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Jon Midget

Despite the efforts of many, many Creative Writing instructors to turn my mind to more 'serious' literature, I still end up writing stories about elves, magic, and people who can fly.

I grew up in northern Utah, spent two years in southwestern Ontario, and then came back to Utah. I'm 29 years old, married, and often boggled by the imagination of my two boys. I studied creative writing at the University of Utah and currently run AldoraWorld.com, a website for fantasy artists and writers to collaborate and together create a brand new fantasy world.

I am fanatically devoted to the writing principles of both The Elements of Style by Strunk and White and Burning Down the House by Charles Baxter.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy the library:

Legend of the Whisper Wood: I usually don't write epic save-the-world type stories, but here is one (though some may say it's more like a Fairy Tale than an Epic). Of course, you'll notice immediately that I don't get into the action right away. But don't worry. The world will become doomed and hopeless enough to require saving right around the third chapter.

Resurrecting the Scarlet Avenger: A story about obsessiveness with the past, doomed attempts to reconcile memories with meaning, loved ones going off the deep end, idealism crushed by reality, all with a faint dab of hope thrown in. And the main character's an elf. Now, this is my kind of story.

A Song for the Fallen Angels: This is my miserable attempt to make an popular, traditional epic fantasy to help promote Aldora. Despite my aversion to writing these kind of stories, I have to say that I do love Seraph and Delaran, the two principal movers of the story who are introduced in the prologue.

Song of the Nightlillies: A poem about a human who's considering running off with an elf gal. Not too long, and it kind of speaks for itself.

Like Starlight, Dancing on Frosted Grass: Another poem, also not too long. If I lived in a fantasy world with dragons, elves, and faeries then this is how I'd let people know what I think about winter.

The Day the Caravan Passed By: A short story. Just about as non-epic as you can get. If you've ever wondered what magic is good for besides saving the world, this story may give you a bit of an idea. Uploaded before I decided to split longer stories into parts, so I hope that the required scrolling doesn't injure your index finger.

At Least She's Not a Paperclip: a story inspired by the at times off-the-wall musings and muses of Alyssa George and Cecily Webster

For those who want to know what's new, I'll keep a running tally of my updates to Elfwood:

• June 2007: Chapter 2 of Whisper Wood and Prologue to A Song for the Fallen Angels</li>
• May 2007: At Least She's Not a Paperclip</li>
• April 2007: Complete Ch's 1 & 2 of Resurrecting (1.1 has been heavily revised, i.e. I changed about 8 words)</li>
• March 2007: Ch.1 of Whisper Wood and Like Starlight, Dancing on Frosted Grass and the first part of Resurrecting, Ch.1 (before I changed those 8 words)</li>
• February 2007: Joined Elfwood (Woot!). The Day the Caravan Passed By and Song of the Nightlillies</li>

Guestbook for Jamidget

Date Name Comment   2 Jul 2007 B. Layne Weaver Loading... Happy birthday! Thank you very much. *glances through comments on shelf* Holy Smee! You've read and commented on about half my library in the past week. I'm rather honored.Thanks for all. 7 Jul 2007 Brandi Loading... *giggles at "Holy Smee!"* It was and is my pleasure. I've recently graduated uni so now I'm between jobs. In a nutshell, I have a lot of free time on my hands. So I've been doing a lot of reading lately. Oh, geez I hate job hunting. That's part of why I started my own business—so I wouldn't have to go around looking for a job, interviewing, getting rejected every time the job was actually really good, etc. I wish you good luck with that.Job huntress by day; Elfwood reader by night. ^_~So that makes you pretty much a super hero, eh? Like Fantasy Woman ... no, you probably don't really want that title ... maybe Literate Girl ... no, that makes you sound like a 9-year-old Shakespearean scholar ... Captain Sentences ... um, hell no.*sighs* I'm at a loss for a proper title for you. You'll have to come up with something good yourself. 11 Jul 2007 Brandi Loading... Job hunting is eeeeevil! Thankfully it's not for a "career" just yet; that'll come after grad school, I'm sure.Grad school, eh? Is that what you're in right now? And just out of curiosity, what field are you studying?I once had grandiose visions of me with an MFA in Creative Writing, but that was before I actually applied and all the schools told me "Sorry, we just don't take students who write fantasy-ish stuff in our grad programs." Oh well.I hope your own business is supporting you financially!Um, just for my sake don't ever bring this topic up when my wife is around. ^_^ Last month I made ... $30!!!!!! *sigh* At least we have enough money to keep the thing going. Not everyone can say even that.It sure is difficult in this day and age--the Age of the Big Huge Corporate Conglomerate Monopoly-Type Thing That Leaves Countless Numbers of Murdered Mom-and-Pop Stores in Its Wake -- for people to have their own business. So best of luck to you with that! I used to dream of having my own little bookstore, but now I know that would be financial suicide. |le sigh|Oh man, wouldn't it be cool to own and run a nice little bookstore? But yes, we are talking financial suicide here, aren't we, unless you have like tens of millions of dollars to put into the thing to make it really competitive from the get go. *looks wistfully out the window* Maybe one day ...Hmm... Librarian of DOOM! no, no... um... hmm... it is hard thinking of titles, isn't it?Actually, I do kind of like the gong-crash that would HAVE go along with that title, but since there's no way of making sure it happens every time you make a grandiose entrance, I suppose the brainstorming will have to continue. 25 Jul 2007 Brandi Loading... True... but that would make it difficult to be a ninja librarian. One cannot be stealthy while going "BOSH BOSH BOSH BOSH." ...though I could try... 9 Aug 2007 Angela Perry Loading... Wow, you've been busy I finally had time to check out Aldoraworld, and it looks as if it's coming along quite nicely. I'm impressed with all the attention and participation you've gotten so far. Best of luck to you! 13 Oct 2007 Christopher Heffernan Loading... Hey there, how's your writing coming along? I hope it's going well for you. I'd love to see more of your stories if you ever get the chance to upload some more. Aldoraworld is coming along well, which must be good. I haven't been around the woods for a while, so I thought I'd come and see hello to some of the people who's stories I remember reading.Jon: Oh, things are going just fine. I've not had nearly the time to write that I'd like, but there's some more of Whisper Wood that's just about ready to be uploaded. Hopefully I'll get to it soon.Thanks for dropping by. 30 Oct 2007 Lyn Shanra Joan Kuepers Loading... 'ello! I hope you and yours are well. Haven't seen you around anywhere for a while now, so I hope 'tis just that you're busy. Kicking into the second half of the semester tomorrow, so I expect I'll be quite busy. Now if my book deigned itself to arrive when I'm around to collect it, that would be lovely. I want the semester to be over. T-T *goes back to her fey cat tale and hopes Calliope with deign herself to cooperate better this evening* I want it finished! 24 Dec 2007 Stephanie Rennolds Loading... [pokes. prods. prodges. pokers.] Ahem. Yes. Hi! [waves] I bring muffins. [pokes around the library, picking a book and flopping down comfortably on the ground.] 1 Jan 2008 Lyn Shanra Joan Kuepers Loading... Happy new year! *'s a bit late* May it bring you and your family many good things! 1 Jan 2008 First-footer Loading... [tall black fellow with the poise and grace of a Shakespearian actor comes in, bearing cake, coal and spirits. smiles, leaves these tokens, and bows out] ((happy new year!)) Page: [1] 2 3 4

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Jon Midget