With pens or laptops readied, teenage writers will be uniting during spring break for the second annual Sci-Fi and Fantasy Youth Writing Camp.

Hosted at Brigham Young University and sponsored by the Central Utah Writing Project, the half-day camp is open to students from ninth through 12th grade and will run from April 7-11 at the BYU Conference Center.

Students can expect to engage in daily writing activities, attend field trips through campus, and be an audience to guest lecturer Elana Johnson, a Pleasant Grove resident and author of the dystopian trilogy, “Possession.”

Although Johnson grew up enjoying math and science and dodging reading and writing, she cultivated a love for science fiction and fantasy while a student at Southern Utah University, which led to her love of writing. Her background in elementary education was a natural fit to teaching the craft.

“Kids are such a blank canvas   — even teens,” Johnson said. “They’re still going through so much, learning so much, determining what they believe, feel and think, that I love watching them make connections and grow and develop.”

Living in central Utah with her two children and husband and working as a technology specialist in an elementary school, Johnson also has a toe in many different writing conferences throughout the state. She is on the organizing committee for LDStorymakers and WriteOnCon, contributes often to The League of Extraordinary Writers and is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and American Night Writer’s Association, a group specifically for LDS women writers. At the end of the month she’ll be teaching two classes.