Events.
Here's what I'm up to. Let's hook up.
OF CIVILIZED, SAVED AND SAVAGES
Now Available!!
Launch: Jan. 10, 2023
Rocky Mountain Chapter of MMA talk
Thursday, January 12, 2023
7:00-8:00 p.m.
Zoom Meeting
Presentation: THE FACETED STORY
A presentation about those elements of narrative fiction that lend depth, value and resonance to writing. Every story has some, the best have many. We’ll learn how to identify which elements to include in your story. Subplots and multiple stories, arcs, settings, themes, novelties, information and more. A little foresight, a touch of research and a clear goal can nurture the muse to bring out the strength of the form. Writers will be challenged to expand their fiction into elements beyond mere story and character. Emphasis will be placed on theme as well as history, education and entertainment qualities. Examples and techniques will be offered to help shape niches and expand any story into new areas of interest.
Lifelong Learning - University of Utah
Continuing Education Building
540 Arapeen Drive (Research Park)
Salt Lake City, Utah 84108
Creative Writing 1 (LLWRC 780)
Tuesday Nights (6 sessions)
Jan. 17 - Feb. 21, 2023
6:30-9:00 p.m.
Creative Writing (LLWRC 780):Creative Writing (LLWRC 780): How do we tell stories? What do we include in writing, and what remains unsaid? Build your voice as we focus on a group of specific techniques for shaping and informing your creative skills, including character, plot, point of view, description, dialogue, and setting. In class, we will read short selections of writing to see what techniques we can beg, borrow, and steal from them. We will experiment with in-class writing exercises and read and discuss each other's work. Writing can be inventive, illogical, chaotic, unexpected, strange, and wonderful. In this class, we will practice seeing the world in new ways and then recreating that experience on the page.
Heritage Writers Guild
Putting Pen to Paper Conference
Saturday, February 4, 2023
10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Utah Tech Univeristy
225 South University Avenue
St. George, UT 84770
Udvar-Hazy Building
Keynote: Eleven Years into My Ten Year Plan
I'm ridiculously honored to have been asked to speak the keynote address at this inaugurual Heritage Writers Guild Conference. For what it's worth, I'll be talking about my experience on the writers path, what I've learned the hard way, glenaed from reflected knowledge, and what keeps me going in this very strange industry.
Presentation: THE FACETED STORY
A presentation about those elements of narrative fiction that lend depth, value and resonance to writing. Every story has some, the best have many. We’ll learn how to identify which elements to include in your story. Subplots and multiple stories, arcs, settings, themes, novelties, information and more. A little foresight, a touch of research and a clear goal can nurture the muse to bring out the strength of the form. Writers will be challenged to expand their fiction into elements beyond mere story and character. Emphasis will be placed on theme as well as history, education and entertainment qualities. Examples and techniques will be offered to help shape niches and expand any story into new areas of interest.
Lifelong Learning - University of Utah
Continuing Education Building
540 Arapeen Drive (Research Park)
Salt Lake City, Utah 84108
Zen Lessons for Writers (LLWRC 873)
Three Saturdays
Feb. 11, 18 & 25, 2023
10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Zen Lessons For Writers (LLWRC 873): Join a published author as he shares his discoveries in Eastern philosophy and their applications to the life of a writer. We will focus on overcoming writer's block, the nature of the Muse, and the nature of the work. This is a class about wellness and art, philosophy and creation, work, success, and existence. Sessions include directed mindfulness meditations, lectures on basic Buddhist concepts, and explorations of how these can be successfully applied to the author's journey. You will experience creative writing, discussions, homework, and camaraderie.
LTUE
Thursday-Saturday
February 16, 17 & 18, 2023
Provo Utah Marriott Hotel
101 W 100 N
Provo, UT 84601
Thursday February 16, 2023
6:00 p.m. ARCHES Room
Your First Scary Story: Horror Fiction Advice for Writers New to the Genre
With: C. Rae D'Arc (Moderator), Craig Nybo, Lehua Parker, Johnny Worthen, and Michaelbrent Collings
When things go bump in the night, horror writers sense an opportunity. How do you break into the horror genre without retreading common tropes? Learn how to start incorporating scary material into your stories and make your audiences scream.
Friday February 17, 2023
11:00 a.m. CEDAR Room
A Day in the Life of an Author
With: Thomas Fawkes (Moderator), Mike Thayer, M.A. Nichols, Johnny Worthen, Jason Hamilton
Find inspiration and ideas for your own writing life as you listen to our authors talk about their writing processes, how they fill their artistic wells, tips and tricks, and whatever else they would like to share.3:00 p.m. MAPLE Room
It's Elementary, Watson: Writing Mysteries Your Readers Want to Puzzle Over
With: Johnny Worthen (Moderator), Susan J. Kroupa, Troy Lambert, Celeste C. Tyler, Dan Willis
Want to hoodwink your readers? Writing for mystery readers is difficult--how do you outthink and outwrite their sense of curiosity? Learn strategies that will turn your mind puzzles into real quandaries without sacrificing your sense of story.
Saturday February 18, 2023
11:00 a.m. ZION Room
Exposition Etiquette: Sharing Your Worlds with Readers without Overwhelming Them
With: Eric Swedin (Moderator), Angela Hartley, M Todd Gallowglas, Max Florschutz, Jodi Jensen, and Johnny Worthen
Readers can only take so many infodumps before they change the channel. How do you transport readers into your world without them looking for a way out? Our panelists will teach you how to tantalize readers with your worlds and pace your information with care and self-control.
Lifelong Learning - University of Utah
Yep, it's a zoom meeting class. Anyone can join, provided there's room, which is always pretty limited.
Creative Writing 2 (LLWRC 825)
Tuesday Nights (6 sessions)
Mar. 7 - Apr. 11, 2023
6:30-9:00 p.m.
Creative Writing 2 (LLWRC 825): Taught in a workshop format, this course will get your creative juices flowing as we expand on topics covered in Creative Writing: voice, tone, point of view and use of tense along with journeying into literary elements such as metaphor and simile, symbolism, structure, and others. This class is a fun way to build and develop the skills in an encouraging and supportive environment. Come prepared to read, write, and talk. This course is designed and required to be taken following Creative Writing (LLWRC 780).
Pike's Peak Writes Conference
Apr. 27-30, 2023
I'll be presenting again!
The History of Mystery
A literary survey of this most modern genre. Crime, class and creative license. how dreadful pulp became acclaimed literature and then the most popular genre in the world. Crime pays and entertains. How did we get here? What are the elements that define the current meta? A who dunnit and a how dunnit.
Writing to Theme
Raise your work to literary levels by consciously incorporating themes. Learn how to identify what you’re trying to say and actively nurture the subtler but greater questions you’re addressing. Enhance writing with symbols as signposts, layers of grays and depths of meaning. Give the literary critics something to enjoy, Class will study the therapeutic qualities of writing and ask the author to consciously incorporate ideas of theme into their work, exploring the human condition through parallel plots, symbols, conflict, and alternative points of view to address lingering questions and personal issues. From the lighthouse of intent, to hard questions, symbols, subplots and echoes, the class will encourage the writer to plumb the depths of meaning, bleed a little and create multiple strands of meaning in their work.
The Muddled Middle
It’s the hardest part. You know the beginning, it flowed like water, you know the end, it’ll be breathtaking, now you just have to write the connecting bit, the eighty percent between the two. No problem, but your Muse is on vacation, another project beckons and there’s little enthusiasm for the next chapter. Could this be writer’s block? This is the muddled middle. Class will explore this terrible phenomenon and offer concrete tools to overcome it and return the writer to the rails.
PreQuill
Virtual & One Day Event
Apr. 29, 2023
(yes I have a conflict for the in-person day, but I'll be there virtually. I've recorded two of my excellent classes for the event.)
Writing Young Adult
Investigate what makes fiction young adult and also what makes great young adult fiction. From gatekeepers to theme, taboos and responsibilities, it’s a time of change and we must embrace it. A class for writers and fans of the genre.
Foundations of Horror
A class about the most visceral genre - HORROR. We'll discuss its evolutionary origins, compare it to its sister genre, then explore it, categorize it and wrestle with it to explore techniques to effectively use horror in our own writing.
Storymakers
May 11-13, 2023
I'll be presenting for the first time!
Quills
Aug. 10–13, 2023