When Can You Break the Rules? – 2022-10-14 |SOE 3

When Can You Break the Rules? – 2022-10-14 |SOE 3

Author: MJ Munoz April 20, 2023 Duration: 11:41
FULL SHOW NOTES WIPWhat is the status of my current projects: progress made, length of time on the backburner?ActiveGrobug Series – 5 Books PlannedManuscript Completed: Books 1 and 2Drafts Completed: 0Drafts to Start: Books 3-5Outlines Started: Book 3, sort of. I have one outline paragraph written for the book.Outlines to Start: Books 4 and 5.Next Action from 10-07-22: make text descriptions and thumbnail sketched for all 32 pages. 1 week late.Actions Taken by 10-14-22: I finished all my text descriptions. It was actually a lot of fun to do. It took about 2 sessions. I wonder how long the others will take?Next Actions: make sketches for Grobug Book 1.Follow-Up-Research Crowdfunding-Make Crowdfunding Proposal-Send to artist-Negotiate Rates and TermsBack BurnerMTM – Breastfeeding Book for big brothers and sisters. (3 Weeks)MTM – Next actions to publish: make text descriptions and thumbnail sketched for all 32 pages (3 Weeks)Fantasy Dragon Book – Manuscript may need revision. On hold.Fabula Ex MachinaPart brainstorm, part drafting out loud.Prompt: When Can You Break the Rules?Listen to the episode to hear the straining of the creative process.10-14-2022497 Words10 MinutesThey say that rules are meant to be broken, but they aren’t. If everybody broke the rules, that would be bad. Imagine coming to an intersection and everybody runs the red lights: people would be smashing into each other, people would be getting into accidents, their cars would be getting ruined, people would be dying. It would be really bad! Think about if everybody at their job, didn’t follow the rules. If rules are meant to be broken, then farmers would plant at the wrong time and plants wouldn’t come out the way they are supposed to and we would all starve to death! Following the rules is a good thing and it it something that we should do because when you follow the rule, yo know exactly what results you are going to get. Sometimes though, you have to break the rules. The thing is, you have to know when you can break the rules. Right now I am in a situation where I am in big trouble and if I follow the rules I could be in bigger trouble. So I am thinking, is this the right time to do the wrong thing? And if it is the right time to do the wrong thing because it will save someone’s life, then does that mean that it is really the right thing to do after all?I don’t really know. I am just a kid, I don’t know how to answer that kind of question, but I do know one thing: I know that if I do this right now, I can save somebody’s life and that is more important to me than following some rule, so that is what I am going to do. There is just one little problem that I haven’t thought about until now. If I go into the lab to get the tools I am going to need to get to do this, I am going to have to either sneak by everybody, lie to them, or find some way… I can’t hurt them, I am not strong enough. Maybe I can find a way to distract them all with a diversion so I can go in there and get what I need.Uuhhhh. It will all be OK. As long as everything goes perfectly. How hard can that be, right?

Hosted by aspiring author MJ Munoz, Fortress Fiction is a quiet space built for anyone fascinated by the architecture of a good story. Here, the focus isn't just on what happens in books, films, or television, but on how those stories are built from the ground up-the careful craft of making a reader or viewer invest in something they know isn't real. Each episode feels like a shared notebook, where MJ studies narratives of transformation and heroism, breaking down what makes them resonate. You'll hear his personal reflections on the creative process, reviews that dig into the mechanics of storytelling across different media, and chronicles from his own writing endeavors. This podcast is for those who find equal magic in a perfectly turned phrase, a compelling character arc, or a well-framed scene. It’s an ongoing conversation about the alchemy of art, offering both analysis and a candid look at one writer’s journey to build something meaningful, sentence by sentence.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 156

Fortress Fiction
Podcast Episodes
The Book of Three Chapter 11: Taran Grows Up [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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Chapter 11 of The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander isn’t the most exciting chapter in the book, but it may be one of the most important.After everything that’s happened, Taran finally has a moment to reflect. Gwydion is…
How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps Book Chat [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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I usually dislike first person narration in fantasy books. But Andrew Rowe’s How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps completely won me over.In this Fortress Fiction book chat, I talk about why this Zelda-style fanta…
The Book of Three Chapter 10 On Lore and Lineage [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:49
Chapter 10 of The Book of Three is packed so densely with lore, lineage, and quiet setup that I had to listen to it three times—and I still found more to unpack.BONUS CONTENT - https://mjmunoz.com/2026/02/06/the-book-of-…
The Book of Three Chapter by Chapter 9 |CXC44 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 9:15
What did you think of The Book of Three Chapter 9 by Lloyd Alexander?#amreading #middlegrade #bookreview #Book #ChapterXChapter #TheBookof Three #FOTRESSFICTIONSOURCE - https://mjmunoz.com/2025/04/24/cxc44/SOE CATALOG -…
The Book of Three Chapter by Chapter 8 |CXC43 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 8:08
What did you think of The Book of Three Chapter 8 by Lloyd Alexander?#amreading #middlegrade #bookreview #Book #ChapterXChapter #TheBookof Three #FOTRESSFICTIONSOURCE - https://mjmunoz.com/2025/04/18/cxc43/SOE CATALOG -…
The Book of Three Chapter by Chapter 7 |CXC42 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 13:13
What did you think of The Book of Three Chapter 7 by Lloyd Alexander?#amreading #middlegrade #bookreview #Book #ChapterXChapter #TheBookof Three #FOTRESSFICTIONSOURCE - https://mjmunoz.com/2025/04/04/cxc42/SOE CATALOG -…