Secrets are revealed here in the Dave Buzan confidential Dossier -

Dave Buzan
In the Lair of Legends

“The devil is in the details and David Buzan masterfully brings all of those details to bear in creating one hell of a novel.” –Tom McCaffrey, bestselling author of The Claire Trilogy

Best movie of 1989

DOSSIER: You’ve always loved writing, even since high school. When your first-ever story was published, and you won $25 and four movie tickets, do you remember it like it was yesterday? IMDB says that Indiana Jones was #1 in1989, and Dead Poets Society was #2. Can you recall what you saw? It was Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, wasn’t it?

BUZAN: 1989 was exceptional for movies. My favorite film of that particular year was “The Abyss,” although “License to Kill” and “Lethal Weapon 2” were very close behind it. As for the film I saw with those winning movie tickets, it was actually Joe Dante’s “The Burbs.” To this day, it remains my all-time favorite comedy. The ensemble cast is truly extraordinary (particularly Bruce Dern) and they have an absolute blast with all of that endlessly quotable dialogue. I’m also a film score aficionado, so I’m endlessly fascinated with composers. “The Burbs” was scored by Jerry Goldsmith (my favorite film composer), who did an extraordinary job. It was a challenging assignment. Goldsmith musically juggled sentimentality. humor, heroics, and horror in such a creative way!

Fighting through it

DOSSIER: Your adventure novel, IN THE LAIR OF LEGENDS, has won award after award, but you didn’t write it until years after you walked away from publishing. What do you think you learned in that time away that led you to such a comeback with this highly applauded book?

BUZAN: It’s true that I walked away from creative writing for a decade. Before reaching that decision, I had truly felt that I given absolutely everything that I had to give. There was a certain peace obtained through the heartache; stages of artistic grief, if you will. I had been engaged in screenwriting for nearly 20 years at that point. Although I was fortunate enough to have been represented by three agents and had several scripts optioned during that time, the crushing disappointments and constant near-misses ended up taking a physical and emotional toll on me.

The decision to write my debut novel came from a moment of realization during a difficult period later in my life. I felt that there was something I still needed to prove to myself. There’s that terrific moment in THE COLOR OF MONEY when Paul Newman’s Fast Eddie character admits that his dreams “…were over before they ever really started.” That’s a sentiment that I found myself uncomfortably relating to. I’d reached a moment of self-reflection where I felt that I’d given up on myself. It’s like I had been in the ring and I had been the referee who had counted myself out of the fight. The idea of writing a novel was my way of actually going back to the very beginning of when this dream of mine first started

I believe the biggest lesson I learned during that time away was gaining perspective of what success for me really meant. It had become a matter of personal fortitude as much as it was a responsibility for creative accountability. In ROCKY BALBOA, he explains the need to fight again as having “something still in the basement.” And feeling the way I did about it, returning to writing then became something I needed to do for myself, and for myself alone.

The perfect writing score

DOSSIER: When and where do you like to write and what excellent environment works best? Is there music from the soundtrack to Out of Africa playing in the background?

BUZAN: Being at a desk in the home office for the entire writing process might sound too officious for some authors, but that was part of the discipline I required over the 17 months it took to finish IN THE LAIR OF LEGENDS. It was a location and a structure that worked for me simply because I understood how my excuses for not writing would derail me if I went to the park or the coffee shops to try and get this done.

As for music, I absolutely have to have it whenever writing. As I mentioned earlier, film scores are a particular passion of mine. For me, they help foster creativity during the whole writing process. While John Barry’s “Out of Africa” is an Oscar-winning masterpiece, I tend to lean more towards action-heavy scores when I’m working. In point of fact, Marco Beltrami’s “A Good Day to Die Hard” was the score I listened to primarily while writing IN THE LAIR OF LEGENDS.

The one big inspiration

DOSSIER: You’ve spoken about inspiration for writing and the importance of finding that one thing that clicks and sets everything in motion. Having worked on so many different writing projects over the years, how does film (dialogue, setting, and music) have an impact on you?

BUZAN: Nothing inspires me like movies. Cinema is a world unlike any other. That being said, I’ve always found creative inspiration can come anywhere. As a writer, I think it’s incredibly important to always have that Inspiration Metal Detector up and running no matter where you might find yourself. Ideas don’t end up where they thought they’d lead you, and they certainly aren’t constantly found in the same areas of your life.

When I’m first mulling over an idea, the fertile ground of the subconscious hasn’t grown any crops yet. During this period, I tend to want to be physically active while the mind is inactive. Typically, long hikes will help me best formulate thoughts during the earliest stages of writing. Even during the actual writing, I find that taking a long walk will help me with writer’s block in a way that nothing else will.

THE WRATH OF LEGENDS

DOSSIER: Do you have any breaking news or special announcement you’d like to disclose in your Dossier?

BUZAN: I’m currently finishing up the revisions for THE WRATH OF LEGENDS (the sequel to my debut novel), which is scheduled to be released on April 17, 2025.

My third book (SUSPENSION) is on my publisher’s release calendar: August 13, 2026. This one is a standalone action/adventure that’s a fun homage to the 90’s action films that I love. I’ll officially start working on it next month…after I find just the right score, of course.