David Farland: Story Doctor Writing Tips

Often I will hear a young author talk about character arcs and realize that they have a misconception: just because character changes, that doesn’t mean

Awhile back, a writer was critiquing another author’s novel and said a little snootily, “This strikes me as a lot of wish-fulfillment.” She was right,

If you want to understand how vital character growth is to good fiction, take a look at a few classic movies. Study such films as

Nearly every novel shows a character with a big conflict. Sometimes conflicts are so vast that the tale is overwhelming. But readers must somehow muddle

First, not all stories are written for you, and you can’t write a story that every single person on
earth will connect to. A romance that works beautifully for a sixteen-year-old girl just doesn’t
interest me as a sixty-year-old man. A mystery that intrigues me might seem tepid to you.

Certain books don’t just sell well, they sell far more copies than there it would seem that they have audience members. They aren’t just hits,

The expectations for a book series are growing. There is of course a great reason for writing a series. When you write a standalone novel,

In case you don’t know it, the literary world is like a ship trying to sail through the fog … View this email in your

The art and craft of writing is mysterious. Why does one thing work for Joan and not for Dave? That’s a good question. My son

I hate to say this, but even before you begin writing your first book, maybe you should be thinking about career management. As you begin

I once spoke to a movie producer who has about eighty films to his credit, and he told me a wary story about a child

When a writer sits down to compose, the less stress he feels, the better. Every writer knows this. When you’re writing, you sit down and

Today is the 21st day that I’ve been in a self-imposed quarantine. I spent yesterday coughing and hacking. It had nothing to do with the