Placing in the Writers of the Future (WotF) contest is the dream of many aspiring writers. Last year, Lauren Catherine McGuire, a resident of the quaint Georgia town of Senoia known for its role as the filming set of The Walking Dead, fulfilled that dream. McGuire was a quarterly second-place winner and earned the honor of having her story, “Karma Birds,” published in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 41. You can meet her at the “Writers of the Future: Practical Skills/Insider Knowledge for Genre Fiction” panel on Saturday at 1PM in Hyatt International North, along with other winners from last year’s contest. McGuire graciously agreed to answer a few questions for the Daily Dragon about her writing and her experience as a WotF contest winner.
Daily Dragon (DD): When and why did you decide to become a writer?
Lauren Catherine McGuire (LCM): I’ve had a daily journaling practice for over 15 years now, but I didn’t start writing until, probably, 2015. I was in the run-up to 40, which anyone who’s crested mid-life knows is a real phenomenon. I hated my job. I was in the throes of a deep and thorough deconstruction of my faith, and we were collectively staring down the barrel of the 2016 election. So yeah, good times. I started writing to make sense of the conflict in myself and the world around me. My initial attempts were nonfiction, and I even got a few publication credits under my belt, but I didn’t fall in love with writing until I started playing around with fiction.
At the time, I was training for marathons and would get up at an ungodly hour to (journal and then) run so I’d be out the door when it was still dark. When you’re running long distances, you can get into a trance-like state sometimes, and one morning on a run, I started seeing this movie play behind my eyes. After a few mornings of this, I decided I’d write it down as a kind of exercise. I figured any writing would help me get better at essay writing.
This went on for probably nine months, and I had 60,000 words before I told my husband what was going on.
When you go to your spouse at midlife and say you have something to tell him, that’s a very tense situation. Let’s just say he was relieved to hear I was writing.
A year after I started that novel, I finished the first draft. I was working as a project manager, raising three kids, and trying to write, which, for me, was an untenable situation. Luckily, my spouse agreed. Hating my job was nothing new, so I released the job back into the wild and focused on writing and kids.
DD: Did you begin with short stories or novels? What story length do you prefer and why?
LCM: I began with essays! Then I wrote a novel. Then I revised that novel for way too long. Then I wrote the sequel to that novel over a NaNoWriMo month. (That’s National Novel Writing Month, for the uninitiated. I wrote three novels with them before they shuttered.) I think I sprinkled some (really bad) short stories in there somewhere, but I didn’t get serious about trying short form until listening to the Writing Excuses podcast.
I love novel writing but have really come to appreciate the short story. In a lot of ways, short form is harder. Every word must count. Short form has taught me so much about tightening a story, focusing in on a character, creating a believable setting. You pull different levers when you’re writing long form.
My preference is long form. In each of my long-form projects, I tend to wrestle with myself to answer a question. It takes a full draft or more to even realize the question and several more to figure out what I think about it.
Typically, I work on short stories in breaks between drafts. My shorts stories tend to start with something more manageable—a scene or an idea that has a very specific outcome.
DD: What was it like to learn that your story, “Karma Birds,” had earned the number two slot in the second-quarter 2024 Writers of the Future (WotF) contest and would be published in the 41st volume of the anthology? How many times did you submit stories before winning?
LCM: My family and I were watching a movie when I got the call. My phone rang with this California number, and I was like, “I don’t know anyone in Los Angeles,” so I declined the call. When it rang two minutes later, I answered it with sass (as we say in the South). When Joni, the contest administrator, told me who she was, I screamed, and my family screamed, and we all jumped up and down like crazy people while Joni laughed. It was a great moment.
I had submitted to the contest twice before and gotten Honorable Mentions both times, which was really nice. I’d sent “Karma Birds” off to a magazine, and they’d held it for, like, 9 months before rejecting it. I got so mad, I sent it in to the contest, flounced away from my computer, and forgot about it until Joni called. Needless to say, I was thankful for the rejection from the magazine. Winning the contest was unreal.
DD: What inspired the idea for “Karma Birds?” Can you tell us a little about the story?
LCM: In “Karma Birds,” Claire and her little sisters are part of a caravan of survivors trying to make their way to safety in the wake of an unpredictable plague. Claire is seventeen and is thrust into this impossible position of keeping herself and these little girls alive. Despite being part of this group of survivors, when they stop for gas, it’s Claire’s decisions that seal their fates.
The seed of the story came from a dream—the gas station scene, actually. You’d think that would be terrifying, but when I woke up, I tried to remember everything about the dream. I stayed curious about what my subconscious was trying to tell me, but it still took several months for the whole thing to come together.
DD: How has submitting to WotF helped to develop your writing skills?
LCM: WotF is such a professional organization. Jody Lynn Nye’s edits were game changing. Her comments immediately elevated all my writing. We were all flown to California and given a weeklong master class in the craft and business of writing with her, Tim Powers (The Anubis Gates, On Stranger Tides), and a variety of other professionals. The people at Galaxy Press don’t miss a detail—we had media training, headshots, interviews. I met incredible writers who have shaped our industry and, I hope, have become friends and mentors. The advice we got from Jody and Tim has shaped so many of my creative decisions since. As for my cohort of writers, it felt like summer camp for adults. I developed several lifelong friendships, and we continue to share work and offer critiques. I would get on a plane for these people. I love them.
I don’t want to miss the opportunity to talk about meeting the illustrators for the issue as well. These artists are incredibly talented. When I saw my art piece, it took my breath away, and my artist, Breanda Petsch, has become a friend. Because of her, I’m committed to drawing 10 minutes a day for a year. I don’t aspire to create art like hers, but I did want to develop the skills to bring some of my characters to life in a visual way. She convinced me that I could. She’s quite inspirational.
DD: Has living in Senoia, land of the Walking Dead series, influenced your stories or spurred your creativity? If so, in what ways?
LCM: You know what’s funny…I have watched not one episode of that series. I watch zero television. Like none. I read and loved the Wheel of Time series in my early twenties and even met Robert Jordan at a book signing in Atlanta once, but when my husband and I started to watch the series, I think I made it through three episodes. I’m terrible with TV.
Outside of the Walking Dead show, Senoia has been an interesting place to live. I tell people it’s a microcosm of the greater world. The way politics and religion play out in our little town is no different than the way politics and religion play out on national and global scales. It’s wild. There are the major players that wield power and take as much as they can grab. There are the villagers/NPCs [non-player characters]. There are the love triangles and betrayals and ghosts. It’s quite dramatic for a town that lacks its own stoplight.
DD: Who are your favorite authors, and what do you admire most about their stories or writing style?
LCM: Oh man, what a question. Before WotF I’d never read Tim Powers, but I’ve read several of his books now, and his grasp of the weird and profane juxtaposed with mundane, everyday life is masterful.
Maggie Stiefvater is incredible with character development. She’s the only writer whose books I’ve read multiple times.
I think I’m a Becky Chambers completionist. She has this beautiful way of taking everyday situations of family and friendships and tilting them to see how they refract the light.
I write poetry, and Mary Oliver is my favorite poet. She uses simple, concrete language to explain huge, sweeping concepts. Whenever I read her, I feel seen and understood.
But I’m reading new and established authors all the time. I love Alix Harrow, and I will buy V.E. Schwab sight unseen. Mary Robinette Kowal writes marriage and friendship so beautifully, I want to live the lives of her characters. Amal El-Mohtar writes dreamlike, gorgeous prose. I love Emily Henry’s romances. The best nonfiction I’ve read in the last year is The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger.
DD: What themes or character types do you find the most intriguing?
LCM: I’m almost embarrassed to admit that my writing has become transparent, at least to me. Anyone who reads me with a discerning eye could easily spot an obsession with the mother/daughter dynamic. Most of my writing features moms, often behaving badly, or women thrust into a mothering role in one way or another.
I’m also very interested in power and power dynamics, especially between men and women (or their variants) and between adults and children. I’m fascinated by how families work. Currently, I’m haunted by what evils someone would perpetrate in the name of love.
DD: Which genre do you prefer and why?
LCM: I’ve always referred to myself as a science fiction/fantasy writer, but last year my critique partner looked me square in the eye and said, “you’re a sci-fi writer.” When I disagreed, she countered with, “Spaceships or dragons?”
Well, spaceships, obviously.
To be fair, I have loved both since I was a kid. I grew up on a steady diet of Ray Bradbury, Madeleine L’Engle, Margaret Weis, and Tracy Hickman.
The first few novels I wrote were fantasy, but then I ventured into speculative and science fiction and never looked back. I’m a very future-oriented person so that’s probably why I’m drawn to SF. I love the quote by Sophocles, “Nothing vast enters the life of mortals without a curse.” I always think about that quote when I’m reading about new technologies or thinking about possible technologies.
DD: What are your goals for your future writing career?
LCM: I’m on my sixth or seventh novel, depending on how you count them. (I wrote my third novel twice. As in literally twice. I wrote it one time through alone, then again with a writing coach.) I’d love to go the traditional publishing route, so I’m looking for an agent. My greatest aspiration is to see one of my books in one of those beautiful airport bookstores. Have you seen the ones at the airport in Atlanta? They are really well curated! It’s been fun to see the Writers of the Future book at the local Books-A-Million, but if I see my book on an airport bookshelf bookstore, I’ll know I’ve made it. Everyone will know it because I’ll be dancing around the store, waving the book in the air.
DD: Thank you for your time, and best of luck with your writing career. We hope you enjoy Dragon Con!
You can read McGuire’s prize-winning story, “Karma Birds,” in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 41. Find out more about her and her writing at https://laurenmcguirestoried.blogspot.com.
