LAURENCE MACNAUGHTON

  • I was just listening to a fantastic interview with the late, great Blake Snyder, author of the Save the Cat! books.  One of the many insightful things he said was, “Tell me a story about a hero who transforms over…

  • I’m happy to report that I sold another piece to the fine folks at Writers’ Journal.  This one’s just a small piece, but it was fun to write.  If you haven’t checked out Writers’ Journal yet, I recommend picking up…

  • Whenever I hear a writer complain that editors just aren’t “getting” her latest story, I suspect what they’re actually not getting out of it is emotion.  As human beings, we like to sit around the campfire, literally or metaphorically, and…

  • You’re not killing her, not really.  Just bear with me for a minute.  This is one of my crazy creative writing exercises. First, write a short scene where a major character gets killed.  Show it from the perspective of another…

  • Over the last few years, I’ve met and interviewed a bunch of authors at different stages in their career, from the very beginning to the very top.  In one case, I had the privilege of hanging out with a debut…

  • It’s a sad truth of life that there are only 24 hours in a day.  In the far future, maybe someone will invent a pocket universe device that’ll fix that problem (wouldn’t THAT be cool), but in the meantime, we’re…

  • Want to show off your writing skills?  Have you written a science fiction story that’s so shiny you have to wear Ray Bans?  How would you like to see millions of people read your story online? Okay, maybe not millions,…

  • Military aircraft are a common sight in the skies over Colorado, especially fighter planes.  (Alleged UFO sightings are also common, but let’s not get into that, please.)  The United States Air Force maintains a strong presence here; no surprise considering…

  • Back in the day, when someone launched a new indie Sci Fi magazine, production usually involved a lot of black and white photocopies and a remarkable device we called a “stapler.” Now, we’re in the 21st century.  Behold the power…

  • In case you missed it last week, I got to talk with Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka of the soundtrack band Midnight Syndicate.  These guys make what is possibly the scariest, most evocative music in the world.  (Want a sample? …

From the blog

  • Want to Get Published? Read This.

    I’ve talked to dozens of best-selling authors about their early years, before they were published. And the similarities between them are striking. On average, they wrote about half a dozen unpublished manuscripts before they sold a novel. (By the way, this is what I call the Myth of the First Novel. Because it’s hardly ever…

  • Compelling Character Arcs in 4 Easy Steps

    I’ll let you in on a secret: readers want your character to change. They know, deep down, that your character is unhappy with the status quo at the beginning of your book. Something is terribly wrong in your character’s life, and things can’t keep going on this way. Something’s got to give. Readers fervently hope…