Last fall at Salt Lake Comic Con, I met author Jennifer Jenkins on the Go Teen Writers panel. She is one of the founders of Teen Author Book Camp. This past weekend I drove out to Utah Valley University and presented a class at the fifth Teen Author Boot Camp. I was so impressed! These ladies put on an amazing conference. Not only that, 670-some teenagers participated. It was a packed house!
In my hotel the morning of the conference, I went down to breakfast and met Jamie, her mom, and her grandma. Later on in my class she won a copy of Storyworld First.
The day opened with a keynote from author Jessica Day George. She shared how she once believed if she ever got published, she would receive the “Standard Rich and Famous Contract” like Kermit the Frog and his friends received when they arrived in Hollywood in The Muppet Movie. Reality for Jessica was very different, as it is for most published authors.
I taught a class titled Map-Making 101 in which I shared all kinds of ideas about why one might make a map for a story, what types of things to put on said map, and what to name those things. I taught the class twice. The second time my computer was unable to hook up, so the PowerPoint didn’t work. If you were in that class, click here to get the PowerPoint presentation and my class notes.
Some other highlights of the day was Brandon Sanderson’s class on how to start a story and his keynote that afternoon. I learned a few things from him that day that helped my edit of King’s Folly. (Thanks, Brandon!) I also sat in to watch a couple panels. I had a great time talking with teens about the stories they were working on and meeting new authors. TABC also had a first chapter contest in which a bunch of teens won awards. There was such an impressive group of young writers at this conference.
Teen Author Boot Camp was amazing. I highly recommend it for teen writers. Follow them on Facebook and check their website periodically for details about TABC 2016. I have no doubt that it will rock.
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