by Melinda Snodgrass | Apr 24, 2011 | Blog
You get the idea. I’m really wrestling with the third EDGE book. The issue of whether the two first person POV’s has been laid to rest. Readers have said it is working. The new problem is that two of my readers have never read the first two books. Which is actually not a problem, but a good thing because it is telling me that I need to find a way to recap the action in the earlier books. I’ve been trying to feather it in through internal...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Apr 19, 2011 | Blog
Back on April first I was one of the featured guests at the annual Williamson Lectureship at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales New Mexico, and please hold the remarks about me being the April Fool’s joke. 🙂 ENMU is a small college town out on the eastern plains of NM surrounded by ranches and peanut farms, and it was the home of the legendary science fiction writer Jack Williamson.For those of you who might not be familiar with his work Jack sold his first story THE...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Apr 17, 2011 | Blog
I’m having a weird problem with the third Edge book. I can’t quite settle on the right style, or is it voice? Book one THE EDGE OF REASON, I wrote in a standard third person style. Then I discovered (thanks to George R.R., and the Noel story in BUSTED FLUSH) that I wrote really well in first person. So when I rewrote THE EDGE OF RUIN I did a combination of first for my protagonist, and third for the other three view point characters which seemed to work...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Apr 15, 2011 | Blog
Went and saw Source Code tonight. I generally liked this film though it got a bit tedious in the middle. The relationship between Captain Stevens and Goodwin was just great. Vera Farmiga was just wonderful since she basically had to act while seated and using only facial expressions. I was doing really well and then we hit the end. And I have no fracking idea what happened. Which means it failed the Parke Godwin test. Which states — can you tell me...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Apr 13, 2011 | Blog
Check this out. I’m was tired and a bit down and them I watched this incredible video on YouTube.
by Melinda Snodgrass | Apr 12, 2011 | Blog
I just wanted to let people know that THE EDGE OF REASON is now available in various ebook formats. Apparently it had fallen through the cracks back when the hardcover was originally published, and never been made available. *sigh* Anyway, it’s there now, and I hope some folks will enjoy it.
by Melinda Snodgrass | Apr 12, 2011 | Blog
Well, I’m home in New Mexico again, and after going to physical therapy and stopping by George’s for a visit I went to one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. As I was sitting, sipping my margarita, I was listening to the people around me. (Occupational hazard for writers.) Most of the wait staff and the busboys were speaking Spanish. Then I realized that fully half the patrons of the restaurant were also speaking Spanish. I sat letting the music of the...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Apr 10, 2011 | Blog
I flew into L.A. on Tuesday, raced to Christine Valada and Len Wein’s house, leaped into the car and headed off to the Warner Brother’s lot to watch a taping of BIG BANG THEORY. I like the show — these are my tribe — brainy geeks so I was looking forward to the experience. What I hadn’t expected was the strange emotional roller coaster it triggered. I’ve been on the Warner’s lot a number of times since I was on staff on REASONABLE DOUBTS,...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Apr 9, 2011 | Blog
So I spent the past few days at the Romantic Times conference. It was an experiment that I don’t think was all that successful for me as a science fiction writer, but was an introduction to another low prestige genre like S.F. The readers were lovely, very enthusiastic, like S.F. fans a lot of them are aspiring writers. I was less happy with the cost of the convention — substantial and the fact they were additional charges to the women (and it was predominately women)...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Mar 21, 2011 | Blog
I learned something from one of the vets I use. This is really fascinating. A friend of mine has a really high maintenance Irish hunter. Fox had a tough start in life. He was imported from Ireland by a woman who didn’t have the skills to ride him. So he stood in a stall after being in open pasture in Ireland. He got handed around to a lot of trainers, and he got very suspicious and sour. Lindy has done an incredible job turning around his attitude, but...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Mar 15, 2011 | Blog
A little while back I wrote a very brief post apologizing to any fans about the delay between the the two Edge books, and trying to indicate that I didn’t do it out of disrespect. There was a lot more to this story, but I didn’t have the heart or the energy to go into the whole damn mess. Books are like your children and when terrible things happen to them it’s hurts. A lot. It also feels like an assault on _you_ because if you’ve done it right...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Mar 7, 2011 | Blog
I’m reading Alan Alda’s autobiography, NEVER HAVE YOUR DOG STUFFED, and it’s fun and fascinating and at times upsetting. What I didn’t expect was to find something profound about acting that has a very real application to writing. It’s very easy when you’re writing to just make your points, ride your own personal hobby horse, and set up straw men to be demolished by your protagonists. This is especially common in science fiction where the...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Mar 7, 2011 | Blog
Went off to see Rango tonight. Had dinner at Cleopatra’s a lovely Middle Eastern restaurant right next to the theater then in to watch Johnny Depp as a lizard, or chameleon. I was never quite sure. What I am sure about is that this movie is a delight. It is a love letter to the Western, and to movies in general. If you are a movie buff you will constantly be reacting to a line of dialogue, a camera shot that makes you remember another film. I highly recommend this...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Mar 6, 2011 | Blog
So, I had this series going. About the war between science and rationality and superstition and religion. It was getting nice reviews and I was getting feedback from readers that they liked the books. I knew where I wanted the series to end. I had all kinds of stories that would torment and test my hero. Unfortunately in publishing the writer actually writing is about 10% of the effort to get a book onto the stands and into reader’s hands. 90% of what...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Mar 6, 2011 | Blog
I wanted to write a post to any aspiring writers regarding the tools you need to be successful (which can be a very relative term when you’re talking about writing). I’m not going to talk about the ability to plot, create interesting multi-dimensional characters, brisk sharp prose. No I’m going to talk about something far more mundane. Can you write and deliver a book within the terms of the contract? Back when I was first breaking into writing a...
