DAVID FARLAND
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nown as the “Wizard of Storytelling,” writing sensation and author of fifty novels, David wrote short stories as a child and dreamt of growing up to become a fantasy writer. He gained experience in a number of career paths but never lost sight of his goals. Finally, after saving money for years, he decided to risk it all and go to Brigham Young University to study.
While there, he became ill and feverish started having some fantastic dreams. In one such dream, two futuristic mercenaries were taking shelter in the skull of some giant beast and talking while waiting out a rainstorm. His dreams became so vivid and lifelike that he had to put them in a story called “On My Way to Paradise.”
He entered it into the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest and won the grand prize for the year, the Gold Award. He was immediately contracted by Bantam Books to turn the short story into a novel of the same name, along with a contract to write two more books. The novel, My Way to Paradise spent several months on the Locus Science Fiction Best-seller list, and won a Phillip K. Dick Memorial Special Award for being one of the best science fiction novels of the year.
He wrote science fiction for ten years under his given name of David Wolverton, during which he wrote several best sellers. After having mastered science fiction, David decided it was time to take another risk and try writing fantasy, hoping to realize his childhood dream. So as not to confuse his readers, he writes fantasy under the name David Farland.
He had to work hard to achieve notoriety in two genres, but eventually his fantasy books started hitting the New York Times Best Seller’s list right out of the gates, beginning with the third book of the Runelords series entitled Wizardborn.
He had not only achieved his childhood dream, but in doing so, became popular in two genres and has amassed many awards for his short fiction in particular, and set a Guinness Record for the world's largest booksigning–a record that he still holds. In 1991, David became a judge for one of the world's largest writing contests, the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest, and for the next several years he read thousands of stories each year, edited an annual anthology, and taught writing classes to new writers.
To date, David has written and edited fifty published books. These include novels for adults, young adults, anthologies, middle-grade readers, and picture books.
Among his numerous other accomplishments, David eventually returned to BYU as a writing professor, for several years. It was getting in the way of his writing, so he ended that and decided to fill his need to share by lecturing, giving workshops and seminars to those who would be writers. He is known for having taught many great emerging writers and had a part in their success, including Stephanie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson and Eric Flint. In many cases it was his influence and words of wisdom that caused a new author to sell their first story. Now he has the privilege of helping other struggling would-be writers to achieve their success. He says, “Nobody makes it alone. We each build on one another.”
As part of his dedication to helping other writers, David writes the David Farland’s Daily Kick in the Pants, an email bulletin for writers or those who would be writers. Many authors rave about how it has helped them. Out of devotion, he provides the Daily Kick free. You can register to receive it in the green box in the bottom right corner of this page.
DavidFarland.net Journal Entries
Details on two new writing seminars and workshops, as well as a special offer for those that have attended ANY of Dave's seminars in the past!
Webmaster - 3/23/2010
David was just interviewed by The Realm Of Imagination (TROI) a few days ago. We wanted to share part of it with everyone and link over to the full interview for those that want to read it in its entirety. Find out a little about his new Runelords novel, Chaosbound, as well as some of his writing habits.
Webmaster - 2/17/2010
Chaosbound, In The Company Of Angels, and Freaky Fly Day have earned awards for Best Book Covers of 2009 from books by LDS authors.
Webmaster - 1/20/2010
An updated list of dates and locations for my current book signing tour.
David Farland - 11/17/2009
David's tour kicks off Thursday, October 1st! Find out when he's coming to your town to sign books and what other activities he has in store for you!
Webmaster - 9/28/2009
David Farland to Appear at Utah State Fair in Salt Lake City
David Farland - 9/6/2009
Information on the next Runelords book, including the new title, and details on a couple of new features added to Runelords.com!
David Farland - 7/15/2009
Have you ever wondered what the Earth King looked like? Now you can put him on your desktop and let everyone know who he is and what he looks like!
David Farland - 7/10/2009
David Farland's Update on the Status of Current Novels
David Farland - 6/26/2009
Brent sent me an email about The Wyrmling Horde, and the inspiration he received when reading about the "Bright Ones". Read my response and my thoughts on why books should be more than mere entertainment.
David Farland - 6/9/2009
Journal Archive