Author Lessons from Jim Butcher

Let me introduce you to Jim Butcher, author of the Dresden Files series, the Codex Alera series, and the Cinder Spires series. If you’ve never heard him speak live, I highly recommend it. Not only is he hilarious (ala Dresden himself, of course), but he really knows what he’s talking about!

He definitely is a Crafter when it comes to writing (vs a Pantser–someone who just goes for it and isn’t quite certain how they got there). He believes strongly in developing your craft because once you have all the tools and know how to use all the tools, you get to truly Create (that’s a paraphrase of his words, so I didn’t make it into a meme ;).

Here’s some of the best quotes I heard from Jim Butcher on panels at NASFiC 2019:

So in the end, this guy knows what he’s doing. If you’ve never read his work, I’d recommend starting with Dresden, mostly because that’s the character who he most reminded me of in real life. Enjoy!