David Farland’s Kick in the Pants—Writing the Perfect Story, Part 4
For the past couple of days I’ve been discussing some of the positive attributes that you will find in a “perfect” story. There are a lot of things that I could discuss, but some take longer than others. Here is another one: Multidimensionality. Very often when I was reading slush for the Writers of the […]
How Books Are Chosen for Publication
Discover the intricate process of how books are chosen for publication, exploring the roles of agents, editors, and marketing departments. Learn what it takes for a new author to break through in the competitive publishing industry.
David Farland’s Writing Tips – Twelve Exercises for Developing Characters
There are a lot of exercises that can help you create characters. Most of them simply force you to focus
on your character and stretch your imagination in some way by answering questions about the
characters. These questions might touch upon the outer looks of the character, the character’s history,
the character family and contacts, or the character’s inner hopes and fears. But creating characters for
fantasy and science fiction worlds offers extra challenges. Here are a few exercises that I’ve found
helpful:
Writing a Christmas Cozy Mystery
For at least five or six years, I’ve been wanting to write a Christmas cozy mystery. I thought it would be fun to explore my recurring characters’ Christmas traditions and how the town celebrated.
Heart-Centered Book Marketing
Instead of thinking I had to contact hundreds of book bloggers to see if they’d like to review my book, I started with one blogger a week. By the end of 3 months, my book had appeared on about 20 blogs and received 10 reviews.
Eliminating On The Nose Dialoge
Crafting Authentic Dialogue: A Guide to Eliminating On-The-Nose Conversations Today’s writing tip comes from Alex Bloom, the founder of Script Reader Pro, a screenplay consultancy and blog based in Los Angeles dedicated to helping aspiring and working screenwriters. Whether or not you are a screenwriter, Alex’s writing tip applies to narrative writing too. Eliminating On-The-Nose Dialogue Have […]
How Burnout Made me a Better Author
Burnout. Few words spark such dread among writers. Avoiding it, surviving it, and recovering from it are each the focus of many articles, blogs, podcasts, books, and conference classes. Still, most of us have or will find ourselves grappling with it. This struggle resembles a hiker who has fallen off an unforeseen cliff and now clings to the sheer rockface with desperate, failing fingers, unable to pull themselves up.
How To Build A Flesh And Blood Character
If you’re like me, when you have an idea for a character you go into serious planning mode. You might fill a notebook, use character questionnaires, worksheets, and other tools to uncover their inner layers. Or if you’re a pantser, you may decide to start writing a discovery draft to find out who they are and what the story is about as you go. Plan or pants, we all must end up with the same thing: a character who is rounded, credible, and unique.
How To Fix Flat, Two-Dimensional Characters
When people say that a character is “flat” or “two-dimensional,” they’re typically just saying that the character isn’t interesting. And uninteresting characters are a plague on a story. Let’s look at a few techniques to make characters interesting, round, and three-dimensional.
How to Write a Bestselling Novel in Three Easy Steps
As an author, you may not want to admit, but you really care about selling books. If you’re writing to get rich, you’ve got to sell millions of copies. If you’re more of a revolutionary and want to change the world, it would sure be a lot easier of a billion people adopted your ideas. Or if you want to be admired by others, you do want millions of fans.