A freelance journalist and creative writer who began his career in his BYU-Hawaii creative writing class visited students and faculty and shared valuable advice on becoming a writer.
Steven L. Kent, who grew up on Oahu, told the students and faculty on hand that taking a creative writing class from Dr. Ned Williams on campus 20 years ago facilitated his passion for writing.
Since taking classes at BYU-Hawaii, Kent has published eight books, including The Ultimate History of Video Games (2001, Prima) and The Making of Doom III. He is currently finishing up a science fiction novel, Plato's Lies. His work also regularly appears in USA Today, LA Times syndicate, Next Generation, Parade Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, GameWeek Magazine, Japan Times and on MSNBC.
"As a journalist where I learned much of my craft, I publish an article a day," Kent said. "It's a lot of work."
After spending ten years writing for the LA Times syndicate, Kent decided to "stop giving my work away" and decided to start his own syndicate.
"One thing that has made a real difference in my life is to write an article a day. If you want to write convincing dialogue, interview people, listen to what people have to say and how they talk," he said.
Kent, who also enjoys writing fiction and even wrote two fiction novels while studying at BYU-Hawaii, said, "As a student writer I thought I was the gift to all humanities and carried a certain amount of arrogance that I had to earn slowly."
Kent said that type of confidence is an essential to be a more notable writer today. "Having interviewed a few pretty good writers, such as Tom Clancy, Douglas Adams (of the Hitchhiker series), or the Mormon author Orson Scott Card, there's a streak of arrogance that runs through the ones I've met."
He explained that a turning point for him came when he was in graduate school in Provo, Utah, and had Card review some of his fiction writing. After receiving some criticism from Card, Kent said that he took it personally at first. But when he went home and thought about it, it was what he needed at that time. "His frankness made all the difference to me," he said.
Admitting it is "miserable" and "frustrating" for many developing writers, Kent told the students that he learned to "treasure" those people who have something critical to say.
"If you want to convince people to enter your world and stay in your world, you have to give them something that's attractive and believable, something that causes them to lower their shields," Kent said. "Your attitude is the biggest thing."
When asked by a student what was his best advice for someone writing a novel, Kent said, "Read Stephen King's amazing book, On Writing. If you don't get published right away, don't get discouraged. I wasn't ready as a writer the first time I started writing novels and had a lot to learn, focus on what other people were saying."
"Research in fiction is tantamount," he added. "Research doesn't always mean reading books, research sometimes means looking at your world and figuring out how everything fits into place. You want a pattern in all of this."
Kent noted the importance of "letting the story write itself" -- having readers believe that those things happening in the book are going on whether they're reading it or not. He gave the example of the Harry Potter novels, that to many, "Hogworth's school is still going."
One student asked, with all that he's accomplished, what are his plans for the future. He responded, "I haven't really accomplished that much. As far as my own personal goals are concerned, I haven't gone that far."
Kent received his B.A. in journalism and his M.A. in mass communication from BYU in Provo, Utah. He and his wife reside in Issaquah, Wash., and have two children.