by Melinda Snodgrass | Jun 10, 2013 | Blog, The Craft of Writing
“They want leadership. They’re so thirsty for it they’ll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there’s no water, they’ll drink the sand.” So says Lewis in Aaron Sorkin’s wonderful film The American President. In the movie they’re talking about leadership, but I realized that this quote can apply equally well to creators. Thinking about this quote made me realize that writers are leaders, taking their...
by Melinda Snodgrass | May 27, 2013 | The Craft of Writing
A few months ago I had sent out a tweet about the power of myth and how you deny it at your peril. My off-handed remark was read by Aidan Moher who runs the website A Dribble of Ink. He contacted me, and asked if I would do a guest post for his site jumping off from that one throw away line about myth. I was both flattered and intimidated, but I tackled it, and it forced me to really think about stories. Why I like them. Why I tell them. What about them makes them work. Well, my...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Apr 13, 2013 | The Craft of Writing
I’ve spent three days in the company of brilliant writers and I am humbled and inspired, and educated all at the same time. The past few days I was in Portales New Mexico, site of the Williamson Lectureship. The Lectureship was founded by Jack Williamson, Grand Master of science fiction, and man who sold his first story, The Metal Man, in 1928, and his last novel, The Stonhenge Gate, was published in 2005. Other little facts about Jack; he added words to the English language by...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Feb 10, 2013 | The Craft of Writing
I’ve been dithering over a scene in the latest novel, THE EDGE OF DARKNESS. In the interest of efficiency and moving the story forward I wanted this to be a simple set of actions. People get locked up so hero and his Scooby Gang can escape. Eventually locked up people have to be freed, and take their nefarious actions. Which had me reflecting on cell phones. If you leave them with phones they call the cops and claim they are being kidnapped/illegally detained, and my hero’s...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Dec 16, 2012 | The Craft of Writing
I’ve talked about this in the context of Mass Effect 3 and the ultimate massive failure of what should have been the greatest video game to date, but I have to bring it up again. I don’t tend to review books because if I’ve read a book to the end it means I liked it, and then I get accused of just saying nice things, and if I don’t like a book I stop reading. I only have so many years of life left so I don’t spend time on books I don’t like. I also offer...
