Balancing the “New” and “Notable”
When you release a new book, it shouldn’t just be another book–#32 in your pantheon—it should be an “Event!” It should be something that readers anticipate and look forward to and even celebrate. Years ago, I recall having my wife and daughter go to release parties for Harry Potter novels. They’d dress up in witch […]
David Farland’s Writing Tips: Emotional Beats in an Epic
Written in March 2020 In past articles I’ve talked about how, as readers age, people of different genders tend to crave certain kinds of emotions. A child at the age of five craves wonder in fiction, along with humor and horror. An older woman is more likely to crave romance from her mid-teens into her […]
What Makes a Great Writing Group?
I’ve been to or visited a number of writing groups. Some were very effective, while others were a waste of time. You often get out of a group what you put into it, so before you join a group, consider thoughtfully how much time you have to invest and how much you really want […]
What’s the Real Motive?
When you’re creating a well-rounded character, one of the great secrets behind understanding the character comes from understanding the character’s secret, often hidden, motives. You need to understand why they act the way that they do. Time and again, I find authors who sort of cheat themselves. As they create a character and quickly begin […]
When You Write a Perfect Story
Yesterday my first granddaughter was born, so I drove up to Provo to see her. It was pretty much a perfect day—excellent driving weather, the baby was healthy and looks like she’ll be a beauty. She is also obviously highly intelligent and might someday make an excellent president. We topped the day off by going […]
Opportunities for Advancement
Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, I was in charge of the writing workshops for Dragoncon. We had nearly 100,000 people coming to the convention each year, and I worked hard to cover various writing topics so that our students had a broad understanding of the field. One year I put on a […]
Write Like a Warrior
Ernest Hemingway once wrote a long article in which he compared writing to boxing. As his career progressed, he imagined that each novelist was like an opponent in the boxing ring, and as he wrote, he struggled to knock them out one by one. When I read it, I remember smiling at the analogy. I […]
How to Avoid Writing a Dull Series
I’ve had many people ask, “how do I write a trilogy that gets better with time, not one that disappoints?” The answer to that is pretty complex but here are some guidelines to keep in mind. 1. Give the reader what you promised at the opening of your series. Every opening makes some promises to […]
Listbuilding 201
I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the importance of building your writing list, but in the past few days, I’ve heard a few more tips that I thought I would pass on. 1. Don’t “pollute” your list. I recently learned that when you put out a book on Amazon, let’s say it is […]
Escalate, Escalate, Escalate
The perfect story escalates smoothly from scene to scene, creating a sense of rising action. I’ve spoken before about ways that stories can escalate. There really are only two ways—through deepening a conflict, making it so that it affects the protagonists more profoundly; or through broadening, so that the conflict affects more people. But a […]