Courage and passion are as important to a writing career as the sun is to living. These virtues shine through Martha Wells’ interview on Writers Write Blog. Working as a fantasy writer, Wells enthuses, “I just like that feeling of a window onto another time and place. It's similar to what I like best about SF [science-fiction] and fantasy, the feeling of being able to experience whole different worlds.”
With a degree in anthropology, Wells has always liked folklore and mythology.” She creates the culture of her world-building from “elements of real cultures around the world.”
Wells full-time plunge into a writing career began a few years ago. She worked in computer support and as a programmer and web designer. However, she wanted to be a writer from an early age. Steven Gould’s writer’s workshop during college stimulated her serious thinking about writing as a career.
Major influences in Wells’ writing are Sherlock Holmes, H. P. Lovecraft, Robert Heinlein, and Andre Norton. “She [Norton] wrote both fantasy and science fiction, and she was the first, or one of the first, writers to use a lot of the concepts that are fairly standard in fantasy and SF today. I think she was very ahead of her time.”
- “The Children of Green Knowe" books by L.M. Boston
- "Jumper" by Steven Gould
- The Three Musketeers and the other Dumas books
- Books by Jules Verne
- "The Bridge of Birds" by Barry Hughart
- "Imaro" by Charles Saunders
- "The Patient's Eyes" by David Pirie is a recent favorite
