When Lórien Briscoe started writing stories at just four years old, she never imagined that her childhood hobby would turn into a business. Now a film and media arts student at the University of Utah (plus five minors and a certificate in criminology and sociology) Briscoe has built a creative enterprise around her love of writing and storytelling.
“I’ve always loved to write,” she said. “When I was 4, I found an old Lego Ninjago fan fiction I had written. That’s how far back it goes.”
That early spark of creativity has grown into something much bigger. By the time Briscoe was twelve, she was attending Teen Author Bootcamp (now called StoryCon), a Utah-based writing conference. She attended the event for seven years, learning skills in writing, worldbuilding, and publishing processes — skills that quickly came in handy in her life.
At 15, Briscoe self-published her first novel, an urban fantasy titled “Magic’s Escape: Wingless.” The story follows twin siblings who are kidnapped by their abusive mother, only for one of them to be drawn into a world of magic, clans, and survival. Briscoe describes the plot as “a dual-arc fantasy that is focused on family.”
Unlike many young adult fantasy novels, “Magic’s Escape” stands out for what it does not include: romance. “I’ve read hundreds of fantasy books, and every single one had romance,” Briscoe explained. “There’s nothing wrong with that, but I wanted to explore stories that focused on survival, family, and resilience.”
Briscoe’s current project is a standalone fantasy novel originally titled “Between the Lines of Villainy.”
“It’s a villain origin story,” she said. “A dystopia disguised as a utopia, where a hero has to become a villain to save her stagnant society. It asks the question, is conflict necessary for advancement?”
Briscoe’s experience shows more than just creativity; it also shows entrepreneurship. From learning how to self-publish at a young age to leveraging her internship with ABC4’s “Good Things Utah” for media exposure, she has built her brand from the ground up.
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