Laura Crenshaw and her book on creator-audience relationships
Laura Crenshaw and her book on creator-audience relationships – Sweeter than Silence – Kickstarter
By Angelique Fawns
The inventor of the inspirational Mythulu Creation Cards invites you to check out her campaign for her book “Sweeter than Silence” which “loving explores rejection by rethinking desire, courage, and the heart of innovation.” I met Laura at Superstars Writing Seminar in 2024 and was blown away by her creativity.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/laurashanae/sweeter-than-silence-hardcover-edition
AF: What was your inspiration for this project?
LC: It was three-fold.
In college, I studied Business Entrepreneurship. 90% of my classmates lacked customer empathy, and it had a massive impact on the quality of their business ideas. They pitched kinetic-energy-capturing sneakers that could charge your phone, countless mobile apps that monetized with aggressive ads, and insanely overpriced meal subscriptions. Having lived through desperate years on very little, the difference between exploitive offerings versus true solutions was very clear to me. It surprised me that my peers couldn’t see it, and my heart ached for all of them, knowing the sacrifices of entrepreneurship that lay ahead down paths that held no treasure. No empathy, no innovation.
Artists are entrepreneurs too. Through my work on Mythulu Cards and Mythulu Magazine I’ve worked closely with writers, painters, RPG gamers, even film professionals at all levels. People trust me with their half-formed stories, asking for help to untangle plots or figure out why their work isn’t connecting with readers. The biggest part of my job is to believe in broken stories, and help the authors fix them to a highly competitive standard.
I’ve done this thousands of times now, and noticed most authors are struggling with the same audience disconnect I saw among classmates in college. Craft is secondary. Audience empathy is critical.
Along the way, I sat at the cross-section of these different story industries absorbing advice from podcasts, lectures, and forums. Watching the trends, I noticed gaps and repetition in the public conversation. I was especially interested when debates recurred separately in different industries, such as the “intention versus audience interpretation” question, which loves to argue over who is right. And a general inability to define Voice in any discipline. Voice in particular bugged me because I teach voice. All these factors simmered in my head for a long time, waiting for the right catalyst.
The clincher was reading Scott McCloud’s book Understanding Comics. My mentor James loaned it to me one day, saying, “I think you can do for Publishing what Scott did for comics. You need to read this.” That book was raw genius. And it seeded my brain with the tone I was missing—optimistic, conversational, educational, playful, super easy to read. After devouring Scott’s book, I sat at my desk feeling like I’d chugged two red bulls. I was seized with an intense clarity. I could see exactly where public discussion had hit its limit, and what I wanted to say to expand the conversation. The content of the two books is totally different, but Scott’s gave me the attitude I needed.
Every chapter in Sweeter than Silence is fresh theory. If you encounter a concept in it that you’ve heard before, it’s probably because I’m countering it, or using it as the starting point for a dramatically expanded tool. I made loads of diagrams. I invented words to describe phenomena that had no names. I filed a patent after writing this book. You can’t find the lessons in Sweeter than Silence in any other book on the planet. The theories are new.
AF: How has your personal experience informed this book?
LC: Both my personal and professional journeys have deeply shaped this book. I frequently find myself in situations where I’m trying to bridge gaps, especially relationship gaps. I’ve learned that the path to authentic connection often involves a lot of risk, especially when we expose the tender parts of ourselves, hoping they’ll be met with empathy rather than indifference.
This book was a deeply vulnerable project for me because it contains a lot of personal anecdotes–not just lessons, but how I learned them. Sharing stories like that poses risk to me personally, but I cannot convey how my worldview changed without sharing the moments that changed who I am.
This book is not just the culmination of my professional education—is it the culmination of everything I understand about people so far. I expect to continue to grow, so this will be a mile-marker in my life, and I hope to look back on it fondly.
AF: I love the cover art. Can you tell me more about its conception?
LC: Thanks! It was born of necessity, honestly. 😂 I do a ton of graphic design work for Mythulu Cards, so I’m capable of putting together a half-decent cover. I’m a sucker for color. I have always maxed out the vibrance in my graphics work. I reuse elements from different projects both for efficiency and brand cohesion.
The rainbow texture on the book actually uses the same texture on the back of our Mythulu Cards. Specifically, the “random” card from our mobile app, which itself was a blend of the other decks’ colors. I was in a rush to produce a cover for my book mockup. Rainbows of vibrant color felt like the epitome of desire—a central theme in Sweeter than Silence. The rainbow fades into a plain white with black font—to represent silence.
It’s simple but seems to be resonating with people, which makes me very happy. I wanted something that felt peaceful yet powerful, something that captured the inner silence and outer expression.
AF: Can you tell us about your artistic and writing journey?
LC: I believe creativity has a scientific structure. And I believe facing things outside my comfort zone is the source of all my personal growth. My entire journey has been defined by those two beliefs.
I am also viphorically motivated—viphoria meaning vicarious euphoria. I get more joy out of seeing other people succeed than I do from my own personal success.
That cocktail of motives and interests compelled me to found Mythulu. Mythulu exists to help other creators unlock their potential. To help them, I have to constantly learn and evolve as a writer and artist.
Creativity comes from unconnected ideas merging. The best innovations are born with utterly unrelated disciplines collide. Innovation is the heart of what I do, so I indulge in the polymath life. I’ve explored a lot of mediums—photograph, painting, graphic design, music, screenplays, novels, business books, and even game design. I’m also a big fat nerd, passionate about science, ecology, etymology, law, spreadsheets, and systems design. I believe I have a responsibility to the tangible world around me, rather than the abstract, so I work hard to explore real life. To see the real world. To welcome unexpected experiences.
That openness to experience has taken me strange places—from my time as a desert survival trail guide at a rehab program all the way to Burning Man. From an early life as a devout christian to an adulthood of eastern philosophy balanced with science. From a sheltered farm in Kentucky, to the cities of San Diego, and now to the tropical wonders of Puerto Rico. These experiences are all moments on a bigger journey. They have shaped me but none of them define me on their own.
Writing Sweeter than Silence felt like the culmination of everything I’ve learned about life and people. It has a backbone of intelligence. But my goal is ultimately to help people thrive in the tangible world. I hope Sweeter than Silence does that both for my direct audience and their audiences.
AF: Do you have a day job and how does it influence your writing?
LC: I’ve worked full-time at Mythulu for seven years. At the beginning I worked part-time to pay the bills. I am fortunate to have a stable and supportive spouse who believes both in the economic and influential potential of our work at Mythulu. The publishing industry is a behemoth that will take time to change, but we’re in this for the long game.
Everything I do influences my writing. My boring office jobs have fueled my business ghostwriting on leadership and customer service. To prevent my publishing industry work from becoming an echochamber of publishing-centric ideas, I regularly seek other experiences. Wildly different experiences, as I have the opportunity. Lately I’ve been blessed with really good friends in the circus crowd. I have my eye next on doing volunteer scuba diving work with my husband.
Having a diverse life is a choice. I’ve made sacrifices for this lifestyle, and there are trade-offs. I’m less prolific than other authors. I do not have kids. I regularly face physical and emotional discomfort. Sometimes I feel the FOMO of the other lives I could have led. But this life feels right for me. Comfort makes me feel stagnant and uneasy. I feel happiest and seem to serve the world best by taking that path less traveled.
AF: Any advice for authors wishing to run kickstarters?
LC: Keep your funding goal to the bare minimum. Be obsessed with simplicity. Deliver what you promise quickly, and kickstart again. Your success on kickstarter won’t come from a single viral campaign, but from a history of successful campaigns repeating over time.
Have patience with the customer acquisition process, too. Connecting with people for real is a sweet, fun, slow process.
AF: You’ve taken a controversial stance on AI usage. Can you tell us about your viewpoint and what kind of pushback you’ve experienced?
LC: Long before the explosion of AI two years ago, I’ve been pro-technology. The intense author-publisher disconnect we’re seeing right now exists because of inefficient manual processes. We’ve had the technology to improve Publishing systems for twenty years, but the system as a whole is intensely tech-phobic. No shade to any particular person or role. I’m just citing the facts. I get it. Change is uncomfortable. But change can also be a powerful friend.
I see AI as a tool—just like a brush or a pen—that can amplify creativity when used responsibly. I advocate for legal acceptance on a copyright level. Having hired more artists in my time than most professionals, I can attest to the high failure rate of 100% human commissioned work. I believe AI expands the employability of rising artists because it improves their average outputs to the point of being hirable. If you want to learn more, my Superstars lecture on AI Law and Ethics is available on YouTube, and discusses these issues in detail.
I understand AI is an extremely sensitive issue for many people who fear automation will strip away the human element. I’ve definitely lost some supporters because of my advocacy for AI, and it’s been scary to feel that rejection from fans I care about.
But I’ve never been able to mask my true feelings. I cannot lie. For better or worse, I’m wildly authentic. It’s uncomfortable to stand up for a volcanically hot topic in an industry where I’m a minority voice. But my focus is on innovation and evolution, and I believe AI is part of that journey.
AF: You’ve recently experienced a time of upheaval and change and now live in San Juan, Puerto Rico. What has this meant to you and how have you dealt?
LC: I can’t talk about most of the upheaval.. Some of the experiences are intensely personal. Some incidents are legally complex. Some are not my secrets to tell and I was just a supporting party. What I can say is that I had a very human year. It was hard. It was intense. I had to amputate some dreams from my life. I lost some of my closest friends. I had to own up to my biggest weaknesses and work on them. It was exhausting. But overall it was good for me and my family. We are happy and glad to be moving forward together.
I’m delighted to finally be able to talk about our move to Puerto Rico!
Puerto Rico has been healing. I love the ocean here. It’s clean and turquoise. I’m focused on doing less. Savoring the peace I advocate for. It’s nice to be in a place that is so warm and gorgeous. The storms speak to my soul. The water quiets my mind. The sand between my toes makes me feel like a kid. Flowers bloom everywhere. It’s the most at home I’ve ever felt.
I’m working to learn Spanish. It’s hard to be a beginner again at basic communication. I’m learning a great deal of empathy for things like discrimination and racial bias, and what it’s like to be the odd one out in a new place. Puerto Rico is still recovering hard from hurricane Maria, which left parts of the island without power for 328 days and caused a mass-abandonment of buildings.
But it’s beautiful to watch such a vibrant place rebuild. Overall this place is mentally invigorating. It’s a new emotional experience. I hope my time here makes me a kinder, happier, more rested person.
AF: Tell us more about your Mythulu magazine?
LC: Mythulu Magazine is a craft, business, and lifestyle magazine for professional storytellers. After we made Mythulu Cards, we realized some craft skills were making it hard for people to leverage their full potential as a trope-busting tool.
Each magazine issue picks a craft topic that we regularly see authors struggle with, and/or an industry issue that’s controversial in some way. We teach great skills in our keystone, and then publish stories that are great examples of what we’re trying to teach. We also always include a devil’s advocate article, arguing the opposite of whatever our magazine’s stance is and looking sincerely for the best alternate argument, because there’s always truth in both sides.
AF: What’s next for your career?
LC: Marketing Skills. I’ve invested a lot of time expanding my shelf of products, but I keep forgetting to sell them. I have several unreleased titles that are completely finished. Sweeter than Silence was one of those unreleased beauties.
Getting my work in front of audiences is a crucial half of the work I should be doing. Marketing has been a weakness. I intend to turn it into a strength. I’m working on systems and habits that will help Mythulu thrive in the future.
I want to help more people. I’ve made great tools, so doing the work to dramatically expand Mythulu’s fan base is the next step in helping more people.
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Angelique Fawns writes horror, fantasy, kids short stories, and freelance journalism. Her day job is producing promos and after hours she takes care of her farm full of goats, horses, chickens, and her family. She has no idea how she finds time to write. She currently has stories in Ellery Queen, DreamForge Anvil, and Third Flatiron’s Gotta Wear Eclipse Glasses. You can follow her work and get writing tips and submission hints at http://fawns.ca/.