Fact & Fiction Shape the Life of Lawyer, Author Mike Farris

© 2013 The Texas Lawbook.By Patricia Baldwin Lifestyle Writer for The Texas Lawbook Best-selling author Tom Clancy once distinguished the difference between fiction and reality: “Fiction has to make sense.” That truism has sometimes posed a challenge for attorney and author Mike Farris, Of Counsel for Vincent Lopez Serafino Jenevein in Dallas, especially when his characters are lawyers. Of course, therein lies the reason that the public loves to read legal thrillers, says Farris, who writes fiction, nonfiction and screenplays, teaches screenwriting, and operates a literary agency – among other things. In books, as in life, lawyers can be good guys and bad guys. And, in dealing with the worlds of publishing and Hollywood, there can be good times and bad times. As Farris notes, many “overnight” successes take a dozen or more years. He had been writing for a decade when his first book was published 10 years ago. He acknowledges that he is sometimes short on patience. Farris is ready to “break out” from the realm of small publishing houses. He hopes a new historical fiction project might provide that break. He is partnering with a Hollywood producer to develop the “Isle of Broken Dreams” into a television…