About Terry
In 1994, Terry Goodkind’s first book sold for a record figure which still stands to this day. Entitled Wizard’s First Rule, it instantly established him as a successful author and allowed him to do what he’d wanted all his life; write for a living.Mr Goodkind had worked in many different jobs. From painting to the restoration of antiques, each one allowed the productive use of his creativity and each one was a step towards his real dream. He values the experiences these other jobs gave him, and in fact decalres that he needed them to become the author he is today:
“Art helps me with my writing, though, and is part of it. In order to paint, you have to see what is really there. For example, to paint chrome some people just paint silver, because they think chrome is silver. They aren’t seeing what is really there. Chrome isn’t silver, it’s something that reflects what’s around it, sky or ground or whatever. When I write these things in my head, and it comes time to write them down, that artistic ability helps me to describe in an accurate way what I’m seeing, what is really there. I think it helps me bring texture and life to my writing”
In the books that follwed Wizard’s First Rule Mr Goodkind assuredly established himself as one of the most influential writers in his genre. In fact, he is the only writer of his genre - he does not write fantasy fiction. He writes Romantic fiction. (That is Romantic derived from Romanticism). His books are brimming with philosophy, virtue, values, heroes, ethics and morality of the like I have never read in any other fantasy fiction books. It is rare to come accross fiction so character based. So detailed in what people are going through, rather than what colour the bark of the Ferndingley tree is at this time of year and why.
Another characteristic of his books which sets him clearly aside is the simple fact that his books describe reality. In fact his books - works of fiction - are more realisticly perceptive than the vast majority of non-fiction books. One needs only to read his latest release, Naked Empire, to understand what I mean here. His characters obey reality by thinking and acting as reality demands.
When Mr Goodkind was at school, he was diagnosed with dyslexia. This made reading and spelling difficult and he therefore attracted criticism from his teachers in these areas. He was damned as lazy and slow and so grew to hate reading and writing their kind of books and stories, where everything was about the grammer, the spelling, the punctuation. About everything but the story and the message it was telling. And so he was wont to take himself away and hide in the library, reading his kind of books. Reading about heroes and adventure and excitement and Life.
Later, he was blessed with a teacher who encouraged him to write for himself. Who read his stories, gave him ideas, discussed other writers with him; never telling him what to write but always aiding and supporting him. This encouragement ensured a passion for writing stayed with him through his life, where he would imagine and plot out storylines in his head.
Today, Mr Goodkind is extremely successfull and his Sword of truth series is going from strenth to strength. A TV series has been commissioned. As his agent says, fiction is never going to be the same again.