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I am honored to have bestselling author David Farland on my blog.
David Farland is an amazing writer who gives back by helping other writers hone their craft. If you are not familiar with David’s writing you’re missing out.
Not only have you been a New York Times bestseller, but you’ve also won your share of awards with your writing. Can you tell us a few?
With my first big short story, I won the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Gold Award for the best story of the year. That’s what got my career jump-started. My first novel, a curious blend of Latin American fantasy realism and cyberpunk, won the Philip K. Dick Memorial Special Award for “Best Novel in the English Language,” a title that I have always thought was a bit embarrassing. My latest novel won the Whitney Award for best novel of the year.
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David Farland is here to promote his newest novel Nightingale. It is now released at www.nightingalenovel.com.
Thank you David for stopping by and for agreeing to answer any reader questions. I was only able to write so much without having a million word blog post. Readers do not be shy. If you have any writing related questions comment away!
Bron Jones was abandoned as a newborn. Thrown into foster care, he is rejected by one family after another, until he meets Olivia, a gifted and devoted high-school teacher who recognizes him for what he really is—what her people call a “nightingale.”
But Bron isn’t ready to learn the truth. There are secrets that have been hidden from mankind for hundreds of thousands of years, secrets that should remain hidden. Some things are too dangerous to know.
Bron’s secret may be the most dangerous of all.
I understand that before you ever started to write Nightingale, you set out to write a book that would be considered a classic forty years from now. Did you achieve your goal?
I hope so. We’ll know forty years from now, when the people who read it today look back and say, “Gosh, you know one of my favorite books of all time was Nightingale.”
The truth is that great works aren’t recognized immediately. If you look back at the reviews for Dune, no one at the time raved about it and called it the greatest work of science fiction ever. That happened twenty years later. The same is true of Lord of the Rings. It sold poorly at first, with a print run of only 1000 copies in hardcover here in America. It took more than 55 years before anyone attempted to make a real film based on it.
In Nightingale you talk about a lot of interesting types of people—“Memory Merchants,” “Draghouls” and “Dream Assassins.” You have a wealth of extraordinary ideas for this book. Where did they come from?
I often feel that too many books lack imagination. The novels aren’t “novel.”
When I read, I like to be wowed, to be transported by a story that takes me to another world, fills me with a sense of wonder. So I wanted to create something very robust for this book, a whole new world, in a way.
As a child, I lived in the woods in Oregon, and I loved to read about mammoths, and bigfoot, and all kinds of oddities. I remember thinking when I was eight, “Wouldn’t it be neat if there were really Neanderthals still alive? I mean, imagine it: a tribe of Neanderthals living in the remote wilderness of Siberia, or high in the mountains of Tibet!”
Of course, we know that Neanderthals and humans lived side-by-side for hundreds of thousands of years, and recently we’ve found evidence that at least two other groups of humanoids lived with them at the same time.
So the questions became, “What if there are some other kind of humanoid creatures already among us?” “What if they are more powerful than us?” “
After that, I began to think about what kinds of abilities such people might have, and the story just took off.
The character of Bron in this book, how did you create him?
To some degree, when a writer creates a character, that character is always a piece of himself.
Most teens go through a period where they feel like outsiders. When I was Bron’s age, I didn’t feel like I belonged anywhere at all. I had my artistic tendencies—my painting, sculpting, and the novel manuscript hidden under my bed.
But I felt so . . . emotionally distant from the world. I used to watch people and think to myself, “You know, those humans have some interesting habits. . . .”
So that’s the genesis of Bron, I think, my own feeling as if I were outside of humanity, looking in.
You’ve had a lot of success writing for adults, why write for young adults?
I’ve always believed that great stories are for everyone—toddlers, teens, grandparents.
My very first award-winning story was told from the point of view of a teen, and for some reason I keep feeling that I want to get back to my roots.
Besides, on one level, I’m not an adult. I’m a teenager trapped in an aging, rotting body. Even though I’m maturing and aging physically, I haven’t grown old emotionally.
Our minds trick us into thinking we’re eternally young.
Beyond that, many of the best novels of our time are written for teens. I loved Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight, Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games, and many others. Even classics like Lord of the Rings and Dune were written with younger readers in mind.
So I think I’ve always wanted to sort of “join the literary conversation.”
As a writer, what did you have the most fun writing about in Nightingale? What would you think the reader will have the most fun reading about?
I had so much fun on so many levels, that I really just “zoned out” on this novel. I started writing about Bron’s mother, and her back-story practically created itself.
When I began to create Bron, his own story was so powerful that I felt stunned. I’ve had a couple of people who were raised in foster care tell me that his tale was “too hard” for them to read.
Then I began to work on Olivia’s first chapter. She’s an amalgam of some of my favorite teachers and mentors. Really, for me, the characters came alive so quickly that it was just a joy to work with.
Usually, when I create a novel like this, it’s the world that comes alive initially. But I find myself even now realizing things about “Bron’s people” that didn’t come out in the first nine drafts. Now that the world has taken shape, I feel like it has become a really powerful novel.
So reaching the point where everything gelled was fun for me.
Each reader is different, though. I’m not sure if they’ll love the adventure more, or the sense of wonder, or the budding romance. There’s a sort of manic energy that develops in the novel, and I’m sure that a lot of people will respond to that, or the horror.
I’ve already had people write to me to tell me about their favorite lines and characters, and it seems that each reader finds something different. I look forward to seeing how it all settles out.
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Do you have any tips for new authors?
Reams of it! About four years ago, a writer said, “You know what I need? I need you to come over to my house every day and kick me in the pants so that I can keep inspired to write.”
That sounded absurd, but then I realized . . . well, I could do it, sort of, and after a few months, I’ll have enough material to write my book on storytelling.
So every day, or sometimes every few days if life gets too busy, I send out a little snippet of writing advice by email to thousands of people around the world . . . maybe one or two pages. It’s called The Daily Kick in the Pants.
Recently I found that I had some 4000 pages of text. It’s not a book on writing; it has turned into an encyclopedia!
How can I get the Daily Kick?
Simple, all you have to do is sign up on my web site at www.davidfarland.com. It’s free.
I subscribe to the Daily Kick and love it! The advice has been very helpful and insightful so I encourage everyone to sign up for the newsletter.
Be sure to check out www.nightingalenovel.com for an enhanced reading experience. There is an on-line e-reader at the site so that everyone can sample the enhanced version of the novel, read the manuscript, listen to some of the 45-minute sound track, and enjoy some of the 100+ pieces of art and animations, plus video interviews with David and read his author’s notes.
Once again, if you have questions for David, please comment. All questions are welcome. If there is something you want to know just ask! Or if no questions come to mind you could just say hi.
