David Farland: Story Doctor Writing Tips

“If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.” — Ellen Johnson Sirleaf With the beginning of a new year, I always

Every new writer, and quite a few old ones, is familiar with that sinking feeling that happens when you start a new tale and wonder,

I’m going to call it the Apex Writer’s group. The goal of the group is simple: I want to help take you from wherever you are in your career, (whether you’re just beginning or are in your mid-career) to become an Apex Writer. An Apex Writer is one who sells books by the millions, whose books get wide advertisement, and who understands how to leverage the advertising from the film industry to make major deals before their books are even released.

One of the most frequent questions you’ll get as a writer is, “How long does it take to write a novel?” There are several perfectly

Every day on my Facebook page or in my emails, I hear authors proudly proclaim, “I’ve been approached by a literary agent!” in tremendous excitement,

When I used to write for competitions, I would make lists of ways that judges might look at my work in order to grade it.

One day twenty years ago I was working on a novel when my wife came in shouting, “The house is on fire!” Now, I had

On the door at my gym, someone hung a sign that says, “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit keeps you going.” I began working

I’ve been watching other writers now for nearly fifty years, thanks in part to a neighbor I had as a kid. I was born and

While judging for the Writers of the Future with my handy laptop, and reading hundreds of stories, I decided to list some ways that otherwise