Feb 15, 2019
In this episode Mark interviews Laura Shanae Crenshaw, a writer, a world-builder, a photographer, an all around creative person, and the creator of the Mythulu creation cards.
Prior to the interview, Mark shares a few details from last week's Superstars Writers Seminars that stuck out to him, both writing and business-of-writing related activities as well as an unexpected pleasant personal experience.
He then talks about the audiobook panels he was on and mentions
this episode's sponsor, Findaway Voices. He shares that, in 2018, 6% of
his writing income came from audio, and from sources well behind
the major retailers for audiobooks (such as Audible, Apple, Kobo
and Google). 
. . . you can learn more about
how you can get your work distributed not only to those top
retailers, but also to other retailers and library systems around
the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.
During their chat, Mark and Laura discuss:
- Laura's unusual introduction into writing via imaginary stories from her older sister
- The basic concept behind the Mythulu creativity enhancement tool that Laura created
- Daniel Kahneman (author of "Thinking Fast and Slow") and how his idea that the brain can only hold 6 ideas at a time led to the six packs in Laura's deck
- Filling a story with rich meaning instead of tropes and cliches
- The archetypes used in the tool: Elements, Habitats, Characters, Relationships, Traits, and Textures
- Examples of "Blood" as one of the 50 archetypical elements and the various interpretations associated with it
- How research led to the creation of something a lot more complex than was laid out by Joseph Campbell in his mythological archetypes
- Mark's consideration of Laura's reading of the deck as being similar to a Tarot reading
- Examples of how a writer might use the deck to fill in details or answering outstanding questions
- Laura's passion for helping writers tell new stories and incorporate new ideas into their writing
- The non-fiction book that Laura ghost-wrote called "Never Boss"
- How Laura was introduced to and invited to Superstars Writing Seminars by James Owen
After the interview, Mark reminds listeners of their chance to win a copy of the Mythulu Creation Cards just by commenting on this episode at www.starkreflections.ca.
The winner will be randomly drawn from all commenters, and patrons supporting the show via Patreon.com/StarkReflections who leave a comment will get an additional bonus opportunity to win.
He then reflects on how Laura was welcomed in to the Superstars Writing Seminars Tribe, discusses the concept of that incredibly powerful "family" feeling at the conference, as well as elements of Love that go beyond notions of romantic love and are more about the beautiful way that people can connect to one another and support each other.
Links of Interest:
- Mythulu
- Superstars Writing Seminars
- Fiction River: Feel the Love
- Patreon for Stark Reflections
- Stark Reflections Survey
- The 7 P's of Publishing Success
- Killing It On Kobo
The music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0