In this episode of Storyline Sessions, Hungarian-born SFF author and the winner of the best Fantasy Choice Award in Hungary Norbert Zsivicz talks about his novel Sealed Empire, experience with translations, mixing genres, building an audience and much more.

Find Norbert here - https://www.sealedbooks.com/en/the-book, https://www.instagram.com/authornorbert/

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Timestamps:

00:00 - Start

01:26 - Conversation start

01:41 - Serbian vs Hungarian

02:22 - Fantasy scenes in Europe

05:44 - Self publishing as an author in Hungary

08:46 - Winning an award as a newcomer

10:02 - English translation and finding an international audience

13:46 - Mixing genres and worldbuilding

17:31 - Using multiple POVs and timelines

19:51 - The cover scene

21:13 - World map

23:20 - Prologues - yay or nay?

25:34 - Comparing original and the translation

27:25 - The setting - medieval fiction and history

30:47 - Planning the end - how to get from A to B?

32:26 - Showing his manuscript to others and trusting yourself

34:21 - Dealing with reviews

36:28 - Using a pseudonym or writing under your name?

38:38 - European SFF

41:00 - Marketing as a self published author - finding your audience

44:20 - The unavoidable AI talk

48:00 - Working on scripts for streaming shows and films

52:33 - Gaming

54:35 - Series timeline and future plans

59:03 - Outro