Today we’d like to introduce you to David Darling
Hi David, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was home from work, six years ago, recovering from shoulder surgery. I have always been an avid reader, and I was going through a book per day. However, I was reading a novel that was horrible, and after fifty pages I gave up. I said, “I can write a better book than that!” I was going to be home for three months, and I had nothing else to do… so I began writing! Six years later, I have eight novels published and several other projects on the back burner, ready to go. My latest novel, The Egyptian Enigma, comes out November 26, 2024!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I struggled with a few things as I was learning to write, that you can’t just pick up from reading. First is staying in a consistent tense throughout. I prefer to write in the third person, past point of view, but grammatically I slip into other tenses. I find it a constant struggle, but I am getting better, and that’s why I use an editor!
Another issue I found was to write in a manuscript format. First paragraph in a new chapter (or from a scene break) is justified to the left. Starting a subsequent paragraph, you sentence begins at .5 inches in and you do not use your Tab key! Learn to use your ruler. The closer your manuscript is ready for print, the more likely it is to be picked up by an agent/publisher. Make it look professional from the beginning!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Growing up, and well into my twenties, I considered myself a Jack of all Trades, but Master of None. I was a great martial artist, guitar player, I could draw, golf and I was interested in dozens of different things. I also had troubles holding down a job, and I bounced around. Until I joined the Canadian Armed Forces. Why did I join? Mostly because no one thought I could do it, and that bothered me. However, I was VERY glad I did. I ended up being in the army for almost 17 years, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Not because I enjoyed shooting rifles, or driving tanks, and eventually becoming an instructor, but because I learned how to LEARN. I’ve applied that knowledge to too many situations to count, but a few years ago, I wrote a time travel novel, and I studied quantum physics for five weeks. I was writing a police thriller novel, and I downloaded and studied the police procedural manuals for crime scene investigation. Weapons? I studied them. History? I could do a deep dive on Ireland in 1510AD. I enjoyed learning, for the first time in my life. I owe it to my patient instructors in the military for breaking through to a punk-ass kid. Thank you.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
I was twelve years old and I had discovered reading. I started with Donaldson and the Tomas Convent series, and it exploded from there. I had a HUGE willow tree in my backyard growing up, and I climbed thirty feet up and made a tree fort with a bucket of nails, angle iron and planks of wood. It was the spring of 1982 and I climbed up in my tree fort with a book.
The Hobbit.
A warm breeze made the tree sway back and forth and I was alone in my lofted fortress reading about Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf. Over four decades later, when I pick up that novel, I’m transported back to that swaying platform, and I can still smell the spring air as I read about Second Breakfasts.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.daviddarlingbooks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/david_darling_author/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavidDarlingBooks
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidDarlingCA
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@daviddarlingauthor
- Other: https://www.threads.net/@david_darling_author?xmt=AQGzrzwDRzz-G6CFadDVi97XEGOtAKdm2B-GrocEpPPLTKc
