Terry Brooks is a legend in the world of fantasy writing, having published some 25 books, including his latest, "Armageddon's Children," the first in a projected series of three.
Brooks experienced his first writing rush when his small historical journal was published when he was just 13 years old. However, after graduating from Hamilton College in New York in English literature, he studied law at Washington and Lee in Virginia then spent several years practicing law.
But he says he found law school boring, and he would have dropped out after his first year had his parents not objected.
He started writing fantasy stories during his second year of law school, and "it carried me through. It actually helped my studies," Brooks said by phone from his home on Hawaii's big island (he lives most of the year in Seattle).
He admits, however, that he was called on several times by law professors when he was "not only unprepared — but when I didn't even know what they were talking about. I was drowning in case law."
Still, he enjoyed the practice of law for several years, and says now, "It was a lot of fun." Nevertheless, he continued to write books that belonged dramatically outside the field of law.
His first novel was "The Sword of Shannara" in 1977 — an 800-page tome that was pulled out of "the slush pile" at Ballantine by an editor, Lester del Rey. Brooks says he "got lucky." And del Rey, believing that a fantasy with an emphasis on magic could one day land on best-seller lists, helped promote all of Brooks' Ballantine books.
Brooks writes for adults, and he objects to the common misconception that fantasy books are for young people.
Considered a pioneer in fantasy writing — even though he came to J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" late, in his 20s — Brooks is now 62 and has read a lot of science fiction, as well as Alexander Dumas, Robert Louis Stevenson and Walter Scott. But Brooks says the writer who most influenced him was William Faulkner. "I wrote my senior thesis on Faulkner."
Brooks wrote six books before he felt secure enough to relinquish his law practice and write full time. "I knew I had to be patient and disciplined, to hang in there and keep at it. I had no connections to get published, and I had no real knowledge of the publishing business. I was a poster child for those who think they will never be published. The odds were so long for me."
Looking back now, he believes his "instincts were very good about what works — and I just love what I do. I get weird if I'm not doing it for awhile. It's very much ingrained in me.
"Getting ideas is easy. I just read the newspaper. I get hot and bothered about something. I'm always trying to get people to think about issues. Good fantasy does that. Tolkien did that. You tell a compelling story, but you are also talking about the world and the people in the world."
Brooks likes all his books (most of which are part of a series), but he thinks "Running With Demons" is his best writing, even though the "Shannara" books are the biggest sellers. He says he learned from Del Rey that "if the characters don't react in a believable way, the story fails. It's an imaginary world you are creating, but it needs to be a direct reflection of what's true about the world we live in."
He says that writing is "a discovery process. You have to live with the characters long enough that you know instinctively how they will react. But writers who 'fall in love' with their characters tend to make mistakes. You have to be willing to kill everybody — and the reader must know that. The story demands it."
Of his competitors, he especially respects the work of Phillip Pullman, R.A. Salvatore and Anne Perry.
For his own pleasure, Brooks tends not to read fantasy. He likes historical fiction, books on exploration and contemporary fiction. "I get ideas for stories from a lot of weird sources, but almost never from fantasy."
It took Brooks 42 years until he met the love of his life, Judine, now his wife. "I met her at a book signing. She was a book manager for Waldenbooks. My stock approach in those days was to invite staff members to dinner and we would talk shop. But this time all of them turned me down except Judine.
"I felt something special the moment I saw her. Now she is always my first reader. But I don't give it to her until I've finished it, because she mostly reads books other than fantasy. So if it works for her and she 'gets it,' I find that extremely useful."
If you go
What: Terry Brooks' keynote address, League of Utah Writers Annual Roundup
Where: Christ Evangelical Church, 280 S. 400 East, Orem
When: Saturday, 10-11 a.m. (book signing 11 a.m.-noon)
How much: $150 for nonmembers (includes entire conference)
Phone: 660-5618
Web: www.luwrite.com
Also: A free appearance Saturday, 2:30 p.m., South Branch Library, 725 S. Main, Bountiful
E-mail: dennis@desnews.com