Background

Terry Goodkind was born on May 1, 1948, in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. From his childhood, he was interested in ancient things. It influenced his future profession.

Education

Terry Goodkind found little interest in school because of dyslexia - his difficulties with reading and writing brought him constant ridicule and humility from his teachers and peers - and therefore has no formal education. He studied in college but was dropped out. The only educational establishment he graduated from was an art school in Omaha.

Career

Terry Goodkind's high school composition was recognized by his teacher as a writing talent but Goodkind became a writer not immediately. Before becoming a professional writer, Goodkind worked as a carpenter, a violin maker, a hypnotherapist, a wildlife artist and a restorer of rare artifacts. Throughout this time, he has remained an avid fan of painting and has done some of the artworks included in his books.

It wasn’t until he was in his early forties that he sat down and wrote his first book down on paper Wizard’s First Rule. This novel he began to write in 1993, during the construction of his and his wife Jeri's house on the forested Mount Desert Island, off the coast of Maine. His writing career was launched with the novel's publication in 1994. Goodkind followed with three other novels - Stone of Tears, Blood of the Fold, and Temple of the Winds - all part of an ongoing series called Sword of Truth. Temple of the Winds was his First book to be on the New York Times bestsellers list. He has subsequently published 16 other novels and one novella.

Critics’ opinions are divided on Goodkind’s writing. Most of them are of the view that his books have a cynical angle that makes the read depressing. Also, the books are criticized for having strong sexual and sadomasochistic content. Despite the heavy criticism, the series was adapted into a television series by the title Legend of the Seeker in 2008.

On April 4, 2019, the first book of the Children of D'Hara series, The Scribbly Man, is released. This is a continuation of the story of Richard and Kahlan, the characters of The Sword of Truth.

Achievements

• Terry Goodkind is a #1 New York Times Bestselling Author. He has written more than 30 major, bestselling novels, published in more than 20 languages worldwide, and has sold more than 26 million books.
  
  Goodkind's first book, Wizard's First Rule, was auctioned to a group of three publishers in 1994 selling it for a record price of $275,000.
  
  

Works

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  • Faith of the Fallen

    (Terry Goodkind author of the enormously popular Sword of ...)

    2000
  • Severed Souls

    (From the far reaches of the D'Haran Empire, Bishop Hannis...)

    2014
  • Naked Empire

    (In Naked Empire, Goodkind returns with a broad-canvas adv...)

    2003
  • Death's Mistress: Sister of Darkness

    (One-time lieutenant of the evil Emperor Jagang, known as ...)

    2017
  • Death's Mistress: Siege of Stone

    (The Sorceress Nicci, the Wizard Nathan Rahl, and the youn...)

    2018
  • Confessor

    (Descending into darkness, about to be overwhelmed by evil...)

    2007
  • Debt of Bones

    (A milestone of storytelling set in the world of the Sword...)

    1998
  • Death's Mistress: Shroud of Eternity

    (The formidable sorceress Nicci and her companions - the n...)

    2018
  • Chainfire

    (In Chainfire, Goodkind returns with a new novel of Richar...)

    2005
  • Wizard's First Rule

    (In Wizard's First Rule, Goodkind introduced the world to ...)

    1994
  • The Omen Machine

    (Richard and Kahlan are contentedly enjoying Cara's marria...)

    2011
  • Temple of the Winds

    (Jagang, Emperor of the Imperial Order, has invoked a boun...)

    1997
  • The First Confessor: The Legend of Magda Searus eBook: Terry Goodkind: Gateway

    (Married to the powerful leader of her people, safe among ...)

    2012
  • Trouble's Child

    (Wandering through the snowy woods in the mountains near h...)

    2018
  • The Law of Nines

    (Turning twenty-seven may be terrifying for some, but for ...)

    2009
  • Soul of the Fire

    (Richard and Kahlan are finally married and enjoying their...)

    1999
  • Phantom

    (On the day she awoke remembering nothing but her name, Ka...)

    2006
  • The Pillars of Creation

    (New York Times bestselling author Terry Goodkind has crea...)

    2002
  • The Third Kingdom

    (Richard saw the point of a sword blade sticking out from ...)

    2013
  • Stone of Tears

    (With Darken Rahl defeated, Richard and Kahlan head back t...)

    1995
  • The Sky People

    (Raging River, the priestess of the Sun People, has just d...)

    2019
  • Nest

    (Kate Bishop thought she was an ordinary woman living and ...)

    2016
  • The Scribbly Man

    (This is the first novella from the 'Children of D'hara' s...)

    2019
  • Blood of the Fold

    (Richard comes to terms with his true identity as a War Wi...)

    1996
  • The Girl in the Moon

    (Angela Constantine is a girl born broken. When Angela was...)

    2018
  • Crazy Wanda

    (Trouble always finds Angela Constantine. And Angela's imp...)

    2018
  • Warheart

    (All is lost. Evil will soon consume the D'Haran Empire. R...)

    2015

Views

While he acknowledges writing in the fantasy genre, Goodkind perceives his novels to be more than just traditional fantasy because of their focus on philosophical and human themes. He is a proponent of Ayn Rand's philosophical approach of objectivism and makes references to Rand's ideas and novels in his works.

Quotations: "My privilege in life is the joy of writing books and telling stories about people who fascinate me, the good and the bad. I am grateful to all of my readers for the critical role they play in making these books possible. Your passion is my passion, and I thank you."

"I’m a born storyteller. My earliest memories are of telling myself stories. I lived with the characters from the stories in my head. When I was little I remember playing in the backyard, writing and directing plays for the other kids in the neighborhood. Just some simple kidnapping storylines or whatever. So I’ve always told myself stories. When I started thinking about Wizard’s First Rule, I eventually felt that the time had come to write it down on paper. Until then, I never wrote stories down. I have dyslexia, so written words have always been something that has given me difficulty, so I never bothered with them. I was perfectly content to keep the stories in my head and tell them to myself, and to this day that’s exactly what I do: I tell myself the stories."

"Knowledge is a weapon. I intend to be formidably armed."

"The worse you are at thinking, the better you are at drinking."

"The first step to believing something is true is wanting to believe it is true... or being afraid it is."

Personality

Don D'Ammassa described Goodkind as part of a "host of brand new writers [with] no previous experience writing fiction but who could turn out one large epic adventure after another", taking advantage of publishers' realization in the mid-1990s that traditional fantasy literature was a highly lucrative market. D'Ammassa stated that Goodkind possessed "undeniable storytelling skills and a talent for inventing detailed and interesting societies", but described his characters as lacking depth, with a confusing morality.

Interests

• walking in the woods, painting
  
  Goodkind has competed in various forms of amateur and semi-professional auto racing and currently drives a Radical SR8 SM-500 race car for his own Rahl Racing team.

Connections

Terry Goodkind is married to Jeri Goodkind.

Wife:

Jeri Goodkind