Author Birthday – 26 October – Jim Butcher

Happy Birthday, Jim Butcher, born on 26 October 1971.

Jim Butcher Quotes

1. Nothing worth doing is easy. Nothing worth having comes free. That’s as true in life as it is in your prospective writing career, but I think it’s important enough that it needs to be said.
2. Writing is a LOT of work. Breaking into the industry is a torment worthy of the fifth or sixth circle of Hell. Face that. Expect it. Deal with it. It’s going to be difficult.
3. Put your Butt In the Chair and start writing. Period. No excuses. There is no substitute for BIC time. It’s part of the price you pay.
4. Get a BIG piece of paper. Draw a big curving arch on it. At the LEFT side of the arch, write a brief phrase about the opening scene. At the RIGHT side, write a brief phrase describing the climax of the book. That’s your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
5. At the TOP of the arch, write down your BIG MIDDLE, or whatever event it is that starts the dominoes to falling. Then make a bunch of tick marks along the way and fill in any scenes that you have in mind that you know you want to do.
6. Do Story Arches for all of your subplots. Make sure you know where they begin, end, and what event causes them to be resolved.
7. You need to profile EVERY significant character on his own sheet, just like you did your Protagonist and Antagonist.
8. Conflict is what happens when someone, for some reason, up and decides that your character needs to fail in his goal, or else is pursuing a goal which, if met, will prevent your viewpoint character from reaching his goal.
9. Bottom line, you have to put in a lot of work to get your writing quality up and running. And you have to keep on writing the whole while. Then you have to learn the market, both on the business end of things and on the reader end, so that you can put together a good picture of who you should go after. Building contacts at conventions and so on doesn’t hurt.
10. I think, you have to have the attitude of a successful writer. Rejection shouldn’t discourage you. It’s just a part of the day, like a thunderstorm or a car horn. It happens, it isn’t personal, and if you get stopped cold at one door, you might be warmly welcomed at another.
11. Be polite, friendly, and well informed. Do your homework. Read agent and editor guidelines. Figure out who is producing stuff like yours, and go after those people. Tell them that you targeted them specifically, and tell them why.
12. Here’s the secret of how to get published: keep going.

Source for quotes 1-8 Jim’s Journal and 9-12: About Jim

Jim Butcher is an American author best known for his urban fantasy series the Dresden File. He has also written the epic fantasy series Codex Alera and the steampunk series Cinder Spires. His work blends magic, action, mystery, and humour, exploring good versus evil, loyalty, courage, and the struggle between duty and personal choice. Butcher is a gamer who enjoys tabletop and video games, as well as live-action role-playing (LARP). His literary influences include J. R. R. Tolkien, Lloyd Alexander, and C. S. Lewis. His work has earned several award nominations, including Hugo Award nominations for Skin Game (2015), The Aeronaut’s Windlass (2016), and the graphic story Welcome to the Jungle (2009). His collection Brief Cases was nominated for a Locus Award in 2019. Twelve Months won the Dragon Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 2026.

Source for photograph: Author website

by Amanda Patterson
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