David Badurina is an author, music producer, showrunner, and what he calls a multimodal storyteller — someone building an entire creative universe across fiction, concept albums, visual media, and now anime, without asking anyone’s permission to do it. He ran a brick and mortar martial arts school for 12 years before going fully independent, and that experience shapes everything about how he thinks regarding marketing, product quality, and what it actually costs to build an audience.

In this episode we get into his framework for using AI as a creative amplifier without letting it touch the writing, why comedy with heart works when pure gag writing doesn’t, what 12 years of physical overhead teaches you about find an audience and why pity marketing is not a business strategy. We also cover why showing up at conventions changed his career trajectory more than any online platform, how he landed four anthology deals simply by being a recognizable presence in the right rooms, and why the introvert excuse is the most expensive story authors tell themselves.

In This Episode

* AI as a Creative Amplifier: How David uses large language models to manage a brain running at a hundred miles an hour without letting them anywhere near his characters, dialogue, or narrative arc.

* The Two Golden Rules: Never let AI write for you. Never let it edit for you. Where the line is and why it matters.

* Comedy With Heart: Why humor works as a storytelling device rather than a genre, what incongruity actually means in practice, and why the Passion of the Christ Netflix and Chill scene lands.

* Brick and Mortar vs. Author Marketing: What 12 years of physical overhead, postcard campaigns, and newspaper ads that flopped teaches you about testing, iteration, and knowing your numbers before authors figure out what a funnel is.

* Stop Being On 40 Socials: Why spreading yourself across every platform is actively shrinking your reach, and the two platform rule that actually works.

* Pity Marketing: Why knocking your book to 99 cents and posting about it on X is not a strategy, and what sustainable audience building actually looks like.

* The Introvert Excuse: Why introversion means you recharge alone, not that you’re exempt from showing up, and what David got by showing up anyway.

* The Convention Opportunity: How being a recognizable presence in the right rooms directly generated four anthology deals and an anime showrunner credit.

* Who Are You: Why authors who can’t answer that question in one sentence are invisible no matter how good their book is.

* The True Scotsman Fallacy: Why the writing community’s favorite game of “you’re not a real author unless—” is the single most self-defeating thing creators do to each other.

Guest Links

* Read It Came from the Trailer Park by David Badurina: https://amzn.to/4qmacBY

* Youtube: @QuillfireSound

* Website: https://davidbadurina.com/

* Substack: @QuillitwithFire

* X: @DavidBadurina

Kristin’s Links

* Editing Services: nonsensefreeeditor.com

* Newsletter: https://www.fictionalinfluence.com

* YouTube: https://youtube.com/@nonsensefreekristin

Timestamps

00:00 - Meet David Badurina.

01:12 - Multimodal Storytelling.

02:09 - AI Tools Not Crutches.

06:27 - Creative Boundaries.

09:34 - Prompt Fail Stories.

11:56 - Anti Gatekeeping Mindset.

14:13 - Comedy With Heart.

18:37 - Writing Humor Tips.

22:16 - Brick And Mortar Marketing.

24:50 - Product Market Fit.

26:00 - Thick Skin Online.

27:14 - Stop Doing Every Social.

29:33 - Cohesive Branding DIY.

32:03 - Using LLMs Smartly.

33:54 - Doing It Yourself.

35:40 - Fear Of Speaking Up.

37:41 - Multiple Income Streams.

39:44 - Networking Beats Introversion.

44:22 - IRL Connections Pay Off.

46:35 - No More Pity Marketing.

47:16 - Where To Find David.

47:50 - Projects And Wrap Up.

About This Podcast

Nonsense-Free Kristin is where independent authors and creators learn to build their platforms, master their craft, and create on their own terms—without begging for permission from gatekeepers who hate them.

New episodes weekly.

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kristinmctiernan.substack.com