The Official Site of Jim Snowden

Two Documentaries That Helped Me Build the Background of “Summer of Long Knives”.

By jim_snowden June 5, 2013Movies, The Larger World

My interest in probing the history of the Third Reich predates the writing of Summer of Long Knives by about thirteen years. The war years never grabbed me quite as much…

Could One of the Worst Movies of the 1980s Be Salvaged?

By jim_snowden June 3, 2013Criticism, Movies

Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d'you rearrange them into what you DO like? Part two of our little parlor game takes us to a…

Is it Possible to Make “The Final Conflict” Interesting?

By jim_snowden May 27, 2013Movies, Writing

Of Pixar's 22 rules of storytelling--which might better be understood as "22 questions and exercises that improve your storytelling odds" I get the biggest kick out of #20: #20: Exercise:…

So Over It Contest #21: Paying Attention On Twitter Edition

By jim_snowden May 25, 2013Contest

No winners of So Over it #20. The pictured location is easier to identify from this angle: It's Lenny's Pizza in Brooklyn, where Tony orders two pizza slices so he…

Going For the Title

By jim_snowden May 23, 2013Uncategorized

I just finished the first draft a new short story about a young woman who misses out on the Summer of Love because she has to edit her ailing Dad's…

Townbuilding

By jim_snowden May 20, 2013Writing

Literary fiction writers don't usually have to do quite as much world building as their science fiction and fantasy colleagues. We work mostly with existing locations, either past or present.…

ABC May Not Be Quite So Easy As 123

By jim_snowden May 18, 2013The Larger World

I learned early on in college that I didn't have what it took to be a professional in math and science, but the material still fascinates me: On August 31,…

So Over it Contest #20: Two. Two Is Good. Edition

By jim_snowden May 17, 2013Contest

No winners for So Over It #19. The answer is 3632 Skyline Dr., Jackson, Mississippi. The location is historic because it was here on June 12th, 1963 that Medgar Evers,…

Stupid Things Great Writers Say

By jim_snowden May 17, 2013Books, Writing

Let's start with V.S. Naipaul, Nobel Laureate of 2001: I read a piece of writing and within a paragraph or two I know whether it is by a woman or…

Who Cares About Literary Likeability?

By jim_snowden May 16, 2013Books, Criticism, The Larger World

From the L.A. Times: In a widely circulated interview with Publishers Weekly, writer Claire Messud was asked if she would want to be friends with the protagonist of her new novel, "The…