In this episode of Storyline Sessions, the author of dark fantasy epic Gunmetal Gods and progression sci-fantasy Lightblade Zamil Akhtar shares his experience with the Kickstarter success, talks about his writing process, influences, gives some horror movie recommendations and many more interesting subjects.

Zamil’s website – https://zamilakhtar.com/

Zamil’s Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/zamilakhtarauthor/

Timestamps:

00:00 – Start

00:35 – Conversation start

00:42 – Kickstarter success

05:23 – Growing as an author

07:12 – Building a community

08:42 – Different influences on Gunmetal Gods and its setting

11:53 – Zamil’s prose and descriptions in fantasy

14:31 – Writing process

17:51 – Historical fiction

19:26 – Worldbuilding and gaming influences on Lightblade

20:58 – Creating magic systems

23:16 – RPGs

24:08 – Grimdark and horror

26:49 – Lovecraft, Ito and writing a horror novel

28:55 – What Zamil likes in modern fantasy

30:25 – Using tropes vs experimenting

33:14 – Fantasy adaptations

35:16 – Potential Gunmetal Gods adaptation

36:34 – Changing genres and using pen names

38:49 – How he came up with Lightblade

40:32 – Difference between writing Gunmetal Gods and Lightblade

41:40 – Future plans for Lightblade

43:05 – Endpoint for Gunmetal Gods

45:26 – Editing process

48:24 – Traditional publishing vs indie publishing

50:24 – Audience supporting authors directly

54:15 – Reviews

57:18 – Horror movies

58:00 – Hidden gems recommendations

01:01:20 – Future plans

01:02:42

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