Finally for my U.S. fans! A reading from my novel Monster Lawyer…in English!
About the story:
“In the supernatural world there are eternal, immutable laws.And where there are laws, there are lawyers.”
Monster Lawyer
Danny Becker was bullied as a kid and terrified of his own shadow—any shadow, really—until he learned to use his words, grew up, and became a lawyer. Thirty years later, Danny wakes up to find the closet monster who tormented him all through his youth sitting on his bed. Turns out his childhood nemesis needs a lawyer. Even worse, Danny knows the creature is innocent and cannot in good conscience turn it away. What follows is Danny’s journey through the supernatural legal world of monsters and magic and his realization that he never really dealt with his true fears as a kid.
More fun that you can wave a wand at, Monster Lawyer is an atmospheric limited series set in drizzly Seattle with a strong set up, a unique secret universe, and a compelling character arc for an unlikely protagonist tending to the most underrepresented population in our most colorful underworld.
Industry note on rights: Monster Lawyer is published in Germany as Im Zweifel fur das Monster (Blanvalet). All other territories available. The sequel is due out this fall in Germany and is also available in all other territories.
“A thoroughly entertaining, even funny plot awaits the reader. The author…wants to entertain. And he succeeds in doing this in a well-versed and humorous way.”
Daniel Becker ist – Pardon, ein Arschloch. Muss er auch sein. Denn um bei einer der angesehensten Anwaltskanzleien aus Seattle Karriere zu machen, muss man über Leichen gehen. Seine Ehe ging, angesichts einer 7 Tage, 50 Stunden plus Arbeitswoche erwartungsgemäß in die Brüche. Seine Tochter sieht er kaum, stattdessen jede Menge Akten.
Doch Daniel hat ein Geheimnis. Als Kind floh er im Elternhaus voller Furcht vor dem ihn heimsuchenden Monster unter seine Bettdecke. Der erwachsene Daniel lebt auf einem Hausboot. Und bekommt einen neuen, wichtigen Fall, der ihn zum Partner aufsteigen lassen könnte. Just in dieser Nacht, als seine Karriere endlich abhebt, meldet sich ein alter Bekannter, Dämon genannt, bei ihm. Halluziniert er? Ist es der Stress? Wird die Arbeit etwa zu viel?
Sein Besuch sucht einen Rechtsanwalt. Es wird ihm vorgeworfen, ein Mädchen umgebracht und die Existenz der magischen Welt offenbart zu haben. Ersteres wäre kein Problem für ein Mandat, aber für zweiteres droht dem Advokaten ein mehr als schmerzhafter Tod. Daniel bleibt nicht viel anderes übrig, als den Fall zu übernehmen. Und, da er ein guter Rechtsverdreher ist, obsiegt er natürlich im Rechtsstreit.
Fehler, ganz großer Fehler! Sein Erfolg spricht sich herum und merkwürdige Klienten suchen seine Hilfe. Und dann will der Richter, vor dem er einen Schuldigen entlastet hat, auch noch, dass er den wahren Mörder findet.
Buckingham weiß, was seine Fans erwarten
Royce Buckingham gehört hierzulande zu den US-Autoren, die eine treue Fangemeinde haben. Insbesondere sein Roman „Dämliche Dämonen“ und dessen Folgebände und die „Mapper“ („Karte der Welt“) -Serie fanden Anklang.
„Im Zweifel für das Monster“ ist auf der Internetseite des Autors in einer Rubrik „German Novels“ aufgeführt. Es gibt anscheinend kein englischsprachiges Original. In Royce‘ Vita dann der entscheidende Hinweis: die Rechte an diesem Buch für den US-Markt sind noch zu haben. Der Roman wurde also als Welt-Erstveröffentlichung bei Blanvalet in deutscher Übersetzung publiziert.
Inhaltlich wartet ein durchaus unterhaltsamer, sogar lustiger Plot auf den Lesenden. Es geht dem Verfasser nicht unbedingt darum, Missstände anzuprangern oder große Messages zu verbreiten. Er will unterhalten. Und dies gelingt ihm durchaus versiert und humorvoll.
Er zeichnet das Bild eines typischen Karriere-Rechtsanwalts, wie wir es auch aus TV und Kino kennen. Ja, die Handlung ist in sich nicht unbedingt logisch oder überzeugend. Aber, und dies ist für den Lesespaß entscheidend, der Roman liest sich flüssig in einem Rutsch durch. Unser Rechtsverdreher offenbart dabei menschliche Züge. Dazu ist das Handlungstempo überraschend hoch, unerwartete Wendungen reihen sich aneinander, sodass ich den Roman mit Spaß gelesen und nicht aus der Hand gelegt habe.
Fazit
Als Fazit bleibt festzuhalten, dass Royce Buckingham genau weiß, was er kann und was seine Leserinnen und Leser von ihm erwarten. Er versucht beileibe nicht, das Rad neu zu erfinden. Sondern konzentriert sich auf seine abwechslungsreiche Geschichte, unterfüttert sie mit Humor und lenkt uns so ein wenig vom Alltagsgeschehen ab.
Carsten Kuhr
Review
Daniel Becker is – sorry, an asshole. He has to be too. Because to have a career at one of Seattle’s most respected law firms, you have to walk over dead bodies. As expected, his marriage fell apart given a 7 day, 50 hour plus work week. He hardly sees his daughter, instead he sees a lot of files.
But Daniel has a secret. As a child, he fled under the covers of his parents’ house in fear of the monster that was haunting him. Adult Daniel lives on a houseboat. And gets a new, important case that could make him a partner. Just that night, when his career is finally taking off, an old acquaintance called a demon contacts him. Is he hallucinating? Is it the stress? Is the work getting to be too much?
His visitor is looking for a lawyer. He is accused of killing a girl and revealing the existence of the magical world. The former would not be a problem, but for the latter the lawyer faces a more than painful death. Daniel has little choice but to take on the case. And, since he’s a good legal spinster, of course he wins the lawsuit.
Mistakes, big mistakes! Word of his success gets around and strange clients seek his help. And then the judge before whom he exonerated a guilty party also wants to find the real killer.
Buckingham knows what his fans expect
Royce Buckingham is one of the US authors in Germany who have a loyal fan base. In particular, his novel “Dämliche Demons” and its subsequent volumes and the “Mapper” (“Map of the World”) series were well received.
“In doubt for the monster” is listed on the author’s website in a “German Novels” section. There doesn’t seem to be an English-language original. In Royce’s résumé then the crucial note: the rights to this book for the US market are still available. The novel was thus published as a world first publication by Blanvalet in German translation.
In terms of content, a thoroughly entertaining, even funny plot awaits the reader. The author is not necessarily concerned with denouncing grievances or spreading big messages. He wants to entertain. And he succeeds in doing this in a well-versed and humorous way.
He paints the picture of a typical career lawyer, as we know it from TV and cinema. Yes, the plot itself is not necessarily logical or convincing. But, and this is crucial for reading fun, the novel reads through fluently in one go. Our legal twister reveals human traits. In addition, the pace of action is surprisingly high, unexpected twists are lined up one after the other, so that I enjoyed reading the novel and couldn’t put it down.
Conclusion
The bottom line is that Royce Buckingham knows exactly what he can do and what his readers expect from him. He is by no means trying to reinvent the wheel. Instead, it concentrates on its varied history, underpins it with humor and thus distracts us a little from everyday events.
der Autor hat eine phantasievolle Geschichte erdacht, die unterhaltsame Lesestunden garantiert.
Dana Rotter | Nautilus – Fantasymagazin
“The author has created an imaginative story that guarantees reading entertainment for hours.”
BUCHTIPP
Der Buchtitel IM ZWEIFEL FÜR DAS MONSTER (Blanvalet Verlag) mit dem dazugehörigen Buchcover lassen keinen Zweifel daran, worum es in dem neusten Roman von Royce Buckingham gehen mag: Auf leuchtend orangenem Hintergrund prangt ein schwarzes stilisiertes Monster, das einen Richterhammer schwingt. Wer nun denkt, dass Monster nicht vor Gericht kommen, der irrt gewaltig! Das erlebt der aufstrebende Anwalt Daniel Becker am eigenen Leib, als ihn das Monster aus seiner Kindheit aufsucht, damit er ihn vor dem Mitternachtsgericht verteidigt. Er steht unter Verdacht einen Mord begangen zu haben. Zu Daniels Überraschung gewinnt er. Doch während sein Klient freigesprochen wird, wird er selbst dazu verpflichtet den Mord aufzuklären. Versagen ist dabei keine Option.
Der Verlag kündigt das Buch an mit dem Satz “Lachen, bis der Anwalt kommt.” an. Das ist vielleicht etwas hoch gegriffen, denn auch wenn Buckingham amüsant schreibt, reicht es meist doch nur für ein Schmunzeln. Das tut dem Lesevergnügen aber keinen Abbruch, denn der Autor hat eine phantasievolle Geschichte erdacht, die unterhaltsame Lesestunden garantiert. Es fällt anfangs zwar etwas schwer, mit dem Protagonisten Daniel Becker warm zu werden, verkörpert er doch viele negative Klischees über Anwälte, aber im Laufe der Ereignisse erlebt er – so viel darf verraten sein – eine deutliche Entwicklung. Ihm zur Seite stehen außerdem während der Ermittlungen einige Monster, die durch ihre bizarren bis liebenswerten Charakter zu überzeugen wissen.
Wer aufgrund der Mordermittlungen einen anspruchsvollen Anwaltskrimi erwartet, wird enttäuscht werden. Nichtsdestotrotz überrascht am Ende die Enthüllung des Mörders – aufmerksame Leserinnen und Leser können aber gerne während des Schmökerns miträtseln, denn alle Hinweise, die am Ende zur Aufklärung führen, stehen zur Verfügung.
IM ZWEIFEL FÜR DAS MONSTER ist definitiv unterhaltsam und phantasievoll, aber eher leichte Kost für trübe Herbst- und Wintertage. Am besten man kuschelt sich ganz fest in eine Decke ein und hofft, dass das Monster unter dem Sofa sich nicht blicken lässt … Dana Rotter | Nautilus – Fantasymagazin
Rachsüchtige Berggeister und kriminelle Monster – bei diesen Romanen schalten Sie beim lesen besser das Licht ein!
Moderation: Björn Springorum
Die Fantasy-Verlage der Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe bringen bekannte Autor*innen im Livestream zu euch nach Hause – und ihr könnt live eure Fragen stellen.
Rachsüchtige Berggeister und kriminelle Monster – bei diesen Romanen schalten Sie beim Lesen besser das Licht ein!
Halloween steht vor der Tür, die Zeit der Hexen, Geister und Ungeheuer. Mit diesen Gestalten kennt sich der niederländische Horrorautor Thomas Olde Heuvelt bestens aus. Für sein Debüt »Hex« wurde er von Stephen King geadelt, in seinem neuen Buch »Echo« entführt er uns in die Schweizer Alpen, wo ein uralter Berggeist zum Leben erwacht.
Der amerikanische Bestsellerautor Royce Buckingham dagegen nähert sich den Ungeheuern in seinem gerade jüngsten Roman »Im Zweifel für das Monster« von der humorvollen Seite. Erlebt die beiden Schriftsteller im Gespräch miteinander und erfahrt alles über die vielen Facetten des literarischen Gruselns.
Wie immer könnt ihr uns eure Fragen im Chat schicken.
Super excited to be doing this in Munich, Germany…from my publisher’s offices!
Vengeful mountain spirits and criminal monsters – you’d better turn on the lights while reading these novels!
Moderator: Björn Springorum
The fantasy publishers of the Penguin Random House publishing group bring well-known authors to your home in a live stream – and you can ask your questions live.
Vengeful mountain spirits and criminal monsters – you’d better turn on the lights while reading these novels!
Halloween is just around the corner, the time of witches, ghosts and monsters. Dutch horror author Thomas Olde Heuvelt is very familiar with these characters. He was ennobled by Stephen King for his debut »Hex«, and in his new book »Echo« he takes us to the Swiss Alps, where an ancient mountain spirit comes to life.
The American bestselling author Royce Buckingham, on the other hand, approaches the monsters from the humorous side in his most recent novel »In Doubt for the Monster (Monster Lawyer)«. Experience the two writers in conversation with each other and learn everything about the many facets of literary horror.
As always, you can send us your questions in the chat.
After publishing several medieval fantasy books–five to be exact–I decided to return to urban fantasy, the genre of my very first novel, Demonkeeper / Damliche Damonen. And now I’m celebrating the German release* of my new novel, Im Zweifel für das Monster (Monster Lawyer).
So why write an urban fantasy about a lawyer representing monsters? First of all, urban fantasy is awesome! How fun and scary is it to imagine modern-day monsters among us? Answer: very fun and very scary. Also, writing Im Zweifel für das Monster as an urban fantasy was a natural fit for me—an organic choice. Im Zweifel is a marriage of two passions in my life—I’m an adult lawyer, and I have loved monsters since I was a little boy. There is nothing more “urban” than the law—modern civilizations are built upon it—and monsters are inherently fantastical, and so the natural habitat for a lawyer/monster story is indeed urban fantasy.
Key Seattle Sites in Im Zweifel für das Monster / Im Zweifel für das Monster Cover
A Q&A with my Publisher
Auszüge aus Fragen und Antworten mit meinem Verlag
After several medieval fantasy novels, why did you decide to write urban fantasy?
When I wrote my first novel, Demonkeeper (Dämliche Dämonen), nearly twenty years ago, I was a criminal prosecutor in juvenile court. I loved monsters and fantasy, and the young criminal defendants I was seeing in the courtroom were very real and had hard, gritty lives. So I created young fictional characters and put them in a real-life setting (Seattle), and then used monsters to represent the turmoil and perils of a hard life. It felt perfect for urban fantasy.
Now things have come full circle in my writing career, and I’ve returned to urban fantasy. Crazy as it sounds, the original young fans of Demonkeeper have all grown up! And because I’m writing adult novels, Monster Lawyer (Im Zweifel für das Monster) can be genuinely horrifying, and it is! It’s also serious and fun at the same time. Like Demonkeeper, there are societal themes to give Monster Lawyer depth, but I still weave in humor whenever I can because…well, I’m me.
Warum hast du dich nach mehreren High-Fantasy-Romanen entschieden, Urban Fantasy zu schreiben?
Vor fast zwanzig Jahren schrieb ich mit Dämliche Dämonen meinen ersten Roman. Es war recht junger Urban-Fantasy-Roman, und jetzt bin ich zu meinen Ursprüngen zurückgekehrt, denn so verrückt es klingt: die ursprünglichen jungen Fans der Dämlichen Dämonensind erwachsen geworden! Diese Geschichte ist für sie. Und weil ich jetzt Romane für Erwachsene schreibe, ist Im Zweifel für das Monster wirklich gruselig! Aber ich webe immer noch Humor ein, wann immer ich kann, weil… nun ja … ich ich bin.
Demonkeeper has a lot of humor. How is this with Monster Lawyer?
The fact that Demonkeeper was both spooky and funny is a product of my personality. I like to see the humor in things, even if those things have a dark side. I think it’s good to laugh when addressing death in particular; it helps us deal with our mortality.
It’s the same with Monster Lawyer. The idea of a lawyer representing monsters strikes me as hilarious, and the situations that arise when Daniel Becker represents monsters in legal cases are delightfully ludicrous. But the idea of representing a monster has a very serious side too. I work with lawyers who represent real-life murderers, and their representation of killers can be seen as an analogy to representing “monsters.” This serious underlying theme lends Monster Lawyer depth and makes Daniel’s character arc extremely interesting, especially because of his painful childhood relationship with the monster he’s asked to defend as a grown-up. No more spoilers, but I can tell you that Monster Lawyer is funny and sad and serious and raises lots of ethical questions. It’s truly an adult take on monstrous urban fantasy, but with plenty of immature humor to make it fun too. I hope!
Additionally, writing Monster Lawyer was a real experiment for me in mixing humor and horror. One thing I learned is that the tone of the tale can be “spooky” and funny—those two moods can coexist—but when real “horror” arrives, the humor flees the page, goes into hiding, and doesn’t come back until it’s safe—usually not until the next chapter.
Dämliche Dämonen hat eine Menge Humor. Wie ist das bei Im Zweifel für das Monster?
Die Vorstellung, dass ein Anwalt Monster vertritt, finde ich urkomisch, und die Situationen, die entstehen, wenn Daniel Becker Monster in Rechtsfällen vertritt, sind herrlich lächerlich. Aber ich habe auch gelernt, dass der Ton der Geschichte gruselig und lustig sein kann – diese beiden Stimmungen können nebeneinander bestehen –, aber wenn echter Horror auftaucht, flieht der Humor, versteckt sich und kommt erst zurück, wenn er sicher ist – normalerweise nicht vor dem nächsten Kapitel.
Most authors choose a Private Investigator or a Cop as their hero in Urban Fantasy, but you chose a lawyer. Why?
Well, yes, I am a lawyer, and it is good for me to write what I know. It gives me an interesting and genuine perspective to share, and I can create scenes for my readers that are not cliché or overused. It’s true that many stories use a cop to generate situations for action on the streets, and an attorney is more of an analyst in an office. As a prosecutor I’ve never chased criminals down dark alleys. But the real-life drama of a courtroom is incredible. I’ve tried burglaries, rapes, homicides, you name it. Serious stuff. I handled a home-invasion stabbing where one of the five defendants received a sentence of life without parole. Trying a case in front of a judge and jury and waiting during those tense moments for the verdict to be announced is a heart-pounding, emotionally exhausting experience. Now imagine you’re trying a case with monsters and, if you lose, the penalty is that you get eaten. You get the picture.
Of course, Monster Lawyer’s lawyer-protagonist, Daniel Becker, also goes into the field to track down evidence, and he has a supernatural investigator to help out, so we get plenty of on-the-scene action throughout this particular story.
By the way, lawyers are a natural fit for fantasy. They are experts on rules, and well-developed fantasy worlds have well-defined rules. So do monsters. Vampires have rules—they drink blood, sunburn easily, and only die when you shove a wooden stake through their hearts. Werewolves have rules—full moon transformations, bites that cause lycanthropy, and getting shot with silver bullets really sucks for them. As I like to say, fantasy worlds and monsters have immutable laws, and where there are laws there are lawyers.
Die meisten Autoren wählen einen Privatdetektiv oder Polizisten als ihren Helden in der Urban Fantasy, aber Sie haben sich für einen Anwalt entschieden. Warum?
Nun ja, ich bin Anwalt, und ich schreibe gerne darüber, was ich kenne. So kann ich eine authentische Perspektive vermitteln und dennoch Klischees vermeiden. Im Gegensatz zu Daniel Becker, dem Helden von Im Zweifel für das Monster, habe ich aber noch nie Verbrecher durch dunkle Gassen gejagt. Reale Anwälte sind ja eher die Analytiker im Büro. Aber Daniels Fall ist von der Art, dass man keine offizielle Unterstützung anfordern kann. Also muss er die Action-Szenen selbst durchstehen.
I recently read from my novel Die Klinge des Waldes at a medieval masquerade party. It was so much fun to play the part of my character, Duke Carni, otherwise known as the Mad Fool and leader of the Carnival District (my favorite district of 35 in the City of Filth).
Royce Buckingham has done it again. He’s penned the amazing new medieval fantasy, Die Klinge Des Waldes (Verlagsgruppe Random House – Blanvalet, Germany) due out this fall. Royce took a few minutes to talk about writing fantasy, his newest project, and how it’s connected to his best-selling Mapper Series (Penhaligon/Blanvalet).
Q: Why do you write? A: Because I have so many stories in my head. If I don’t get them out, they’ll drive me crazy!
Q: What’s your favorite genre? A: Medieval Fantasy. I used to like horror stories best. Then I had kids, and horror movies lost their luster. Teens getting killed in the woods doesn’t intrigue me now that I’m not a teen and I have a couple of them. I do still love a good monster story.
Q: What is it about Medieval Fantasy? A: I like the idea of chivalry that is associated with the (loosely interpreted) time period. I’m not sure if people actually were chivalrous, but the concept makes for good character motivation, hypocrisy, and internal conflict. The other fun I have toying with the medieval genre goes back to Dungeons & Dragons, where I learned to imagine medieval scenarios. I have a strong vision of what fantasy medieval worlds can look like.
I also like the low-tech setting. In my new novel, Die Klinge Des Waldes (BLADE to my US fans), I have an inventor who designs and builds things that I get to dream up. They seem fantastical, but possible. It’s hard for me to write sci-fi these days. With the advances in the technology of our time, it’s difficult to imagine innovation beyond what innovators are actually doing. We’ve been wowed to death by amazing tech. It’s easier for me (and fun) to imagine what might be astound people in medieval times.
Q: What’s an example of that? A: A mechanical elephant in a medieval world would be fascinating. In our modern world it would be an internet sensation for maybe a day. So when I create my mechanical elephant with flames coming out of its trunk and crossbow bolts shooting from its tusks my characters (and audience) say “how can that be?” or “that’s amazing!” instead of “huh, cool, what else is on youtube?”
Q: Where do your stories come from? A: A couple of places. One is the drama of real life–problems anybody might have like, “oh no! I’m going to get killed and I don’t want to….” That’s a real problem now and in medieval times. In fact, it was likely extra-challenging to live and survive back then. Other everyday drama can include things like “I don’t love you” and “you’re fired.”
I also ask myself, “what if?” The answer is then the story. For Die Klinge Des Waldes, I thought “What if you took a Disney princess and had awful things happen to her? How would she handle that?” The answer in my world is: not very well initially.
The ways people deal with conflict is what makes for a good story. The more challenging, the better. The struggles of a fallen princess are especially awesome.
Q: Die Klinge Des Waldes (Blade) features a strong female protagonist. In your dozen or so previous books you’ve used primarily male protagonists. Did writing a female change your approach to this story? A: The Mapper Series had a female protagonist in one book, and I enjoyed working with a female lead. Building on that experience, this character is even more well-developed. She should appeal to both men and women. Her struggles are very human and mostly genderless (such as “I don’t want to get killed”), but she lives in a world where being female has its own unique challenges.
Q: What drives your stories first–character, plot, world-building? A: It used to be the plot, but now I am more character-focused. Readers like characters. If readers love the character, they want to see what that character will do, even if the conflict is as simple as, “what’s for dinner?” For this work, I focused more on our princess’s evolution than the events around her. But of course a zebra can’t change its stripes. There are still some big plot twists!
Q: How else has your writing evolved? A: My world-building has gotten better. When you read Die Klinge Des Waldes, you experience a complete and detailed world. Having environments that are really developed is fun for readers. It’s very much like Game of Thrones, in which the world is extensive and has many distinctive characters and locations. The city I’ve created in Die Klinges Des Waldes has 35-districts, each with its own personality. It’s almost like Munich, Barcelona, Lagos, Seattle, Tokyo, and Rio all pushed together beside each other to form one big city, only its medieval.
Q: What is your favorite district? A: The Carnival District! And it’s the favorite of the city’s citizens as well–parties, performances, politics, and a crazy/brilliant Duke who runs the show. I’m pretty sure it’s also the favorite of my editors who created a blow-up of the carnival castle and circus tent on one of two beautifully illustrated maps for the novel.
Q: Yes. Tell us about the maps! They seem to be an important part of your medieval fantasy books. Can you talk about that? A: It started with my second best seller in Germany, Die Karte Der Welt (The Map of the World). My publisher, Blanvelet, asked me to sketch a map. I scribbled out an amateur diagram so they knew where the landmarks were, and they hired professional cartographer, Andreas Hancock, Bielefeld) to create a real map for the entire Map of the World series. Super cool. In my new novel, the world is so extensively developed that, even though the story subject wasn’t maps, my editors wrote and said, “I know you’re busy, but can you sketch up another amateur map of your world so a professional can draw it?”
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Q: Was that a fun process for you? A: Oh yeah. Yes! I have to admit I really dig making maps. In fact, I got a little obsessive and spent a week re-reading my entire 600 page novel to get every location right. Then I sketched it like a kindergartener…or at least a kindergartener with Photoshop. I also wrote three pages of detailed notes about the map. Random House hired a professional who translated all of the materials I provided into beautiful maps for the interior of the novel. It was awesome!
I don’t think every author gets that much creative input with their novels’ artwork. My publisher did, however, reject my cover idea. They said my concept was too polarizing, and then they sent me the beautiful cover they had already created.
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Q: What do you love about Die Klinge Des Waldes? A: I love Flora. She’s a complex person. She starts simple and becomes very complicated. It’s like watching her grow up, only there are wars and swordplay and mechanical elephants that shoot flame from their trunks.
Q: Why should other people love the story? A: It’s big and cinematic and intimate at the same time. We get to know a lot about Flora, and then we get to see her on a huge stage trying to deal with disasters, triumphs, and everyday problems, like the overthrow of entire kingdoms and spats with her older sister.
Q: What’s different about this story from others that you have written? A: This is an adult story, and so it is different than my bestseller Damliche Damonen (Demonkeeper) in the same way that Game of Thrones is different from Lord of the Rings.
Q: What’s next for you? Any new projects on the horizon? A: Yes. I am always thankful that my editors believe in my work. I am currently writing another medieval fantasy with Blanvalet. It’s due at the end of the year, and I expect will be released some time in 2019.
Q: Is Die Klinge Des Waldes going to be available for U.S. fans to read? A: I certainly hope so. I will be taking it to US publishers soon. But that’s a new blog entry entirely…. Stay tuned!
My 16 year old son just earned 1st Place for his composition in the Washington State Young Composer’s Project. While I understand that this news is most exciting to my immediate family, it reminds me of how important contests were in building my writing resume and ultimately leading to my first deal.
I started by submitting short stories to contests, wrote and submitted my first novel (which is still in my desk drawer, by the way), and then moved on to screenplays. First, I chose regional contests and then expanded to national opportunities. With each new honorable mention, second place, and outright win, I gained the confidence and inspiration to continue developing my craft.
Eventually, my entry into theAcademy Nicholl Fellowships earned a semifinal finish, which led to my first book sale and a movie deal with 20th Century Fox.
Here are the things I looked for when choosing which contests to enter:
Price:Most budding authors don’t have a ton of money to throw around. Make sure the cost is in line with the size and reputation of the contest.
Is the contest reputable?Find out how long its been around. Check out past winners. Research what others have said about it. Review the list of judges.
Exposure:Make sure success in the contest will get people to take you seriously at the next level. Also, what type(s) of promotion does the contest offer, and is there a solid web and social media presence?
Feedback: You need to hear what others think about your work. Contests that include critiques by judges are extremely valuable to improve your storytelling and evaluate whether to continue developing and marketing the story you submitted or chalk it up to experience and move on to new material.
It takes much more than a riveting story to grow a brand and successfully market titles. – Christian Smythe
With so much content out there, traditional and indie publishers are looking for innovative ways to market their authors. Christian Smythe suggests a few interesting concepts here.
Top 10 lists are all a matter of the opinion. What speaks to one person might not to another. I find them helpful, however, to see where my experiences align with others and to gain new perspective. In this list, for instance, #s 2, 3, 8, 9 and 10 resonate the most for me and are similar to my thought process and practice of writing. What speaks to you?
1. Don’t write linearly: Don’t set out to write something from beginning to end. A story is meant to be read from front to back, but not necessarily created that way. If you have an idea for writing the sixth chapter first, then start there. The epilogue can even be the first thing you put down on paper, then work your way back. Scattered chapters will eventually be filled in, and it will force you to look at the story from different angles, which may present different ideas or new approaches. You’d be surprised how well this works when a whole book starts coming together. It’s also great for getting around writer’s block.
2. Have two or more projects on the go: Speaking of writer’s block, having more than one project on the go is never a bad idea. Although focus and dedication are paramount to completing a work, sometimes you inevitably get stuck. It’s good to be able to move on to something else instead of feeling frustrated and stagnant. You don’t have to have a few big projects happening either … maybe you’re penning a novel, but also some short stories and an article or two.
3. Be your own editor: There are days where I have difficulty writing altogether, so I’ll switch to editing my stories rather than trying to create them. Never assume it is someone else’s job to fix your mistakes. Find all the errors first, and deal with them yourself. The more polished and refined your work is, the more favorably it will be received when you’re finally ready to present it.
4. Ask for (and take lots of) punishment: It is well worth finding yourself a professional writer or editor and asking/paying them to look at your work. Tell them to give you highly critical feedback with no sugarcoating. Let them go so far as to be cruel too, just so you really get the point. There is a lot of rejection and criticism involved in the publishing industry. Getting accustomed to it sooner than later is advantageous. If you want to be serious about your writing, then you’ll need to know everything wrong with your writing. Accepting and understanding the harsh realities of your shortcomings is a most important step to getting better.
5. Disconnect: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pintrest, the Internet in general … we know how invasive social media and technology is in our lives these days. We also know that it can be good for promotion, building a brand, and having an online presence. But you know what else social media and technology is really good for? Procrastination, distraction, and countless wasted hours. Being able to unplug for long periods of time is more important than you may think. All those tweets you’ve posted might have added up the word-count of half a novel by now…
6. Learn what good writing is: Honestly, there’s so much terrific writing out there, but there is also considerably more garbage as well. I’m constantly surprised by how many people don’t know the difference between the good and the bad. Art is subjective, true, but it isn’t that subjective when you remove ignorance and replace it with education. Duke Ellington said it best: “There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind”. The same applies to writing.
7. Have your own workspace: It’s trendy nowadays to take your laptop to coffee shop or bar and write in public. I even advocate a change of environment/atmosphere when writing feels stifled. But I believe it’s more important to have and maintain your own private workspace, a spot you can call your own with a desk and preferably a door you can close when you need to shut out the world in order to create your own.
8. Dedicate to the craft: Serious writing is not something you merely do if or when you can find the time. It’s not just for Sunday afternoons, or the occasional evening, or a few hours a week when you can give it some attention. Make the time, and make lots of it. Tackle the craft daily and dedicate a generous portion of your existence to honing your skills. You’re only going to get out of it what you put into it, and serious writing requires a lot of investment.
9. Time management: When it comes to the hours or days you’ve reserved for writing, make sure you stick to your guns. Consider it sacred. To most other people, your ‘writing time’ is merely ‘flexible time’. They will invariably think that you can cancel, minimize or postpone working when it suits you (or them). Tell these people that your personal work time is not negotiable; much like theirs isn’t at their day jobs. You don’t need a regimented schedule, but you do need to clock in the hours.
10. Remember the Three “P’s”: I’ll admit there’s still a hell of a lot more to say on the topic of writing tips, but what it all comes down to in the end are three things I believe writers need to remember above all else: Patience, Perseverance, and maintaining your sense of Purpose.
Here’s the link to the Messum’s column in Writer’s Digest.
Column byJ. Kent Messum, author of 2015 novel HUSK (July 2015, Penguin UK). HUSK was optioned for an international TV show by Warp Films in the UK. Messum is an author who always bets on the underdog. He lives in Toronto with his wife, dog, and trio of cats. His first novel BAIT won the 2014 Arthur Ellis Award for ‘Best First Novel.’
ROYCE BUCKINGHAM 