David Farland’s Writing Tips: “Writing for a Living”
David Farland’s Writing Tips: “Writing for a Living” As Cicero put it over 2000 years ago, “Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.” What was true in Rome is true today. We’re facing a global downturn in the economy due to the Corona virus. Whenever that kind […]
David Farland Writing Tips: Writing The Fight Scene
In many novels you will have a fight scene—everything from a verbal scuffle as two people break up to a major battle, and because this is often the climax to your story, you might want to approach the scene cautiously. Years ago, with my first novel, I had one critic say that in On My […]
David Farland’s Writing Tips: “The One Great Story”
What stories affect you profoundly? Which ones are your favorites? If you had to make a list of the three most influential of stories, could you? About 15 years ago, I heard a wise publisher say that, and I’ll paraphrase, “there is only one great story. It’s the story of a young person who loses […]
David Farland’s Writing Tips: “Mental Toughness”
As writers, we’re faced with lots of different types of stresses. It’s not always just searching for the right word in a description or trying to meet a story deadline. While working on novels, I’ve had to deal with just about everything. For example, I was once deep in writing a great scene when […]
David Farland’s Writing Tips—Writing Superstars
When you begin writing, you go through different phases. As a “wannabe,” you may begin practicing writing as a hobby and start developing your talents. As a “first-time author” you may begin winning notoriety and further developing your skills—learning to organize your time, gauging the markets, and so on. As a “midlist author” you’re […]
David Farland’s Writing Tip: Touching Your Audience Deeply through Viewpoint
Almost every time a book is made into film, you will hear the comment over and over, “The book was better.” Some time ago I was talking to a friend of Christopher Paolini, whose novel Eragon was made into a movie, and some fans of the books were so disappointed in the film adaptation, […]
Read and Write Your Own Contracts
Very often I meet writers who can’t discuss even the most basic points of their publishing contracts. They’re afraid to even read them. They’ll make the excuse, “Oh, I had my agent (or attorney) handle the contract.”
Publishing Tips for 2018 and Beyond
One of the most frequently asked questions that I get is, “As a writer in 2018, should I go Indie, or try to publish traditionally?” It’s not a question that I can easily answer. The reason is that it depends in part upon the genre that you’re publishing in, in part upon your personality (Are […]
Building a Better Battering Ram – “When do I begin approaching agents?”
“When do I begin approaching agents?” I get that question at least once a week, and my answer is always the same: “When your novel is done. And by that I mean, well done!” I think that it is human nature to be eager. When we are working on a novel, and we’re excited about […]
Who Should Greenlight What Gets Published Or Consumed?
For today’s writing tip, I asked if I could repost a blog article by Brian Feinblum from the BookMarketingBuzzBlog. I read it Sunday, and I think Brian really nailed it. Thanks Brian. If you look at the entertainment industry, you realize how often mistakes are made in deciding which content should get green-lighted, from movies, television shows, […]
