My Schedule at Life, the Universe, & Everything

This year I’m honored and thrilled to be a participant at Life, the Universe, & Everything, a longstanding SF and fantasy symposium in Provo, Utah, being held Thursday February 13 through Saturday February 15.

Why is a science fiction and fantasy symposium taking place over Valentine’s Day, you ask? I’m not sure, but since my wife and I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day, I won’t be getting into trouble for going.

This year the guest of honor is Orson Scott Card, and I’m looking forward to attending his panels. I’ll also be moderating two panels with Scott, and I’m excited about that as well. My panel schedule is below, but please visit the site to see the symposium’s full schedule. A lot of incredibly talented writers and editors and scholars will be there, so it should be very informative.

There’s also a mass book signing at Barnes & Noble on Friday evening. Currently seventy-seven authors are scheduled to be there, which, to be honest, strikes me as insane. Let me repeat that number. Seventy-seven. I doubt there are ever that many customers in a B&N at any given time, much less authors.

And when there are more authors at a book signing then people buying books, one can’t help but wonder if this is a good idea. There’s an unwritten rule in theater, for example, that if the audience is smaller than the size of the cast, we give the audience their money back and pack up and head home. (You diehard theater nuts will argue that point, I’m sure. “The show must go on! Even if there’s only ONE person in the theater.” Yes, well, actors doing a show eight times a week over and over again would probably disagree with you.)

Anyway, the signing will be an odd event, and that’s reason enough to come and see what happens. I wonder if I could start a food fight? Or, better yet, a book fight? Hmm.

Here’s my schedule. The “M” beside the name indicates who is moderating the panel. Please come say hello if you’ll be in Utah.

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THURSDAY 13
1:00 PM
Writing Children
As adults, convincingly writing a child character can be tricky. This panel addresses ways to make sure your characters act their age.

(M) Aaron Johnston
J Scott Savage
K.L. Morgan
Lehua Parker
Sandra Tayler
Tristi Pinkston

5:00 PM
How to Write a Villain
What do you need to do to write a compelling villain?

Aaron Johnston
Charlie Pulsipher
Heather Ostler
(M) Helge Moulding
Robert J Defendi

FRIDAY 14
11:00 AM
Religion in Disguise and in the Open: Tolkien the Catholic, Lewis the Anglican, (Card the Mormon)

Orson Scott Card
Dr. Michael R. Collings
(M) Aaron Johnston

4:00 PM
Action Sequences
How to make a good action sequence fast paced while still explaining things in vivid detail to the readers.

Aaron Johnston
Adrienne Monson
(M) Dan Willis
J.R. Johansson
S. A. Butler
Valerie Mechling

Mass book signing at Barnes & Nobel at 8:00 PM. (330 East 1300 South, Orem, UT 84058, 801-229-1611)

SATURDAY 15
1:00 PM
Ender’s Books: The Author, the Adapter, and the Analyzer
Orson Scott Card wrote them originally. Aaron Johnston adapted them to other media. And Michael Collings tells us what it all means.

Orson Scott Card
Michael Collings
(M) Aaron Johnston

2:00 PM
Writing for Comics
Collaborating with artists is its own skill set complete with conventions and constraints that are very different than conventional prose. Learn from the best how to write stories that will knock the reader’s socks off.