Nathanael Quezada is one of the summer interns for the Flying Ketchup Press. Nathanael lives in St. Charles, Missouri and is a senior at Concordia University-Wisconsin. He is very passionate about his writing and making sure that his audience is truly getting the feeling of being in another world when they read his stories.
Why do you write?
Um that’s a good question! Because I feel impassioned too- is the for real reason. There is an artistry to writing that I like a lot. The aesthetics of good style and the way a good story has an impact on someone because that’s what I am- a storyteller. I have stories that I want to tell. And I think about how I’ve been affected by good stories I’ve read, and I just think about how I want to do that for other people.
Describe your writing style
My writing style is very- sometimes I’ll be reading a book, and then when I sit down to write, I can tell I’m kind of taking after that style a little. And then I start reading a different book, and my style shifts a little. And maybe that’s a bad thing, but in general, my writing style really takes after older writers like more medieval, renaissance era. I try to combine a very grandeur sense of scale. Along with a sort of casual writing. The kind that feels like someone is just talking to you. And sometimes I succeed, and sometimes I don’t.
What is your favorite subject to write about?
I write fantasy fiction. That’s what I do and what I spend my time writing because that’s what I’m passionate about. It looks like me writing a book for three years and then refusing to edit it for the next five years. Um, I don’t write a lot of short stories, my dad tells me I should. But I really just focus on my novels.
What career are you looking to have, and how does it use writing?
I think if I could ever in any way live off of writing, that would be wonderful. It would be tremendous. And grammar, I like grammar. I think that’s really where I am going to end up working.
When did you start writing?
The first thing I remember writing, well ok, when I was in third grade, I tried to write my first book, and I wrote like two pages, and I completely ripped off another book I was reading at the time. The first original thing that I remember writing was in sixth grade when we had to- gosh, it was a silly little project where we had to write a story about a water molecule as it goes through the water cycle. And I wrote like 30 pages or something crazy. Maybe it was twenty-something, but the point is that was when I was like, I really enjoy this writing business. So later, middle school is when I started getting into writing and started doing it more frequently.
What is your favorite thing about being part of the Flying Ketchup Press?
My favorite part of being with the Flying Ketchup Press is the way that, umm is the way that this isn’t just an internship where they’re like, uh, I’m just here to work for them, and then they’ll sign some papers, so I get my credits. Polly will help you work on your portfolio and help you get your LinkedIn profile looking nice and will make sure you learn a thing or two about the publishing world. It’s intentionally educational, and I really appreciate that.
What do you want to be able to share with others through your writing?
What I want to be able to share with others through my writing is a particular feeling I’ve always sighted as my primary goal with my writing. It’s this feeling I get when I’m reading a book series, or comic book series or a movie or anything and I am so excited about it, and the characters and the world that I just want to talk about it. And if I don’t have a friend who’s also into it, then I feel like I’ll explode. That’s what I want to inspire in people with my books. I want people to have that level of excitement. inspire in people with my books. I want people to have that level of excitement.
Nathanael Quezada was born in the mountains of Colorado but currently lives in the suburbs of St. Charles, Missouri. He will be graduating from Concordia University-Wisconsin in December with a Bachelor's in English, with a particular focus on linguistics and literary criticism. His creative efforts are directed towards poetry and fantasy fiction, although he spends more time coming up with ideas than writing anything down. For the summer, he's interning at Flying Ketchup Press, managing their blog and acting as a juror for their writing contests. He's a world traveler (his first time outside of the country was at 8 days old) and plays Super Smash Bros. competitively. His first novel, Heirs to a Throne, may or may not be available for purchase later this year.
Listen Live This Sunday at 6 pm on our weekly Ketchupedia Poetry Radio show on 101.1 KONN OneKc Radio or get the app. Listen to previous airings. Every week we have a radio show with a clip from our micro podcast which airs a word of the week every weekend on Spotify or your fave podcatcher. So listen to one or both. Flying Ketchup Press ® is a trademarked small press in Kansas City, Missouri to develop new and diverse voices in poetry and short story. Our dream is to salvage lost treasure troves of written and illustrated work-- to create worlds of wonder and delight; to share stories. Maybe yours. Find us at www.flyingketchuppress.com.
Get a Copy of some of the Flying Ketchup Press Poetry Books
Listen Live this Sunday at 6 pm on our weekly Ketchupedia Poetry Radio show on 101.1 KONN OneKc Radio or get the app. Listen to previous airings. Every week we have a radio show with a clip from our micro podcast which airs a word of the week every weekend on Spotify or your fave podcatcher. So listen to one or both.