by Melinda Snodgrass | Jul 17, 2024 | The Craft of Writing, TV & Movies
This post was generated after watching the finale of The Acolyte, so if you haven’t see it yet there are going to be SPOILERS, so stop reading now. <<<<<<<SPOILERS<<<<<<<<<SPOILERS>>>>>>SPOILERS>>>>>> Overall I liked The Acolyte quite a lot. I like the fact it wasn’t written by all one person. I thought the cast was terrific, particularly Lee Jung Jae as the Jedi Master Sol. There was very...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jun 22, 2024 | About Writing, The Craft of Writing
As a reader I’ve tended to prefer science fiction to fantasy, with a few exceptions. The Lord of the Rings is one of my favorite books and I go to Middle Earth whenever life feels too stressful. But about a year ago I had this idea pop into my head and I can’t shake it. So now that my space opera, Imperials, is finished, and the Carolingian series about the war between science and rationality and superstition, religion and magic is also finished. (Those books will be going live in the...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jan 15, 2023 | About Writing, The Craft of Writing
I’ve always been a writer who outlines. I got a lot better at it once I worked in Hollywood and learned how to “break a story”. For an in-depth look at how that works check out my blog post called How I Plot. Point being, I’m a bit of a dinosaur, I like to outline the way I was taught in LaLa Land using either a white board and different colored pens or a cork board 4×6 cards and different colored pens. However, many of the programs I use have added plotting...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jun 10, 2021 | The Craft of Writing, TV & Movies
I watched the first episode of Disney and Marvel’s new TV series Loki last night, and I loved it. It continues the really exciting trend of innovative and daring shows on this streaming network. Also, I have a giant crush on Tom Hiddleston and on Loki. Honestly, I’m a bit schizophrenic in my crushes when it comes to Marvel. Favorite Avenger — Captain America, but for a fun and undoubtably crazy time on a date — Loki. But enough of my fantasy romances. I was musing about...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Apr 28, 2021 | About Writing, The Craft of Writing
I mentioned on Twitter that I was getting ready to outline or break two new novels, and a follower asked if I could describe my process. It ended up being a really looong Tweet thread so I thought I would pull it all together here for folks who might not be on Twitter. I always outlined from the time I first started writing, I think it was a function of having been a lawyer and knowing that a brief has to take a judge or a jury to a certain conclusion so structure is important. I’m also...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jul 10, 2020 | About Writing, The Craft of Writing, Wild Cards
I was scrolling through Twitter this morning and came across a gif of a group of cows jumping over the white line on a road. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHneXbfFwsc And it reminded me of a funny Roger Zelazny/Wild Cards story. Also how Roger was freaking brilliant and one of the finest writers ever to grace the field of science fiction and fantasy. Anyway, we were working a particular volume — Down and Dirty — where Roger’s iconic character Croyd Crenson aka The Sleeper...
