LTUE and the Celebration

By Keith N Fisher

I sat in the upper commons area of the Sorensen Student Center at UVU, writing and resting. A young man and his friends passed by after reading one of the signs directing symposium attendees toward the sign up table.

“Life, the Universe, & Everything,” he said, then he repeated it with emphasis on everything. The guy obviously had no idea what the symposium was all about, and made a mockery of it.

I looked up from my keyboard and made note of his appearance. He looked like the kind of a guy who would love LTUE, if he knew anything about it.

The symposium is 30 years old this year. It was started at a time when there was nothing on campus to support the creative urges of the like minded type of people who make Dragoncon a success. A group of science fiction & fantasy writers and artists were determined to hold that kind of event on the BYU campus.

Did I mention LTUE is thirty years old? I attended a panel discussion on the origins of LTUE and was impressed by the long list of famous people who have been guests.

Whether you write in those genres. Whether you draw dragons or anime. Even if you’ve a mind to dress in costume, you will find help, support, and camaraderie at LTUE. Hope to see you there. Because of health issues this year, I’ve been spending a lot of time on the mezzanine with my foot up. Come over and chat.

Good luck with your writing---see you next week.

Catching the Heart

by G.Parker

This week marks the 10 year anniversary of the 2002 Olympic games held in Salt Lake City.  I was privileged to be a part of the games as a volunteer.  In thinking about that time, I remember the televised moments, the newspaper accounts and all the radio commentary.  But the thing that stood out the most was how we volunteers felt about the games.  I'll never forget the night of the closing ceremonies.  Those of us who had been associated with the opening and closing ceremonies were able to stay and see the closing.  It was a moment I'll never forget.  It was breathtaking, it was amazing, and I didn't have to listen to commentators through the whole thing.  It was also heartbreaking when the torch went dark.  It was an audible groan around me as we watched those flames die.

The Olympics represent so much more than money to me, and to those of us who volunteered.  It's more than just sport.  It's heart.  The Olympics represent the best of every man and woman.  The strength of spirit and heart that everyone on the planet shares.  How even in difficult places one can train as an athlete.  Amazing stories of how sacrifice had gotten that athlete to the games, or how they had risen above great personal trials, those stories are common during the games.  They inspire everyone to attempt greatness.

For the brief period of when the Olympics are going, the average man thinks they can be something.  We watch every event (or the chosen few) with bated breath, yelling at judges and calling out encouragement to the chosen representative of our loyalty.  We don't know any of these athletes personally - for the most part.  We may have never even heard of them before, but their story becomes ours, their triumphs become ours triumphs and we grow together.

Apparently the state of Utah is optioning for another bid to host the games, apparently in 2022.  I was shocked to hear that it costs $150,000 just to apply for the honor to host the games.  That makes me think that despite the hype that the Olympics are about the human spirit, it's more about the money that can be made.  But that's for another blog.  ;)

The idea of the Olympic spirit makes me think of one of my writing friends.  She has been writing for many years, and has become successful in publishing.  Recently she wrote a story about Autism that was printed in the Ensign.  Someone that represented a national magazine saw this article, contacted her, and now she is going to write articles for them!  I'm so excited for her!  But it took many years of writing, reading, learning and keeping things going before it began to work.

It's the human spirit reaching out and showing courage.  She's an athlete in the writing sense, and we're all rooting for her.  You go, Danyelle!  We're all proud of you.

You see...we can all be like her.  It's far more attainable than an Olympic dream.

Randomly Foreshadowing

By Keith N Fisher

I’m writing to you from my living room this morning and that’s a blessing. If I had health insurance I would most probably be in the hospital. Life took a drastic turn for me this week when an ultrasound confirmed the swelling in my leg was indeed a blood clot.

Many things changed and new experiences were thrust upon me. I learned to give myself an injection twice a day, I went into deeper debt, and plans were changed. When asked if I could go to work, my doctor wondered if I could keep my leg elevated. “I work graveyard shift at a convenience store,” I said. I’m on my feet, lifting, organizing and cleaning all night.”

My boss is terrific, and arranged the schedule to give me time to get healthy again. I had planned to attend the book launch for Targets in Ties, by Tristi Pinkston, but was forced to cancel so a nurse could come and take my blood.

Also, I planned to attend LTUE next weekend, but I’m not sure I’ll be able. (Maybe if I promised to elevate my leg?) Anyway, with all this time on my hands, you’d think I’d be writing, but worry and other preoccupations have rendered me incapable. I agonized over what to write this morning, so I decided to tell you what’s up.

Have you ever noticed how random our lives seem to be? Things change in a heartbeat according to the old cliché, but do they? As writers we learn to foreshadow events in our stories. A reader hates to be taken completely off guard. They love to pride themselves on figuring out the mystery. We use foreshadowing for continuity because nobody likes a series of random events strung together in a story.

There is no foreshadowing in real life, however, or is there? We marvel how random accidents occur daily, in our lives. We wish for the ability to predict and avoid pitfalls, hoping for smooth paths. I admit, some things happen with no warning. Often, however, we look back on events and see a series of warnings left unheeded and kick ourselves, saying, “If only I had paid attention.”

So, it should be with fiction. Characters need to be able to look back and see the signs, but there is a danger. Have you ever read a foreshadowing event, so obvious, it insults your intelligence? You wonder how the characters could be so stupid as to not see it. Writers need to make it subtle. The reader (and the character) must be taken off guard, then realize they should’ve seen it coming. After all the signs were all there.

Give your character challenges, but make sure those challenges don’t randomly pop up. Don’t make her wreck the car without having established she owns one. Don’t kill him in a plane crash without showing us the purchased airline tickets. Why is your character on that flight anyway?

Hope to see you at LTUE. I’ll be the one with his leg up. Good luck in your writing---see you next week.

The English Language

by G.Parker

I was sitting in a classroom the other day and happened to overhear a teacher and student discussing some vocabulary words.  He was trying to figure out how to use the word 'steak.'  After a brief conversation, he said, "Oh, so it's like a steak for a piece of wood or a piece of meat."  I'm thinking, "um, stake or steak?"

It's all in the spelling, isn't it?  I'm terrible at spelling.  On a side note -- I love the fact that Google Chrome and Firefox have spell check in their browsers!

That conversation was a clear example of the complexities of the English language.  No wonder those coming from foreign countries have such a hard time learning our language!  It's no surprise that we as writers struggle with finding the right word in trying to convey exact meanings.  I often wonder what it would be like to write in another language - but since I don't know any good enough to do so, it would just be a translation in my head from English anyway.  And that's complicated enough.

I received an email a couple of months ago about English words, and I wanted to include it but alas, I can't find it.  It had all sorts of examples of our word usage in quite a lovely arrangement.  Bit's like, we shower people with affection, and then take a cold shower to cool down.  We plant a garden, and our children work in a plant.  We gum our food and chew gum.  There is their and they're.  A date is both something we go on and something we eat.  We stake a claim and have meetings in a stake center.  There are words for punctuation and words to do with grammar, and we have dictionaries with thesaurus's that if you don't know how to spell the word, how in the heck are you supposed to find it to make sure you're spelling it right?

Well, if you have it figured out, you're way better than I am.  Being able to understand what the word means is at least something.  I may not be able to spell them all, but hopefully I can use them properly when speaking and writing!   And they have proven that the more you read, the larger your vocabulary, so it kind of circles around.  Interesting, huh?

So how are your writing goals coming along?  Are you working at them each day?  I've been doing good on my goal to edit one month and write the next, which has really been progress for me.  You see, consistency is the biggest obstacle any writer has to overcome, other than dealing with words.  I haven't made any time allotment, just commitment to write or edit every day.  It could be a couple of pages, a couple of paragraphs or simply just two lines.  Anything is better than what I was doing before, and at least I'm getting it done.

Let's just hope it doesn't take me the whole year to do it...

Until next week.

Good Writers Borrow, Great Writers Steal

by C LaRene Hall


Continued from last week about style and voice

Clint Johnson encouraged us to try an exercise for development by imitating others. He told us to find a passage from a writer we either love or that interest us for some reason, then try to recreate the style as best as we can see it by writing either a short story or one complete scene.

Next he told us to experment in our writing. See what is possible for us to do with the written word, and pay attention to our successes and failures. Exercise for development write one paragraph that works using only simple sentences. The assignment he gave us next was to write another paragraph that is at least five lines long and is all one sentence. Then we were to write a paragraph that is written completely in sentence fragments, followed with a page of dialogue.

Clint encouraged us to adopt other peoples ideas, texts, etc. into our own writing by referring to them, either directly or through allusion. The texts to which we connect will change the experience and meaning of our story and contribute to our style. The exercise he gave us for this was to write a page that connects to one religious text, one fairy tale, and one current news story.

He encouraged us to read out loud, to tune ourself, both to the English language and to our particular use of the language. We should read a passage we like from our own writing in a way that feels natural, then read it faster, then slower, and then as is comfortable again. Then rate our pacing on a scale of one to five from lethargic to rushed.

I enjoyed the class a lot and wish I could say that I have tried all of these suggestions. But no, I haven't. I hope to someday in the future try all of the above suggestions. I just wish life wasn't so crazy.

Getting Out and About

By Keith N Fisher

With all the thought, and Feng Shui, writers put into their writing spaces, it seems strange to say, but I needed to get out of the house so I could write this morning. Do you ever feel trapped in a writing style? Like an office space, chosen genre and even subjects can be limiting sometimes.

The problem for published authors, however, arises after they spend their whole career building a writing style their readers have grown to expect. I’m not talking about the mechanics of writing, but the voice of the writer. No matter what else happens in the story, Lewis’ mythical creatures are going to be different than Tolkien’s

Of course a style can be a burden to some writers. Take Mary Higgins Clark, for instance. Readers have learned that, no matter the story, some of the characters will, at some point, have cheese and wine. She also seems to live in a world where almost everyone does the same things for a living.

Writers can also get trapped in their plot style. I’ve noticed this in my own writing and I now spend hours deliberating a better plan. I’m very careful to give different careers to different characters and even though a fantastic romantic scene worked in one book. I fight to come up with different ideas.

I’ve noticed some best selling authors have developed pseudonyms to write stories in different genres. I can relate to that. I get ideas all the time that don’t fit in women’s fiction. Or if they do, there are other elements that don’t fit with the established type of novel I’ve been writing.

Like getting out of the house this morning, it’s nice to be able to experiment a little. I went to a twenty-four hour restaurant and wrote this blog. The problem was the group in the corner who insisted on being loud and repulsive. Between four-letter words they’re grammar caught my attention. I wondered if they knew how unintelligent they sounded.

Just like the distractions in the restaurant forced me to concentrate harder, we need to be careful writing new genres. Don’t lose sight of what works for you. If you can tell the story in your voice, then great. If the new genre makes you develop new habits entirely, then pick one and stay with it.

I hope what I’ve written makes sense. If not, then blame the group in the corner. It’s late and I won’t have time to edit before posting. My greatest hope is that it helps you become the writer you want to be.

Good luck with your writing---see you next week.

Book Prints

by G.Parker

I was reading through KSL.com the other day and came across an amazing article.  You can access it here.  The main idea is that each book we read leaves some kind of imprint upon us.  It's like I've said in many of my previous blogs - we are what we read.  They had a quote by author Anna Quindlen:

  "If being a parent consists often of passing along chunks of ourselves to unwitting — often unwilling — recipients, then books are, for me, one of the simplest and most surefire ways of doing that."

I thought this was excellently said.  A book can touch someone in ways that speaking to them face to face cannot.  It gives them time to absorb, to ponder, to get the real message that is intended.  When we speak to people in person, emotions and body language sometimes convey the wrong meaning.    


That is why writers are so important, and what we write is doubly important.  You can change a whole person's life with your words.  For both good and bad.   You've seen examples of that with the media, especially the press.  


My husband said he heard a reporter quizzing someone about the Whitehouse and how we need to allow the President and his family some privacy.  That's something that has gone by the wayside since the days of Kennedy.  Now-a-days, for example; if Kennedy was having an affair with Marilyn Monroe, it would be all over the tabloids within days, let alone the internet.  Jackie wouldn't have been able to keep a solid front on their family and I think things might have happened a little differently.   Just this week there was a big flap in Europe over a writer who had made some 'racial' slur against the First family in a column about how the Obama's have added to fashion in the African-American scene.


Everyone is watching.  And, everyone is going to have an opinion.  


So whatever you write, I hope you feel it strongly and are willing to stand up for it.  I hope that it's something that is enriching and life changing for those who read it.  You can do it.  We all can.  So tell us -- what books have left a lasting imprint on your life?