Hey guys!! I just got back from a fantastic writer’s conference at LTUE. My writing recently has admittedly been off and on, but this spurred me on to write a ton! I learned so many things from this conference weekend, and I’m so pumped to start putting it into my writing to make the books I write better for all of you!
I went to the conference on Friday and Saturday, the 16th and 17th. On Friday I mostly went to classes and learned a ton. AI is taking over the author scene, not as something to fear, but something to harness as a tool. I have a few things about that that I learned that I’m excited to implement in my books. Also on Friday I got to connect with a lot of other published authors and practically spent close to two hundred dollars on books!
On Saturday, I went to less classes, but I seemed to learn a lot more. I connected with a ton of different people from all over Utah and connecting states. I even met someone from Kansas! It was amazing to see all the different views of writing and hear them give me advice. I also exchanged ideas with a few people. It was amazing to pitch little points to other authors and get their feedback.
I think my biggest takeaway from this weekend is that giving your characters a soul is important. For everyone who’s an aspiring author (or even a current writer looking for adjustments) listen up!
Physical traits and personality traits are all things that make up a character, and we all know that. But they aren’t the most important. You have to give your characters a soul, something that makes your readers fall in love with the characters YOU thought up and put onto the page. Give them a background that gives them a purpose. Let the readers see what events in your character’s past alters the way they think, leading to the events in the story.
Stephen King once said, “Write characters and when necessary, plot.” Your characters are critical to develop because if they aren’t developed, then the plot is the only thing driving them, leading to shallow characters that no reader connects to.
It was a highly enjoyable weekend that I was honored to be at up in chilly Provo (it only snowed like, once. The rest was actually fairly sunny.) I’m very excited to go next year, and if you’re an aspiring author, I highly recommend it! Maybe I’ll see you there!
Either way, cool stuff is coming your way in the means of books. Sit tight. 2024 is gonna be a good year!!
Oh, this is me at lunch on Saturday. I had to wear my blue light glasses because my eyes had become sore after late nights and early mornings. Whether it was the placebo effect or real life, my eyes were less sore when I put them on. Maybe they’re magic. Who knows.
More updates to follow (especially considering The Broken Codex. I know you were wondering…)
Until then;
Ethan Jepsen
