -- turns out people are more intrigued than judgmental. Speaking of exploring: I watched your video on the Death of Sora. And loved it. How long did that take to make?SS: It’s my longest video, and it took forever to edit. Most of my old videos were just talking-head pieces on craft, but I was so moved by the canceling of Sora that I had to create something on my foray into AI video. If I strung every clip together I created with the app, it’d be half an hour -- and nobody wants to watch a half hour of AI slop.I had the foresight to save the clips as soon as I knew Sora was going down. Now the site’s just gone.AF: I didn’t get a chance to explore it. Just as I discovered it, it was gone.SS: It’s fascinating to watch the rise and fall. Sora came out in full form less than a year ago. I played with it, then went all in -- I thought, this is the future, you can conceptualize anything. But at some point you step back and go: why am I feeding all my beautiful ideas into a large language model for them to keep? You have to be protective of your creativity. I value AI as a tool, but it’s easy to lose yourself taking creative cues from it. Disclaimer: I never, ever ask AI for help with my actual writing. My writing is my writing -- 100% human. Pangram, come at me.AF: The best thing in your video just might be the Motherf$@!* Day rap. SS: That’s the kind of weird thing that lives in my head. There was a feature where you could remix other people’s videos, so I’d find something trending and go, “okay, but do it with “Motherf$#@! Day,” and sneak it online. I was trying to force a meme. I think I was the only one who found it funny.AF: No -- it was funny. So, you did the deep dive and still came out preferring human-driven creativity?SS: I don’t like the way AI writes -- the metaphors are off, the cadence is wrong. It just doesn’t connect. For me it’s the word “you.” There’s an overabundance of it, because the AI is trying to inhabit your emotions -- “you’ll feel this, you feel sadness, not joy, only chaos.” And -- tinfoil hat on -- it’s not just the AI videos flooding YouTube. Now people are doing talking-head videos from AI scripts. It’s really them on camera, no avatar, but everything they say is hollow: generic lines engineered for emotional resonance with none of their own experience behind them. It’s an AI using a human avatar to spout slop. Watch for it -- people talking at you instead of relating to you.AF: “AI using human avatars” -- whoa. That’s very Matrix.SS: We’ve reached the singularity. It’s come ...
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    32 分
  • Meryl Klemow on Comedy, Envy and Making Podcasting Pay

    Meryl Klemow on Comedy, Envy and Making Podcasting Pay
    2026/07/26
    Prefer to video to audio? The full YouTube interview is here.Meryl Klemow and I have worked together creating podcasts, and she might be the most fun human I have ever met. Seriously.And she is so sweet. I know nothing about the stand-up comedy world, and Meryl is one of those brave souls who actually has a career doing that insane thing. This chat takes us into some very real places. Like how envy can affect your mental health, the price of fame, and how to find balance in a chaotic industry.I keep all this gold content free. Because some writers (and comedians!) are struggling. But this single post took six hours to create. Maybe throw a coffee or two my way each month?Here is one of Meryl’s insights on LA:“Everyone is in kindergarten here -- not everyone, but a lot of people, you know, are like, she has this and I don’t have this. I’ve really had to do some healing and adjust myself. Otherwise I was either going to become part of it or let it eat me alive.”AF: You’ve built a podcast booking business alongside your comedy. How did that happen?MK: That’s where I’ve been the most excited in a few years. I come from the production side -- show notes, project management, launching the show, all the nitty-gritty. My strong suit is both booking people onto shows and working with podcasts to book them guests. I decided to flip it around, use more of my PR background, and start booking people on shows -- and to be really intentional about it. Why is someone coming on a show, and what are they really trying to get out of it? With the boom of the past couple of years, it’s easy to spray and be on a million shows, but what’s the actual point?So I take on only about five or six people every three months, so I can really focus on everyone. I’ll be watching a TV show and looking at it through the lens of a booking agent -- everywhere I go, I’m thinking, “This would be good for this.” I teamed up with some longtime PR people and I’m the podcast arm of it. I feel renewed and happy -- and it never would have happened if I hadn’t created the space for it.Check out the agency here!AF: How did it get off the ground?MK: I approached one of my favorite longtime PR friends, Jordan at Julep Publicity. I told her, “This might be a weird idea, feel free to say no, but I envision doing the podcast side of things for you.” She was open to it, and we were off and running last October. That’s the lesson: sometimes you can just create things. It didn’t fully make sense at first, but now it makes sense for everyone.AF: How do you balance the comedy grind, your podcast job, and having a social life?MK: That balance has been ingrained in me since I was young -- one part trying to do the normal-life things, pay my bills, go through school, be serious, and another, more artistic and comedic side. I did radio in San Diego and was part of a local variety TV show called Tonight in San Diego. There was always something a little devilish and expressive on one side while I tried to be a human who could pay her bills on the other. Now they’re converging, and it really is synergistic.I’m relentless about having a life where I can do both. I love comedy, but I don’t need to be out every night as a stand-up. I want to do this long-term, so I’ve chosen to go a little slower at my own pace -- hopefully so I don’t burn out and can be there longer. It’s important to me to actually go to dinner with my friends, or take a night off and watch The West Wing with my boyfriend. Even if it takes longer to hit my goals, I’m happy to have a calm life.AF: Has that pace always been your approach?MK: The writer side of me could be prone to a nervous breakdown -- I’ve had little mini ones over the years. Experiencing my goals, wins, and challenges in a calmer, slower state is so much better for me. I’ve had frantic periods where I met some goals and wasn’t even happy; in fact, I wasn’t feeling well. Moving to Los Angeles, surrounded by so many insanely talented, driven, cutthroat people, I had to choose my own adventure and create my own stuff.AF: You’ve talked about the jealousy in the comedy world. What’s that like?MK: I could never fully communicate the jealousy that goes on among comedians. I’ve had to talk friends down from just staring at other people’s flyers. AF: How do you keep it from getting to you?MK: I always think, “we don’t know what we don’t know.” The reason I seek balance now is that in my younger years I really struggled with anxiety and panic attacks. And when we see people succeeding so much, they’re driven, but a lot of the time it’s from some deep pain, or they’re trying to make their parents love them. We never know why people are accomplishing things. People tell me, “You’re so lucky,” and I think, “If you only knew.” We’re all dealing with so much more than what we see in the above-ground hot tub.(Authorial note: If you listen to the podcast ...
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    26 分
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