Ask the Author: Melissa Myring
Answered Questions (5)
Melissa Myring
Your dreams are real. The Nightmares are coming for you.
I know it's more of a tagline than anything, but this is actually the plot for my first novel, The Dreamwalkers! Great question, Goodreads!
I know it's more of a tagline than anything, but this is actually the plot for my first novel, The Dreamwalkers! Great question, Goodreads!
Melissa Myring
I've always loved space travel. I spend a fair amount of time thinking up alternate faster-than-light theories. Then, one December I came across a short story advent calendar. And I knew that I wanted to read a short story a day through December. But it was sold out. And there were no electronic copies.
I was heartbroken. I knew that this needed to be a thing in the world. So I tried to gather some friends to each contribute a short story into an anthology. But those plans fell through. So I figured I'll just write them all myself! How hard could that be? (in the words of George R. R. Martin ... oh past Melissa, you sweet summer child).
The Caprinian Saga then evolved into more than just space travel stories. I attended some seminars on constructed languages and KNEW that if I created an alien race they would need their own language to make them feel authentic. And then I did some hard thinking about what makes an alien culture truly unique. I wanted these aliens to be "alien" - and not just humans who happen to live on a different planet in space. They needed to be similar enough to humans to be emotionally relatable, but they needed to feel like a unique race of beings, with their own cultures, language, and beliefs.
All of that came together in 2018 when I put this together as a gift for my father. It went over extremely well, and then came the hard work of polishing it to the point where I could share it with the whole world.
I was heartbroken. I knew that this needed to be a thing in the world. So I tried to gather some friends to each contribute a short story into an anthology. But those plans fell through. So I figured I'll just write them all myself! How hard could that be? (in the words of George R. R. Martin ... oh past Melissa, you sweet summer child).
The Caprinian Saga then evolved into more than just space travel stories. I attended some seminars on constructed languages and KNEW that if I created an alien race they would need their own language to make them feel authentic. And then I did some hard thinking about what makes an alien culture truly unique. I wanted these aliens to be "alien" - and not just humans who happen to live on a different planet in space. They needed to be similar enough to humans to be emotionally relatable, but they needed to feel like a unique race of beings, with their own cultures, language, and beliefs.
All of that came together in 2018 when I put this together as a gift for my father. It went over extremely well, and then came the hard work of polishing it to the point where I could share it with the whole world.
Melissa Myring
I'm currently working on a novel set in a kind of fairy-tale version of modern day Earth. The protagonist is a single mother who takes her daughter on an adventure through the magical land of Faerie while trying to uncover the mystery surrounding a king that disappeared in the mid 19th century.
Melissa Myring
I get to experience the stories as they are being written. Sometimes, a character will do something that I didn't expect or anticipate. That makes me rewrite most of my story just to accommodate this new development, and oftentimes my work is better because of it.
Melissa Myring
Exercise and meditation! Swimming for me is by far the best way to get rid of writer's block. Basically any activity that relaxes my brain and just lets my subconscious go to work.
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