Amy Atwell's Blog

This post first appeared on my former blog December 15, 2010.

With Thanksgiving behind us, I’m getting into the holiday spirit. So what better time to discuss our favorite Christmas stories? I have a lengthy and diverse list (instead of a gift wish list!). Watching these movies or television specials is an important part of the holiday tradition at our house.

First off, I love the Christmas specials from my childhood: A Charlie Brown Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Rudolph the Red-No...

Me (age 7) and our Siberian Husky Tanya. We read Charlotte’s Web together that summer.

This post first appeared on my former blog March 7, 2011.

We all have them. Come on, admit it. Somewhere in your past is a story—be it book or film—that you love so much, it’s a guilty pleasure.

Guilty pleasures are stories you return to again and again. They lift you when you’re feeling down or comfort you when you’re sick or blue. They prepare you fight back when life has dumped on you. They’re a welcome int...

This post first appeared on my former blog March 4, 2011.

I am already gearing up for football. And I’m not really a serious sports fan. Not like my brother. He can talk stats and scores and teams and players for every sport. Might come with the territory of being the father of three grown sons.

But as a writer, I’m also intrigued by how the media turns so many elements of sports into STORY. First, there are the many personalities and life stories of the players. These bring stories like The Bl...

This post first appeared on my former blog February 28, 2011.

I’m wild about heroes who play the role of “Protector.” From True Grit to Terminator 2, there are hundreds of stories that feature this iconic hero. Often a loner or someone who has been shunned by society, the Protector defies convention and risks his life to keep the heroine safe.

Of course, there are heroine twists on the Protector, too. Sigourney Weaver’s character in Aliens must protect the orphaned girl, Newt. And John Grisham...

This post first appeared on my former blog February 21, 2011.

Go ahead and list them. Those “classics” you were forced to read in school. Which ones were on your list?

Great Expectations

The Grapes of Wrath

To Kill A Mockingbird

The Red Badge of Courage

Julius Caesar

Macbeth

Hamlet

I read Great Expectations in high school. Don’t tell anyone, but I *loved* it! I was always two chapters ahead of the class. Yeah, Dickens was a little long-winded in his descriptions, but Pip and Magwich and Miss Haversham...

This post first appeared on my former blog January 13, 2011.

Raise your hand if you were a Mr. Ed fan. Remember him? The talking palomino who lived in architect Wilbur’s little barn? (Go ahead, I’ll wait while you sing the theme song…) For a city kid who dreamed of one day owning a horse, that show was like candy.

I have always loved the majestic beauty of horses. No one else in my immediate family rides, but from the time I could walk, I was horse crazy. I pretended to be a horse. I learned to...

This post first appeared on my former blog December 5, 2010.

Come on, you’ve got one. Who is it?

Cruella de Vil?

Lex Luther?

The Wicked Witch of the West?

Voldemort?

Great stories often require great villains. Without them, our heroes cannot be truly heroic. They provide the force we long to see our hero overcome.

But great villains can’t just be evil. We need to understand them. Frighteningly, we often need to empathize with them. In 1989’s Batman, brought to life by Tim Burton, The Joker was given...

This post first appeared on my former blog December 1, 2010.

Hans Christian Andersen brought us some lovely, compelling tales about characters who didn’t quite fit into their world. The Ugly Duckling. The Little Mermaid. They recognized that they belonged among a different crowd. They just didn’t know how to get there.

The Little Mermaid has always drawn me as an iconic character. She knows she doesn’t fit in. She’s desperate to experience the human world, and she goes so far as to trade her vo...

This post first appeared on my former blog Nov 29, 2010.

Let me just start out by saying that I love the characterHarry Potter. I’ve seen the movies through The Half-Blood Prince. Thrilling, enjoyable, and for someone who didn’t raise her own kids, what a treat to watch Harry, Ron and Hermione grow up over the years.

But as a writer, I hid my dark secret until recently: I’ve never read the Harry Potter books.

Well, okay, I’ll confess—I did just start. I’m nearly through book 2. My husband, who t...