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Drawing on the Power of Resonance in Writing Kindle Edition
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In this book, you'll learn exactly what resonance is and how to use it to make your stories more powerful. You'll see how it is used in literature and other art forms, and how one writer, J. R. R. Tolkien, mastered it in his work.
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateDecember 8, 2012
- File size1631 KB
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Product details
- ASIN : B00AM0OE3C
- Publication date : December 8, 2012
- Language : English
- File size : 1631 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Not Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 99 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #719,278 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #109 in Editing Writing Reference (Kindle Store)
- #242 in Editing Writing Reference (Books)
- #2,400 in Education & Reference (Kindle Store)
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About the author

David Farland, aka Dave Wolverton is an award-winning, international best-selling author with over 60 novels in print. Published in over 20 languages. He has won the Phillip K. Dick Memorial Special Award for "Best Novel in the English Language", the Whitney award for "Best Novel of the Year", the Hollywood Book Festival, Grand Prize and several others. He has been a repeat writer for major franchises such as Star Wars and The Mummy. However, He is best known for his New York Times best-selling fantasy series The Runelords, which will soon be made into a graphic novel and, likely, a movie.
"Nightingale has got superb world-building, strong characters, and Farland's characteristic excellent prose. It was a quick read, fast moving, very fun!"
Brandon Sanderson, #1 International Bestselling author of the Wheel of Time Series
"The Runelords is a first-rate tale, an epic fantasy that more than delivers on its promise. Read it soon and treat yourself to an adventure you won't forget."
Terry Brooks
"When I reached the end of this first volume, The Runelords, and saw grace arise from a devastating battlefield where too many great hearts lay dead, Farland had earned the tears that came to my eyes. It was not sentiment but epiphany."
Orson Scott Card
Learn more at: https://davidfarland.com/all-book-categories/
As a writing instructor, Farland has mentored dozens who have gone on to staggering literary success, including such #1 New York Times Bestsellers as Brandon Mull (Fablehaven), Brandon Sanderson (Wheel of Time), James Dashner (The Maze Runner) and Stephenie Meyer (Twilight)
Farland judges L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future, perhaps the largest worldwide writing competition for new fantasy and science fiction authors. He has worked in Hollywood greenlighting movies and doctoring scripts. He set the Guinness World Record for the largest single-author, single-book signing.
David Farland has been hailed as "The Wizard of Storytelling" and his work has been called "compelling", "engrossing", "powerful", "profound" and "ultimately life-changing".
"I still use the writing techniques he discussed, and constantly reference him and his instruction when I teach creative writing myself. . . His explanations led me directly to getting an agent, and subsequently, my first book deal."
Brandon Sanderson, #1 Bestselling Author of Way of Kings
"He understands storytelling and writing on a freaky level. All of us feel like we owe a huge debt to him."
James Dashner, #1 Bestselling Author of The Maze Runner
"Aside from being a talented writer, David Farland is an excellent writing teacher. Hearing him teach live and reading his written advice has helped me focus many of my own thoughts about the writing process. Those who would like to learn more about the craft of writing would be wise to pay attention."
Brandon Mull, New York Times Bestselling Author of Fablehaven
Learn more at: https://mystorydoctor.com/
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Fortunately, I face no such problems with David Farland’s Drawing on the Power of Resonance in Writing. Indeed, there is little I can say to criticize the bite-sized book. In a short time, it has become one of my favorite selections on the writing, one to which I expect I will return again and again in coming years.
A book on writing by a famous writer seems almost cliché. A few pull it off with great success (think On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King), for a more obvious example), while others (which, perhaps, need no mention at all) fail miserably to be little more than regurgitation of typical advice mixed with anecdotes from the writers own career.
Farland’s books on writing (I’m reading another of his, also, albeit slower as I try to apply it) are spot on, and this one is fast, to the point, and full of relevant examples. Farland’s thesis is that by writing using what resonates with readers–what’s already out there in their in the ether, so to speak–writers can pull readers in faster and with more success than by inventing something from scratch. While he cites many examples, the one that he draws on most liberally is that of J.R.R. Tolkein. Tolkein’s use of imagery, language, setting, and plot delved deep into readers’ subconsciousness and resonated with them in ways they may not have explicitly noticed.
In turn, nearly every successful fantasy since has built on the foundation that Tolkein built, and it is to him that most look for the template. Even Robert Jordan’s fourteen volume Wheel of Time series, opening with The Eye of the World, draws on scenes, characters, and even creature names (to say nothing of maps and place names) that are more than reminiscent of Tolkein.
And there’s nothing wrong with it, says Farland. On the contrary, finding what resonates with your target audience, and writing it into your fiction is his recommendation.
It’s a fascinating suggestion, and the more I think about it, the more I realize that while Farland may be laying it out in new terms, it’s not unlike what any professor of literature might suggest in a survey course of fiction through the ages. Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines is an example that comes to mind. It’s the best writers that are able to use what we believe and see in the world, draw on common symbols and events, and weave them together into a new story, or in a new setting, or with new problems. It’s not plagiarism, but something more: creation, using the fabric of our experience.
As Oscar Wilde might summarize it, “Good writers borrow. Great writers steal.”
Resonance, says Farland, is just that. It’s drawing on what’s already there–whether you want to call that borrowing or outright theft–to create a story that readers feel deeper than the words on the page, rooted in experience and knowledge they bring to the story before they even open the book.
If you want your story to last, make it resonate.
I found it interesting that, even if you believe you are breaching new ground, creating new worlds, you should use the power of resonance to subconsciously drive it. His exposition of Tolkien's use of resonance, and how meticulously he crafted the tenants of his world, were mind-boggling. This did way more than put James Cameron's 4 years of 'design' of the nuances of the Avatar world into proper perspective. Tolkien took over a decade to design his...including the languages of his dominant races.
After I read this, I decided to check out David's book, 'On My Way to Paradise', as a curiosity. However by the time I got 1/4 of the way through the SECOND PAGE, I had to buy it. The use of resonance, foreshadowing and a dynamic opening -- one that was suggestive but not in your face -- drew me in in SO many ways...it just had me saying, "I've GOT to learn how to do that!" So I ordered it to dissect how he did it (I ordered the hardcopy version).
I own over a dozen books on crafting fiction and none of them talk about this technique (of creating resonance)...a technique that, for the first time in my life, had me buying an author previously unknown to me, after reading just over ONE PAGE of their book.
Get this book if you want to improve your sample; if you want people hooked (quickly) on the story you weave. It'll make you a more powerful (and successful) writer.
Having read this book I find it intimidating so much I never thought about. It has got me rethinking about all the names in my fantasy series, I'll likely have to re think them. There is much more to resonance than just the names. How does it relate to our lives, to other things we've read, our loves and fears, etc. he even pointed out the importance of making a cover resonance with other covers. He uses an artist that has created covers for some of the great fantasy writers this even his covers brings resonance to readers of these other books.
Throughout the book he points out how Tolkien use resonance with his words, the story itself and even in the imagery. Tolkien was a master of resonance there is much to learn from his work.
I must confess I never read "The Lord of the Rings". I read "The Hobbit" which I enjoyed I just never got into "The Lord of the Rings" I did read several other fantasy books and played Dungeons and Dragons for years even became a Dungeon Master. Much of my fantasy world comes from ADND (Advanced Dungeons and Dragons) you could say I refined my world through my Role Playing.
There is much for a novice writer such as myself to learn from this work. I strongly recommend this to all inspiring writers. I wonder if this would have helped me with me reports in collage.

