Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing EP 141 - Homemade Game Guru Luanga 'Lue' Nuwame

Mark interviews Luanga Nuwame (or Lue, as most of his friends affectionately know him), a 43-year old Canadian comic book publisher and writer, YouTube cardboard craft artist, board game developer, and author.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, reveals the Patreon winner of a "story stuck" consultation with Clark Chamberlain, and shares a personal update including the creation of a short Cheers parody called Mark's Tavern.

This episode is sponsored by Findaway Voices.

You can learn more about how you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

In their discussion, Mark and Lue talk about:

• How writing was a great outlet for Lue, particularly when he was younger, suffered from depression, didn't know how else to emote
• The joy of being able to escape into fantasy by creating different stories
• How Silver Surfer #4 was what started Lue's love of comic books as a medium that could be truly appreciated on multiple levels
• Lue's Paper, Rock, Scissors comic book and how playing the game with someone from Mongolia inspired Lue that it was a universal game that transcended language and culture
• Wondering what might happen if Paper, Rock, and Scissors were given human attributes and the story was set in space
• Coming up with how paper could defeat rock - it's obvious, rocks are claustrophobic
• How Lue found artist collaborators to work with who illustrated his comic books
• Getting into YouTube in 2008 and then discovering what could be done with cardboard crafting, and the accompanying videos showing how to make these crafts
• Creating a modular board game of huge octagons that can fill the entire living room and yet still stack and be tucked away when not in use
• The "Beautiful Canada" collectible series that Lue created celebrating the uniqueness of each province
• How Lue makes all of his unique cardboard crafts by hand
• The way that Lue learned how to interact with people when at his author/artist table
• The sense of community and networking that happens at these in person events, not just with the general public, but with fellow writers and artists
• The difficulty Lue has been facing with the recent loss of in person events due to the global pandemic
• Lue's book The Cardboard Bible where he provides designs and templates to help others with their own cardboard creations
• And so much more . . .

After the interview, Mark reflects on how Lue learned and developed from a past failure, and also how he has adapted and innovated with cardboard in a unique and inspiring way that writers can learn from.

Links of Interest:

• Lue's Website
• Lue's YouTube Channel
• Lue's Amazon Author Page
• The Cardboard Bible
• Episode 140 - Writing Your Memoir with Rachael Herron
• Mark's Tavern (A Cheers Parody)
• Mark's Stupid Dad Joke Short Film "The Things We Miss Most"
• Night Cries (Audio Book)
• Findaway Voices
• Story Stuck Consulation
• Up, Up, And Away Superhero Storybundle
• Patreon for Stark Reflections

Luanga Nuwame (or Lue, as most of his friends affectionately know him), is a 43-year old Canadian comic book publisher and writer, YouTube cardboard craft artist, board game developer, and author.

Residing in Mississauga, Ontario, Nuwame operates the Homemade Game Guru YouTube channel to showcase his love for making all sorts of crazy creations out of cardboard. Be it furniture, exercise equipment, geek crafts, or swimming pools, there is no limit to what Nuwame can make out of cardboard. Nuwame’s past cardboard designs have been featured on CBC News, CTV News, Make Magazine, The Toronto Star, Global News and Readers Digest. He achieved a world’s record from The World’s Record Academy in 2009 for the ‘World’s Largest Board Game Made by One Person’.

Nuwame is also the founder of Zelpha Comics (named after his grandmother) and he acts as the principal writer and letterer for all published issues. He created the series Paper Rock Scissors N’ Stuff Wars (the classic hand game brought to life on a distant planet), Enter the World of Mephistopheles (a new horror series) and The Adventures of Little Petalianne (a children’s comic series).

Beyond comics, Nuwame is a self-published author of a wide range of books. His novels include The Fantabulously Awesome Life of a Charity Donation Truck Driver (an expose on the clothing donation business), The Boy With Zero Self-Esteem (a memoir about his past battles with depression and loneliness), Hi, My Name is Karma (a short story ‘thriller’), Smoking a ‘J’ With Jesus (religious criticisms), and multiple The Adventures of Little Petalianne children’s books.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0