When you’re writing a novel, you will find that if you stick to only one point of view, it can be rather stifling. The problem becomes that your protagonist must always be doing something interesting—fighting the good fight, running from villains, solving crimes, falling in and out of love, and
As a judge for one of the world’s largest writing contests, I’m often asked, “What are you looking for?” The truth is, I’m looking for three things. I want a story based upon an interesting idea, one with a well-formed plot, and one that is beautifully written. Let’s talk a
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
You’ve all experienced this: you went to a movie that was based on a book, and on the way out of the theater you heard the comments from others: “Oh, the book was soooo much better!” There are two reasons why this is almost always true: The book is far more immersive
When you’re writing a novel, you may create a protagonist who is “heroic,” or one who is an “anti-hero.” But do you know the difference between the two? A heroic character is typically likeable. That means that he is often in pain—perhaps both physically and emotionally scarred. He also cares
One of my mentors, the wonderful author and teacher Algis Budrys, wrote an article called “Writing to the Point.” It’s one of the most brilliant and pointed articles on writing that I’ve ever seen, and for new authors, it is well worth reading. I was delighted to find recently that
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
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 the word “reject,” because it doesn’t really express what I want to say. Very often I will read the opening to a story and it
You may have heard about the Silk Road scandal in Time magazine, Wired magazine, or any of a hundred other places. Curtis Green took a job working for a company called Silk Road, where (unknown to Curtis) his boss, nicknamed “Dread Pirate Roberts,” was trafficking drugs over the internet. When
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
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
When you’re telling a story, they say that “God is in the details.” In other words, the more details you feed your reader, the easier it is for that reader to enter your fictive universe and become engrossed in your universe. Too often, writers throw out abstract details and expect
In 1998 and 1999, I found myself in an odd place. I had advised one of my publishers to push Harry Potter big, and I was filled with anticipation about that. I was writing little Star Wars game books as fast I could, and I was invited to write a
Dear folks, Just wanted to post a little note to say that Amazon has this year’s Writers of the Future anthology on sale for only $.99 cents, and I also wanted to share a nice review it got recently from Publishers Weekly: ***
Most writers kill their own careers. For decades now I’ve studied promising new writers, and sometimes after a writer makes a great debut, a few years later I wonder, “Where did so-and-so go?” Many authors will start great but then quit the race. The most common mistake that a new
Wait, before you go…
Be sure to get free access to David Farland’s course on how to brainstorm, pre-write and outline a bestselling novel!
