D. Thomas Minton
writes speculative fiction from his home in the mountains of British Columbia.
Category Archives: Inspiration
Kicking and Screaming
It seems like a lot of people I know are going through a tough writing spell. Maybe the planets are out of alignment or the increased sunspot activity is sapping creative forces (if you believe such things). I must confess … Continue reading
Posted in Inspiration, Writing
Leave a comment
Inspiration: “Wings Over the Suicide Rocks”
I often get asked about where I get story ideas, which was the genesis for my series of “Inspiration” posts. Sometime it’s easy to pinpoint a specific inspiration, but often numerous things inspire a story. For my story “Wings Over the … Continue reading
Inspiration: “The Sea Shall Have Them”
Liquid Imagination published “The Sea Shall Have Them” in their February 2012 issue. I wrote the original version of this story in the early 1990s after reading an article on the first “Burning Man” gathering in the Nevada Desert (before … Continue reading
The Blurry Edges of Science Fiction
I recently read “The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees” by E. Lily Yu at Clarkesworld Magazine. It’s been nominated for a Nebula Award and is a well-written allegory. In the comments section for the story, someone questioned whether it … Continue reading
Inspiration: “Requiem for Shiva”
“Requiem for Shiva” was the first short story I wrote as an “adult,” and, as such, I can’t remember specifically what inspired it, but it’s had an interesting history. Although I can’t say what inspired it, I can say what … Continue reading
Posted in Inspiration, Science Fiction, Writing
Tagged Requiem for Shiva, The Future Fire
Leave a comment
Two Days in the Clouds
Last week, the staff at my day job took a two-day retreat from the ocean and went up into the mountains to do some volunteer service at one of my organization’s terrestrial nature reserves on Hawaii Island. We spent time … Continue reading
Words to Live By
In 2005, Steve Jobs delivered the commencement address to Stanford’s outgoing class. If you haven’t read what he had to say, take a moment and read it, I’ll wait…. Ordinarily I don’t care for inspirational speeches, but I read this … Continue reading
Posted in Inspiration
Leave a comment
Nothing Like a Little Research to Make the Time Go By
One of the reason I like writing speculative fiction is it gives me another reason to learn new things. I’m a naturally inquisitive person to start with—that’s probably why I got into science as my day job—and I like to … Continue reading
Posted in Inspiration, Writing
1 Comment
Don’t Be Afraid to Break the Eggs
A couple of days ago, I wrote a post about past versus present tense, so when I came across a wish list of writing rules to break by Charlie Jane Anders at io9, I got a crazy, déjà vu feeling when I saw “No … Continue reading
Step Inside, World
As someone who works in the sciences for my day job, I’m fascinated by data and what they can tell me. Naturally, I love the site-visitor statistics that WordPress supplies (one of these days I will plug this thing into Google … Continue reading
Posted in General News, Inspiration, Writing
Leave a comment
D. Thomas Minton 