Tales from Burkeland: Tale Fifteen
It doesn’t feel like a new year in Burkeland’s Writing Realm until I’ve been to the Life, the Universe, and Everything Symposium in Provo. Utah.
For three days, science fiction and fantasy creatives pack the Provo Mariott Hotel & Conference Center. With days packed with classes, panels, presentations, and impromptu meetups, it’s impossible not to be excited about the creative life. I attended the science fiction and fantasy symposium for the third time last month, and it was just the kick in the inspiration I needed after a slow winter.
There’s no way to share everything about my experience, but I couldn’t let March pass by without sharing the highlights.
Meeting M Colin Alston
When I took the dive into fiction writing in 2023, M Colin Alston was one of the first colleagues I met. We’re both members of Apex-Writers and the Wulf Pack Writers Group, and over the last few years we’ve become friends. We jokingly say we’re writing siblings. You can imagine my excitement when he said he’d be at LTUE this year!
We’ve been talking for a while about co-writing a series of short stories. Thanks to LTUE, we sat down in person over a lunch of Korean barbecue and planned it. Keep your eyes out for more information as the projects progress.
David Hankins’s Humor Presentation
I often think I can’t do something until someone presents it to me in a way that just clicks. Such was the case with humor writing until I attended David Hankins’s presentation, Anvils and Banana Peels: Writing Humor That Lands.
My a-ha moment came when David explained his definitions for humor and comedy. Humor, he said, is inserted into an already well-developed story of any genre; comedy is a genre with the goal of making audiences laugh. While I doubt my ability to create works of comedy, I do write solid stories. Inserting humor that fits my characters and genre into those stories is certainly a skill I can learn.
You can (and should!) check out David and his work here.
Working Author
Sometimes reminders of our successes surprise us. Such a moment came for me when I took an afternoon off from classes to write Capturing Critiques, a presentation I gave to the Midwest Writers Guild of Evansville the week I returned (I’ll be giving it again in the Apex-Writers Group in June). As I sat nestled in the hotel’s coffee shop typing away, it dawned on me. This year, I felt like more than a student at the conference. I felt like a working author, with tasks to get done while travelling. It’s a small moment, but it revealed a leveling up for me and provided a much-needed confidence boost.
On Revisions
I’ll leave you with a piece of wisdom author Kristina Atkins shared in a panel on revisions. The rough draft of your story is a like a baby, and revisions are the process of raising that baby into the adult story that gets published.
Now, let’s create great stories!
Go Deeper Into Burkeland.
You’ll get a free story at sign up. Plus: exclusive personal anecdotes, peeks behind the scenes before anyone else, an article on magical lore, and more!
What you missed in this month’s newsletter:
From the Drafts: “Here There Be Dragons” First Draft vs. Published Draft.
Quote of the Month.
Myths and Magic: The Wheel of the Year.
From My Shelf: Deadly Designs by Jen Bair, book six of the Shady Spirits series.