On Oct. 9, 1990, I interviewed an LDS science fiction writer named Gerald Lund about his new writing project. He said it was originally to be one big book of 1,000 pages — like a James Michener novel — but he thought it might "need a fuller treatment." He was thinking it might need five volumes.

I remember saying, "Whoa!"

"If it proves to be an absolute bomb, we won't continue," he said.

We then spent the next 30 minutes discussing the "work" of writing. I asked about his habits, his fears and his conflicts as a writer.

The "glory" of it never came up.

I came across the tape of that conversation last week. What he said back then about "The Work and the Glory" intrigued me then and intrigues me still.

I hope you find it interesting as well.

"It's going to be a long-term commitment," he told me. "And it's still a little fuzzy what I want to do. It's intimidating. If it's going to be done right it's going to be a massive project — requiring research, travel and all sorts of things."

He said he took a full day and went into the hills for what he called "mountain time." He decided he'd reached an age when he had only so many books left in him. He wanted "The Work and the Glory" to be among them.

The week after agreeing to the "massive project" he was called as an LDS bishop. Now his life was the art of juggling.

"I have an office in the basement," he said. "When the family gets settled in, I write. I write at night. I've had to learn to be patient. I set aside a block of time. Sometimes I get it; sometimes something comes up."

Was he an "agonizer"? I asked. Did he wring his hands over every phrase?

"Sometimes every line can be a pain to get right," he said. "Then other times it just starts and you want to let it go. You write as fast as you can and then go back and fix things later."

He said one struggle was knowing just how earthy to make the book. He wanted it to feel real.

"We debated over language," he said. "Not that I use bad language, but I put in a couple of 'damns.' Bookcraft said it was my call, but I decided to pull them out. That may be a cop-out, but when you put a book out, it does tend to represent what you are in the minds of other people."

He said he'd "taken liberties in some non-doctrinal areas" and "worried about pushing things too far."

"I've had people say, 'Why can't the whole Steed family stay faithful? Give us an example of a solid family that came into the church.' But it really did tear apart families. . . . if you're claiming to talk about real things, you better be accurate."

He summed up his philosophy of writing by saying, "Years ago I ran across a statement by a spy novelist. He said, 'Whatever else I put into a novel — intellectually, emotionally or spiritually — it ought to entertain. Otherwise, it's just a tract.' "

Gerald Lund said he wanted to teach, and writing fiction was a form of teaching. But he did not want to produce tracts.

I then shut off the recorder. We chatted about this and that for a moment, I remember. Then, as he got up to leave, he handed me a spanking new edition of his book. I had him inscribe it to me.

I still have it squirreled away, of course.

Ask me if it's going anywhere anytime soon.

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E-mail: jerjohn@desnews.com