David Farland is a New York Times bestselling author of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. He’s worked with such major franchises as Star Wars and the Mummy in movies, and with Starcraft and Xena in videogames. Yet his own tales have won numerous awards and critical acclaim. Publisher’s Weekly called him a “wizard of storytelling,” while the U.K.’s most influential John Jarrold named him “the new King of Fantasy.” With the release of his latest novel, Nightingale, the story of a young man, abandoned at birt, who discovers that he’s not quite human, David is causing a new sensation in the literary world.
So we asked him a few questions:
David Farland introduces his own superhero, in the enhanced novel version of Nightingale
Absolutely! That’s where it all starts for many of us. When I was nine years old, the television series Star Trek came out. A few miles down the road, some friends had a color television set, and they invited us to come over and watch, play games, have a potluck dinner. These people had an eight-year-old son who was really into comics, so we’d read comics and then watch Star Trek while our parents socialized. I began to read and buy thousands of comics. I got heavily into Superman and Batman of course, but my favorite characters were the Thing, the Incredible Hulk, and the Silver Surfer. I was also drawn to stories set back in time, with things like Turok.
If you look latest novel, Nighingale, it’s about a teen who is a loner—like the Thing or the Silver Surfer. He’s brilliant in some ways and dangerous, like the Hulk. He’s trapped in a net of intrigue that goes back to times when one hero was a mammoth rider.
In fact, if you look at the stories I write, to some degree they’re all strongly influenced by comics. For example, I like telling stories about people with super powers or magical abilities.
I even understand
why I do it—on a number of levels. When you’re a teen, you begin to grow up and develop your own “super powers.” I remember when I was twelve, I punched a kid and put him in the hospital. (He hit me about ten times before I hit him back.) I was so shocked to learn how strong I had suddenly become. A mixture of rage and testosterone had turned me into the Incredible Hulk!
In
Nightingale I’m dealing with a super-hero, dark and tortured as he is. I handle it in a realistic, adult style, but it’s all very much like those stories I loved at age nine and ten.
Q: Have you ever considered writing comics for a living? For fun, yes, for a living, no. I worked with a videogame producer, Les Pardew, a few years ago to create a story called “The Young Olympians.” It was turned into a comic book called Saffire, illustrated by Matt Broome.
Years ago, when I first became a “Star Wars-approved author,” I had an editor from Dark Horse who called and asked if I would be interested in writing for them. I said “Yes,” and he said, “I’ll be back in touch with you soon.” A few weeks later I got another call, from a new editor, asking the same question. I said a bit more exuberantly, “I’d love to.” A few months later, a third editor called, and I said, “Are you guys kidding? Please!” They kept having editorial turnover. That was almost twenty years ago, and I’d still love to do it.
Q: What lessons have you, as a writer, learned from comics? Back when I was the lead judge for the Writers of the Future Contest, we had a companion contest with the Illustrators of the Future, and some of the judges were legends in the comic industry. Once, between meals, I had dinner sitting next to a charming old gentleman who was quite upset by a television show that depicted two superheroes duking it out while hanging on to a helicopter. “They would have torn that thing apart!” he said, grabbing my arm. So for a long time we talked about creating worlds and magic systems, keeping things logical and consistent. You see, if they aren’t consistent, if they contain logical flaws, then readers lose their “voluntary suspension in disbelief.” Too many young authors try to create a sense of wonder by violating their own rules. By doing so, they don’t arouse wonder, but disappointment and contempt.
During the entire conversation, I never knew the gentleman’s name. It wasn’t until after dinner that several young people asked, “You were talking to him for hours! What did he say?” That’s when I found out that I had been talking to the legendary Jack Kirby, the creator of X-Men, Thor, Captain America, and Fantastic Four, just to name a few.
Certainly, the lessons that he taught became ingrained at that time.
You can learn more about David Farland by visiting his official site
www.DavidFarland.com. He also has a new site dedicated to his recently released
Nightingale novel at
www.NightingaleNovel.com.