So I began to think of myself as a playwright – though I was also a director and actor and singer. Later came mainstage plays at the university and elsewhere, and there were sold-out houses and held-over runs. Then I started writing one-act plays for a playwriting class, and finally wrote a full-length play, which was produced by a faculty member. I started writing in order to fix plays (Flowers for Algernon, for instance, had a terrible second act, so with the director’s permission I wrote a new one based on the story and novel), and then to adapt novels for readers’ theatre productions. But it wasn’t a career choice! I entered college as an archaeology major, but found I was spending all my time in the theatre department. So I always wrote and thought of writing as something regular people did all the time. Writing was ‘in the air’ in my house – my dad subscribed to Writer’s Digest, and as Mormons it was part of our culture to write sermons, essays, and even comic plays. Orson Scott Card: I’m not sure I ever really did. He has written many stories in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and Biblical.Â And he’s contributed to the publishing business in other ways besides writing.Â He is the founder of professional speculative fiction magazine Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, which has published some amazing stories.Â He also runs a yearly weeklong writer’s workshop titled Literary Boot Camp.Â Entry to the workshop is application-based and very competitive.Â Graduation from Boot Camp would be a great addition to any cover letter.Â Check out his website Hatrack River, and while you’re there stop by the Hatrack River Writer’s Workshop, a writer’s forum where you can ask for advice, share commiserations and congratulations, and just generally shoot the breeze.ĭavid Steffen: At what point did you decide you wanted to be a writer? I’m thrilled to introduce today’s guest, the one and only Orson Scott Card.Â Orson Scott Card is most well-known as the author of the award-winning novel Ender’s Game, published in 1985.Â Ender’s Game won both the Nebula and the Hugo awards.Â And no wonder that was so popular–I just finished reading it for the first time and I found it be compelling throughout.

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