How to Start a Novel
When starting to write a novel, you should keep in mind:
A good opening should promise the reader a powerful emotional impact if he or she reads on.
David Farland Writing Tip: Writing Dystopias
A lot of people are wondering why dystopias are so popular. They haven’t realized that they’ve always been popular. In his book Writing the Blockbuster Novel, the superstar agent Albert Zuckerman points out that if you want a book to go huge, you should transport a reader to a place that he wants to be. […]
How to Develop a Fictional Character: 7 Tips a Best-Selling Author
Of all the topics on how to write, I suspect more books have been written on how to create solid characters than on anything else. So there are a lot of great resources out there on how to create characters, and I can’t even touch on every topic that I would like in the space […]
Tips for Plotting Your Novel
A plot doesn’t have to be brilliant for a story to work. It just needs to have some basic components: characters, in conflict, and in a setting. The characters must struggle to overcome some obstacle (or obtain some goal) on three or more occasions, and the tale must resolve in such a way so that […]
Writing a Bestselling Series, Chapter 20
I began writing this series because I talk to literally thousands of people each year who want to embark on writing a series, yet have very little understanding of how to go about it. They don’t know that there are pitfalls to avoid, and so they fall into pits. Nor do they understand the unique strengths to […]
Writing a Bestselling Series, Chapter 19: All Good Things Must come to an End
There is a saying among writers: “When you write a book, the first words of the novel will sell that novel, but the last words in the novel will sell the next.” In other words, a powerful novel will make your reputation, will cause people to remember your name, so that with future books, the […]
Writing a Bestselling Series, Chapter 18: Going to Hollywood
Among novelists, there is a saying: Don’t go to Hollywood. It seems to be something of a graveyard where authors go to die. But every year, a few young novelists go to seek their fortune there—and most are never heard from again Part of the problem is that most of the authors go to Hollywood […]
Writing a Bestselling Series, Chapter 17: A Few Lessons Learned
After I finished my first series, I still found that I had a lot to learn. As a reader, I’ve always enjoyed long books. I loved to immerse myself in a good fantasy or science-fiction series, especially ones with fascinating worlds, but I found that being a reader of those novels and a writer of […]
Writing a Bestselling Series, Chapter 16: Finishing the Series
When I opened the Runelords series, I knew that I didn’t want one of those endless book series that just kept stringing the reader along—something like Tarzan 28, or Sherlock Holmes 15. I mean, there are characters that I love, but I just can’t stay interested in a character after he has grown through […]
Writing a Bestselling Series, Chapter 15: On Molding New Writers
When you’re a writer, there are a lot of jobs in the field that are somewhat related. I’ve worked on videogames and movies, edited computer manuals, helped write proposals, written a little nonfiction, and so on. Certainly one of the most common careers is teaching. Now, when I was in college I put a lot […]
