Heating Up
First off, let me explain that any one person might fulfill several roles. In other words, you might be able to fill three or four roles. Just as you can be a loving father, a tough soldier, and a devoted son to your mother, you can fill any of these roles listed below. In fact, to some degree you have to fill all of them. Yet if you are in a group with others who help support you, you may be stronger together than you are apart.
David Farland’s Writing Tips—Your Reader’s Alter Ego
Forty years ago, I was introduced to a nerdy game called D&D, and quickly found myself becoming a “Dungeon Master,” the person who created adventures and led people on imaginary quests. I even began designing my own games. Creating Characters I quickly learned something about people. When I introduced someone to D&D, people wanted to […]
David Farland’s Writing Tips: How Real Do You Want Your World to Be?
When I approach creating a world for a story, I ask myself, “How real do I want this world to be?” This might sound like a trite question, but it’s not. More than 400 years ago, William Shakespeare was born into a world where playwriting had become rigid and stagnant in its traditions. In his day, it […]
David Farland’s Writing Tips—Your Better Half
A quick judgment. A few years ago, I happened to meet a writer at a convention who had produced half a dozen novels. I’d seen her work on a display table. Her books were self-published and full of misspellings and grammatical errors. I wasn’t impressed. As I was chatting with her, a young lady came […]
David Farland’s Writing Tips: “Taking Your Book to Television” from Kevin Beggs
Recently I interviewed Kevin Beggs, Chairman of the Television Group for Lionsgate Entertainment at the Apex-Writer’s Group, who oversees production and development of all scripted and non-scripted programming. He’s had a long string of television hits, so I won’t list many, but his works include series like Mad Men, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, Dangerous Liaisons, Orange […]
David Farland’s Writing Tips: The Trouble with “Was”
A new writer recently asked, “I’ve been told to avoid the use of the word “was,” but I frequently see it used in published fiction. So, can you use “was” in certain instances, or should I avoid it as best as I can?” The truth is that “was” is a perfectly good word and you […]
David Farland’s Writing Tips: “Greenlighting” a Novel
In Hollywood, before a producer or a studio even begins filming a movie, they go through a process called “greenlighting” to figure out whether it is worth the effort. When you greenlight a film, you do a great deal of research to figure out things like: How large is the audience for this film? What […]
Boosting Your Prose – Part 1: Setting
I am currently in Denver but thought I would share checklists over the next few weeks that I use to go over each and every one of my stories to make sure that all of my stories are “up to snuff,” so to speak. I think that setting up your setting is something you need […]
David Farland’s Writing Tips—Writing the “Big” Book
When you look at novels carefully, you will notice that the bestselling books of all time are usually big “doorstoppers.” In each genre, we see this pattern. When the novel Dune was published, it was rejected by every publisher in the business until a company that sold engine books illustrating engine parts (so that you […]
David Farland’s Writing Tips: Math for Writers
In high school, I was fairly good in math—good enough to win a National Math Award and complete several years of college math in one year. As a writer, you would think that we don’t need to use math very much, but we do it every day. For example, yesterday I wrote 2200 words on […]