Just in time for Halloween, Colorado’s best podcast for nerds had me on to talk about the secrets to creating bloodcurdling monsters, and other spooky fun.
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True story: at the RMFW conference this year, I bumped into my good friend Mark Stevens, an award-winning author and host of the Rocky Mountain Writer podcast. Somehow, we got to talking about weird musical instruments.
I’ve just started playing one of the weirdest of all, the theremin. It’s the original electronic instrument, one that you play just by waving your hands at it. It’s been featured in plenty of old black and white science fiction movies.
Mark was like, “Why don’t you play it on our podcast?”
And I was like, “Wow! That’s a terrifying idea! Let’s do it!”
(And also, somewhere in there, we talked about my writing, too.)
Recently, I had the great pleasure of chatting with notable Colorado author Mark Stevens, host of The Rocky Mountain Writer podcast. We chatted about writing and publishing, and I read an excerpt from my upcoming book, A Kiss Before Doomsday. Listen to the RMFW podcast here.
As I’m sure you know, I love sharing writing tips and productivity tips that anyone can use. In the podcast, I got the chance to talk about an acronym I use to help me write absolutely anything from a blog post to a novel. It’s CODE:
Have you listened to Beyond the Trope yet? What are you waiting for?
Beyond the Trope is the most nerdly fun podcast you haven’t heard yet.
By the way, not only is it oddly addictive, I also promised to give away a signed paperback copy of It Happened One Doomsday to one lucky listener.
On the latest episode, we chatted about all kinds of crazy stuff including, but not limited to:
* a Metallica mix tape that led indirectly to a book deal
* getting writing ideas at a party with Hugh Howey and Kristin Nelson
* what goes into a good book soundtrack, and that means the best Phil Collins “In the Air Tonight” cover you ever heard
* a guy named Mr. Angry (I’m not making that up) who built the car that inspired Hellbringer, the demon-possessed muscle car in my book.
Check out the Beyond the Trope podcast.
You can also listen on iTunes or get it on Stitcher.
Attention writers: You’re missing out.
If you aren’t already listening to Mur Lafferty’s, “I Should Be Writing: The Podcast for Wannabe Fiction Writers,” you need to drop what you’re doing and go listen.
In every episode, Mur talks about the writing process, problems every writer faces, and how to solve them.
The unstoppable Mur was gracious enough to invite me on her show to blab on endlessly about writing, crystals, muscle cars, and the original idea behind It Happened One Doomsday.
Honestly, I think the best part of the conversation happened after we stopped recording:
We talked about how so many creative people get discouraged because they don’t realize that their struggles are universal. I told Mur that what she’s doing with her podcast is incredibly important. And that’s so true.
By the way, since this podcast came out, I’ve gotten plenty of questions about the MONSTER acronym I use to create monsters in my stories.
It’s a handy tool for thinking your monsters completely through. Here it is:
MIND: How smart is it? What senses does it possess?
ORIGIN: Where does it come from? What is it called?
NEED: What motivates it? What is it after?
SKETCH: What does it look like? How big is it? What color is it? How does it move?
TAKE ON: How can the heroes fight it? What hurts it? What scares it?
EAT: What does it eat? How does it eat?
RELATIONSHIPS: Loner or a pack? Belong to someone? Obey someone/thing? Rule someone/thing?
If you find that helpful, there’s more.
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Laurence MacNaughton is the award-winning author of more than a dozen novels, novellas, and short stories. His work has been praised by Booklist, Publishers Weekly, RT Book Reviews, Library Journal, and Kirkus Reviews. He lives in Colorado with his wife and too many classic cars.
