This blog was written by mentee Emily Mendez who was inspired by Miden Wood’s and Alane Adams’ industry and craft talks at the Digital Media and Mentoring Entertainment and Scriptwriting Workshop.
The recent Digital Media and Mentoring Program (DMP) workshop had a theme I thoroughly enjoyed: entertainment and scriptwriting. Mentees were able to connect with speakers Alane Adams and Miden Wood who are both part of this industry.
Miden Wood, a scriptwriter (and a Girls Write Now mentor!), participates in the creation of the Nick Jr. show Blaze and the Monster Machines. She went into great detail on how an episode gets produced and starts off with just a small idea that “is constantly scrutinized and must be approved by editors countless of times” before even being accepted and making it on TV! She describes TV writing as a cause-and-effect machine where “stretching the rubber band” as much as possible without breaking it will help produce some of the best and popular TV shows or episodes. It is important to work well under time constraints and working with other writers to help develop an intriguing storyline that will bring in more viewers.
The second speaker, Alane Adams, reflected on how her own son had inspired her to follow an old dream she had: writing books. Her 12-year-old son had challenged her to write a book he would like, and so Alane started creating the Legends of Orkney series–a trilogy that was rooted by her son’s fascination with the Percy Jackson series. Throughout her talk, she constantly stressed the importance of world-building and being able to write an intricate scene explicitly and full of rich detail for the reader to grasp and feel as if they’re like a fly on the wall–obsessing over every small description the author gives. I found this concept extremely compelling as I often immerse myself into fantasy worlds and as a reader, I love to learn and read about different and even strange rules or magic systems that apply to the book. Fantasy worlds that are strongly ingrained and have an abundance of intricate and creative details are often times the most brilliant written works.
I really appreciated hearing the ideas and experience of two women who have excelled in their career fields and have a profound love for writing.