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David Farland, aka David Wolverton, is an award-winning New York Times Bestselling speculative fiction author. Here is part 2 of his interview:
ALLEY: Do you go on writing sabbaticals? Why and what are your fave places?
DAVE: Absolutely. I find that when I'm starting a new book, going on a writing retreat helps me to focus on the book. I can do more work in a week than I normally would do in a month this way. So I often take trips to Cabo San Lucas in the winter, or in the hot summers I'll go to mountain writing retreats in Colorado or Utah. I usually don't travel far from my home. I look for places that are quiet, secluded, but that have easy access to stores and restaurants.
DAVE: Absolutely. I find that when I'm starting a new book, going on a writing retreat helps me to focus on the book. I can do more work in a week than I normally would do in a month this way. So I often take trips to Cabo San Lucas in the winter, or in the hot summers I'll go to mountain writing retreats in Colorado or Utah. I usually don't travel far from my home. I look for places that are quiet, secluded, but that have easy access to stores and restaurants.
ALLEY: Are you on Twitter? Facebook?
DAVE: Yes, but only under my writing pseudonym, David Farland.
ALLEY: Who are the writers who most influenced you? (prewriting, beginning writer, now)
DAVE: Certainly as a teenager I was big on Tolkien. Once I got into college, the writers who influenced me were often poets--William Shakespeare, Theodore Roethke, Dylan Thomas, Robert Frost, and so on. I became a fan of Orson Scott Card as an early science fiction writer. To tell the truth, I read a lot of writers now, but I wouldn't say that any one person has an overwhelming influence on me. I began trying to discover new ways to write when I was in my early twenties. In fact, Orson Scott Card wrote a review of one of my early works, saying "Wolverton is derivative of no one, yet he writes within a tradition of storytelling that is as old as stories themselves." I like the fact that he recognized that I am different, despite the fact that I borrow tidbits from dozens of authors. My basic philosophy is "Do what works best."
ALLEY: How long does it take you to write a novel? (pre-writing vs. writing vs. editing)
DAVE: Excellent question. Each one is different. Prewriting a book, just thinking about it, often takes me four to six months. The first draft usually takes two or three months, and the following five drafts might take a month.
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ALLEY: What are your strengths/weaknesses as a writer? How do you overcome/improve/accept/value them?
DAVE: My strength in writing I think probably has to be my world creation, my ability to create alien worlds, along with characters, creatures, and so on.
I'm strong on pacing, too, but that comes with a price. In order to move a story along quickly, I frequently leave readers wanting more. So many people want to get deep into the details of a story, the nitty gritty, and just stay lost for hours. But in today's market, editors don't want to give a writer 200,000 words to write a book, which is what I find to be my sweet spot--the point where a nice complex plot, a richly textured world, and strong characters all meet. So I think I'm prone to rushing things in order to please my editors.
ALLEY: In my writing groups, I often hear writers complain that he or she can't do much writing, or can't attend writing groups regularly, can't whatever, because their spouse (or significant other) won't let them, or doesn't understand, or always interrupts, and so on. I've heard this so much, I tell them if and when you are serious about your writing, you must train your spouse/family/etc. Of course, they look at me like I'm a loon, and I've even considered having a class on the care and training of your "other" for writers (hubby is helping me write about it now).
How do you deal with this issue, both as a beginning writer (what were you doing when you started writing, job-wise, and how did your spouse deal with the extra hours?) and how do you deal with it now? What advice would you give beginning writers?
DAVE: I had that problem at first. I'd go write, and my wife would feel as if I deserted her, so she'd come demand attention. It wasn't until I got a royalty check for ninety-three thousand dollars that my wife suddenly realized that it really made sense to give me writing space.
Children, of course, never quite understand. So you have to make sure that you spend time with them each day. I don't believe in spending just "quality time" with my kids. They're genetically programmed to look around, every five minutes, make sure that mom or dad is close, and then run off to play. Kids need you to be near and attentive for more than just a few minutes per day. You need to give them both quality and quantity. If you don't, you'll go terribly astray.
Having said this, I found that the most effective thing for me to do was to set aside writing time when my children are asleep--either early in the morning or late at night. You have to get on a schedule, or course, and keep to it every day, but it works like a charm. If you get up at five and write six pages a day for three months, you'll finish a couple of novels per year--rewrites included.
ALLEY: Do you recommend pseudonyms for writing in different genres? Do all writers do it?
DAVE: Absolutely use a new pseudonym for each genre. When you sell a book, the computers at major chains will keep track of your sales, and on your next book will reorder accordingly. Thus, if you write a science fiction novel, which is a relatively small genre, and then write a mainstream thriller, you'll find that the stores will order your thriller based on the sales data for a small genre. Thus, instead of ordering a million copies of your thriller, a major chain might only order 5000 copies. In short, it can ruin your career as a thriller writer very quickly.
So if you write in multiple genres, you need a new name for each one. Thus, in science fiction I'm Dave Wolverton, in fantasy I'm David Farland, and when I finish my mainstream thriller . . . well, I'm not sure I want to tell you what name I'll be writing under.
Not every writer does use multiple pseudonyms. Many writers find that having one career is taxing enough. Besides, in order to write effectively in a genre, you need to be a fan of that genre. If you do like to cross genre lines, you definitely should develop a pseudonym for each new genre.
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ALLEY: What do you think about the social media rave and is it more of an advantage for a writer or a distraction, in your opinion?
DAVE: It can be a great sales tool, but unfortunately too many writers spend waaay to much time trying to sell a book and not enough time writing. Every author needs to find his or her balance with it.
ALLEY: Your Kick in the Pants newsletter is very successful and personally, an essential daily read for me to rev my writing engine. What got you into pant kicking?
DAVE: You know, I like helping new authors, and often they would email me with questions. So I thought, "Why not write up the answers and send them out to everyone, so that I'm not repeating my work." Since this happened two or three times a day, I realized that writing one article per day would actually save me time. It would also give me material for a book, and it forced me to think about writing topics that I hadn't addressed. So I could see a number of good reasons to do it.
ALLEY: What advice would you give to someone who would like to write a book and be successful with it?
DAVE: If you want to write, be serious about it. Study books on writing, magazine articles, take classes in writing, and so on.
I used to be the head judge for the largest writing contest in the world for science fiction and fantasy writers. Over the course of the years, I noticed that most of my winners had gained advanced degrees--usually a Master's degree in Creative Writing. You don't need a degree to make a living as a writer, but the years of study and practice paid off for these people. Beyond that, you need to learn to look at writing as a business. This means that you work hard at it, discipline yourself, and live within your means.
I know that I make it sound hard, but really I love it. I've been a published writer for more than 20 years now, and I'm still not even close to being tired of it!
If you'd like some more advice I have a writing advice column called David Farland's Daily Kick in the Pants. You can join from my web site.
ALLEY: Thank you, Dave, for an excellent interview!
Be sure to check out David Farland's website
and register for his upcoming writing seminar:
Write That Novel! in Dallas Oct. 10-11.
Comments
Thanks Alley,
Another fine mess you got me into. Makes me want to go out and take more classes and panels!
This is a great series. I'm looking forward to meeting him in October.
Wonderful, Alley. Makes me want to save up and go to the workshop.
I really enjoyed the interview with David Farland. It made me want to get more serious about my own writing. Thanks Alley, and the Examiner.
Nicely done interview, I am chomping at the bit for my payday this Friday so I can pay for my workshop ticket and hotel room. This will be my first professional writing class, I cant wait. I am curious about how many are going to end up attending. Cheers to all those I am soon to meet in Dallas!
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