David Farland: Story Doctor Writing Tips

In every story there are turning points, moments in time where the characters are forced into a new course of action and thus get unexpected

Each quarter as I go through the stories for the Writers of the Future Contest, I search for patterns to problems. This quarter I saw

Let’s say I have a young woman. Her name is Kate, and she must get to Tabith. What kinds of obstacles might she face?  Here

It’s fairly common for editors to want to change titles. Sometimes a title might be too much like that of another book. For example, one

On Thursday, I had two young writers thank me for advice I’d given on short stories, which they had just sold. I had two more

There are all kinds of fantasy novels.  If you’re a genre writer, the first one that you might think of is Sword and Sorcery, or

For the last few weeks I’ve been scurrying to finish up judging on a large contest.  I’ve had to “reject” thousands of stories.  I hate

Years ago, I had a reporter call and ask, “If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?” The only answer

I’ve been a big fan of John Cleese ever since I first saw “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” I don’t like just one of

Keeping a list is easy. You simply put up a web page and invite people to get on your mailing list. On your web page you can blog about anything that you like—your love of emperor penguins, your Aunt Sophie’s lime pie recipes, or your desire to backpack across Mars before you die. You don’t have to talk much about your writing at all, but you do need to start now.

There is a saying among writers, “The first page of your book, sells your novel. The last page of your book sells your next novel.”

Frequently I see new writers make mistakes in their writing by choosing the wrong writing tools for the job. Now, the writing tools that I’m

One form of writer’s block comes from being stressed. This is almost always a temporary condition, and there are ways to work around it, but