I did private study for about a month five days a week six hours a day. I came to understand the character in ways that I never would've previous to that. I was so innocent in respect to ways of creating characters.
Dune is the bestselling science fiction book of all time. It's something you really need to read in your lifetime. If you're going to read The Lord of the Rings which everyone should then you have to read Dune too.
