Bryan Young's Blog

It's been a long time coming, but I think an upgrade to my web presence was long overdue. I began this blog in 2005 and it's served me well over the last 13 years. My goal in those early days was to write a short story every month. Back then, that was the only writing I was doing.

This website, then called "Bryan's Short Story Corner," got me into a regular writing habit. One that I still maintain today. I hoped it would help me get eyeballs on my words and, looking back at some of those early...

All the President's Men is one of those perfect movies. Based on a stunning true story with a brilliant screenplay from William Goldman (we've already gone through one of his scenes here with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), it's a movie that brings all of the elements of character, plot, and drama together in a way that makes me really love and admire it. 
The scene I want to go through is one that comes during a particularly trying time in the film.
For those unaware, this film tells...

I've been MIA for a while and for that I apologize.

First, The Last Jedi sort of took over in December. And then I had surgery in January and spent a couple of weeks doing a whole lot of nothing but recovering. I'm back now. I'm getting things done and I hope to be back in this space regularly.

In the meantime, I wanted to let you know about my schedule for LTUE, the writing symposium held annually down in Provo, Utah. I'll be on a panel today, as well as doing a book signing, and doing two pan...

It's hard for me to go back and look at my old work.

Like, really hard.

Sometimes, I try to block it out of my mind. It's not bad work, but I know I can do so much better now. I look back and think, "I'd change this. The prose could be better there. This description is a bit too much cliche. This bit of structure could have been more elegant."

Then I ask myself why I didn't see it all then. All the flaws seem so obvious. I understand that time helps you see those things. I make sure I put distan...

We're two days into National Novel Writing Month. As I write this, I'm 10k words into my novel and it feels good to finally be working on it after a month of prep work.

But how can NaNo help you?

Well, it can do a lot of things.

Personally, I think the two most important aspects of NaNo are the community you can find and the encouragement into a daily writing habit.

During November, writers seem to come out of the woodwork like termites. They're everywhere. Some of these writers are only NaNoers,...

In some of his books, Kurt Vonnegut lamented the diminishing magazine market because that's where you found short stories. And short stories were the best place for writers to hone their craft. There are a lot of ways this system helped writers do this, and, in a culture with allegedly dwindling attention spans reign, short stories can still be a great place to learn.

But what should you be doing? What should you be looking to get out of short stories? How can they help?

Well, here's a list of...

Welcome back, everyone. I've had a lot of conferences and conventions over the last month and feel like I've been neglecting all five of you who faithfully read this space. I'm sorry. I'll try to let less time pass between each post.

Though I must admit, November will probably be light, too, as I'll be cranking on a book for National Novel Writing Month. I haven't been working on drafting a new novel in a few months. I did take a break and wrote a feature-length screenplay in the time bet...

It's time for another year of Salt Lake Comic Con and another hectic schedule for me. But! that doesn't mean it's not a helluva lot of fun. I hope you're able to join me at any of these panels. Especially if you like Star Wars. And please, please, please come to my signing and visit. Get some books signed. I'd love that enormously.

Here is my Thursday schedule:


Everything here is a highlight. That first panel about behind the scenes of the prequels is with Pablo Hidalgo and I'll be asking him q...

Some of you may remember that I'm working on a short film. It's been a long process. We started filming in April. I'm still working on post-production. The film only clocks in at 19:11, even with credits, but there's a lot of work packed into those minutes. And I'm still doing it.

So you can imagine my surprise when I messaged a friend and said, "Do you know anyone who can help with audio?"

And he responded with, "Yes, but can you get a 10-minute version of your rough cut together and preview s...

It's time again for another year of Dragon Con. This is one of my favorite conventions every year and they keep me busy.

Here is my tentative schedule and I hope to see you there. (Especially for my reading. There's nothing worse than reading to an empty room.)


Title: The Last Jedi Fan Speculation 
Time: Fri 02:30 pm Location: A601-A602 - Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)
Description: *SPOILER ALERT* *PURE SPECULATION* We are not insiders. We are not members of the Star Wars StoryGroup. We know what...