Tag: Author Royce Buckingham

Great Writing Retreat Reveals for Children’s Authors

When I returned from the SCBWI’s Weekend on the Water writer’s retreat in Dumas, WA last month, I dove back into the hustle and bustle of my day job, sports carpools, parenting, and an onrushing deadline for my latest 500 page project for Random House-Germany, Princess Assassin. It’s due Dec 1st. Am I panicking? The answer is “absolutely.”

Despite all this life happening to me, I have a moment to share some great stats and insight I learned from Chelsea Eberley at the retreat. Chelsea is an editor for Random House Books for Young Readers, which is a big reason I decided to attend the retreat. Coincidentally, I write books for young readers, and I have more stories for young readers to tell. I appreciate Chelsea’s time and insight and want to share some of it with you.

If you ever wondered….here are the Page Counts/Word Counts for different types of children’s books:

  • Board Book: 100 words; 1-2 words per page.
  • Picture Book: 400-800 words; 24, 32, 40 pages.
  • Beginning Readers: 32 pages or 48 pages.
  • Chapter Books: 8,000-11,000 words; 100 pages.
  • Middle Grade: 30,000-50,000 words; Protag 10-13 years old – kids want to read their age or a little older.
  • Young Adult: 60,000 – 80,000 words; Protag 14+ years old.
  • New Adult: 60,000-80,000 words; Protag 18+ – early 20s and in college.

Other tips:

  • Avoid “Manufactured (artificial) Urgency”
  • *Avoid an unnecessary prologue (*I star this one, because this was Chelsea’s comment on my piece).
  • Avoid opening with dialogue. Who’s that talking???
  • Avoid jumping in with a fight scene. We don’t care who wins yet!
  • Climactic scenes should (at least) have logic and the main character.
  • Take a moment to describe the setting.
  • Wounded characters need time to heal. Duh.
  • Climactic scenes should be tightly edited to convey urgency.

Here’s a Good Exercise to Try: Pretend the scene is being used as a cover quote, and read it aloud.

And finally, some parting words and advice from Chelsea…

  • “I don’t expect perfection, just forward momentum.”
  • How to respond to editorial letters: “Thanks for your notes. I understand them. I’ll think about them and get back to you by _____.”
  • If you disagree with the editor, say: “I feel strongly that…”  “My priority is…”
  • Avoid these responses to an editor: “No!” “I’m the writer.” “Who in the world gave you a fine arts degree?”

While it is hard to take the time out to attend conferences and events, the connections made are excellent. The information that I have shared above is uber-useful (like a reasonably priced ride on the path to publishing) and, as important, not copyrighted.

Additionally, the opportunity to talk personally with an editor who is in tune with current trends and willing to take the time to discuss my very own current story pitches is invaluable.

A big thanks to Western Washington’s Chapter of SCBWI and Chelsea!

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The Great Cover Design

Designing book covers is fun! I’ve always thought so but have not been so intimately involved in the process until recently. I’m working with ePublisher Gere Donovan Press to bring my best selling German series, Mapper, to the United States. We decided to expand the three book series into six parts for U.S. readers. Here’s the visual process we went through to come up with our final (and awesome) designs!

In August, Gere Donovan sent me this image with the idea that the cover would stay the same for all six books but with different titles.

Clansmen Cover Idea 1

It didn’t win my team over – spoiler, there is no giant spider in my story – it was a little busy for the eye, we wanted different cover images for each book, and there was something oddly familiar about the illustration. Upon some research, I discovered that it was the same image used for Author/Illustrator Walter Moers’ book, A Wild Ride Through the Night.wild ride through the night

 

 

The illustration is in the public domain, as it’s one of hundreds of engravings created by Gustave Dore. That got me thinking…

….I looked up Gustave Dore and found other images. Did I mention there are hundreds?

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‘Hello, Photoshop!”

Blackpool Cover Idea 3

While I messed around on Photoshop, I conducted a highly scientific survey of friends (a one-line Facebook post) about the proposed book cover from Gere Donovan. Many liked the artistic look of Dore’s work. But my team and I wondered…”will it sell books?” I recalled once talking books with THE buyer for a major retailer who said definitively, “I can tell if a book will sell by its cover.” 

2014 Washington State Sasquatch Award Winner for Middle Grade Books
2014 Washington State Sasquatch Award Winner for Middle Grade Books

She then looked down at the copy of my soon to be released book The Dead Boys. Let’s just say she did not immediately place a big order. (Insert sad face here and shameless plug – if you loved the new series Stranger Things, you will also love The Dead Boys.) Anyway, back to the Mapper Series covers. My team decided to experiment with something more modern-looking.

 

We raided iStock and other photo sites to find some images with cool looking knights and came up with these.

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We kind of liked them. But some of our friends from the follow-up Facebook survey thought they were boring. Too traditional.

We probably spent way too much time on this process (but hey, I was having fun) and then decided we should have a conference call with Scott from Gere Donovan. We fretted about letting them know that we weren’t sold on their first idea (the Gustave Dore image). But we shouldn’t have been so worried. Five minutes into the call, Scott said he was really happy that we didn’t like the cover! Upon reflection, he had already decided he didn’t like it either. Phew! After further discussion, Scott suggested that we could use more modern images and cited some trends he’d recently noticed in book covers. We liked his thoughts and, after several rounds of shuffling images between six books, Photoshopping, and further extensive surveying of our beta viewers, we loved what they came up with!

Oh…and by the way, they are Kindle-ready by by clicking here!

Enjoy!

 

 

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Take a Month to Save a Year: My Advice to Writers at the 2016 PNWA Conference

I just had the opportunity to speak to a room full of people who, like me, love to write. I spoke at the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association’s annual conference which feels like a homecoming of sorts since I first attended in 1996 as an aspiring writer. My career has come a long way in 20 years – 11 published books and counting – so I was excited to share some time-saving tips with my audience. Special thanks to PNWA for including me as a presenter this year!

Here’s the great group of folks who attended the presentation, “Take a Month to Save a Year”. 

royce at pnwa 2016

Some of them have asked if I would share my notes with them , so I have attached my outline below. Enjoy!

Royce Buckingham_Take a Month to Save a Year_PNWA 2016

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me. 

Contact

 

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Entire Demonkeeper Series Available in U.S.

At long last, fans in the U.S. can order up the entire Demonkeeper series, which topped the bestseller charts in Germany!

You can purchase them for your eReader by clicking on the links below,  then dive into a fantastic urban fantasy where, if left unattended, demons cause all sorts of trouble.

Links for Demonkeeper:
Amazon – Apple – Barnes & Noble – Kobo

Links for Demoneater:
Amazon – Apple – Barnes & Noble – Kobo

Links for Demoncity:
Amazon – Apple – Barnes & Noble – Kobo

What are reviewers saying about Demonkeeper? Click here.

I am curious to know your opinion. Please take a moment to complete the short poll below.

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I am Leading a Few Writing Classes in the Very Near Future

Friday, October 9, 2015 from 10:30am to 12:30pm

Only two days to register for Studies in Plotting: Focus on Mystery and Horror! Come armed with your favorite scary or suspenseful novel. We’ll discuss what “grabs” us about these books, the components of a great mystery and what ALL writers can learn about plotting from this format. For grades 7 to adult, this is part of a free writing workshop series being offered at the Woodinville Public Library. The link to register is here.

Saturday, October 16, 2015 from 9:am – 1:45pm

Before spending a year of your life writing that children’s book, be sure you have a plan for success. Join me for Children’s Writing – a Plan for Success at Fairhaven Village Inn in Bellingham. In this class I’ll lead discussions on creating concepts, choosing which ones are viable, developing them into useable synopses and organizing yourself before sitting down to write.

Registration is through Whatcom Community College

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Encouraging Children to Become Storytellers

I recently came across this article I wrote for Carolina Parent about encouraging kids to be storytellers back in 2010 and thought I’d share it with you. The ideas are pretty timeless, and I actually continue to use many of these when I visit schools. I am currently on deadline, so I have decided to keep my calendar clear of school appearances until after March 30, 2015.  

Until then, here’s a link to the article. Enjoy!

 

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