Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Royce Buckingham. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Royce, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
I am currently a full-time fantasy author. Becoming a working author has been an incredible “peaks and valleys” journey. I loved stories and movies when I was a kid, specifically fantasy and horror. I saw Jaws when I was 8 and Alien when I was 13. I was scared to death. I was also amazed that a story could make me feel an emotion so strongly (fear). I read every Stephen King novel and played Dungeons and Dragons. I still have the original boxed set of basic rules from the first year D&D came out. I am from that 70s-80s era when fantasy/horror exploded. I was then an English Literature major in college and essentially studied stories for four years. But I needed a career! You can’t “practice literature.” At least that’s what my careful parents told me. I went to law school, where I learned to write really friggin’ well–every word mattered. I took an undergrad creative writing class while in law school, and one of my short stories was published in a literary magazine. This was pre-internet when getting published anywhere was very hard and a big deal. This was also an “ah-ha!” moment. I thought, “I’m an artist! I can do this!” So then I wrote stories while working as a lawyer…for 13 years. I didn’t know it, but I was getting my 10,000 hours in. This is the “paying your dues” part. Then overnight (after 13 years), I sold my first book to Penguin. A couple weeks later I sold the screenplay to 20th Century Fox for six figures. I also took a job with Xbox to write a storyline for a video game. I was FLYING. Then the Xbox game got canceled. The movie didn’t get made. I had kids and a mortgage. I crawled back to the law office vowing never to quit my day-job again. Then one of my novels became a bestseller in Germany. Whaaaat? So, for the past fifteen years I’ve been writing for Random House in Germany. I was even on a German TV show. My editor in Munich is the German editor for George RR Martin of Game of Thrones fame. So cool. I’ve written medieval fantasy and urban fantasy and a legal thriller and a fantasy legal monster horror thriller for them. I’ve written on spec and on assignment. I kept track of the salary equivalent of my writing earnings, and I always made more as a lawyer, in large part because of medical and pension benefits. So I kept the day job for decades and wrote 15 novels on the side. Once I secured my pension, I quit that law job, and now I’m writing full time and drawing a pension to pay for boring junk like medical insurance. Anecdotally, I was in a screenwriting group with a friend who was on a parallel path, and he made the choice to quit and write full-time early-on. We often compare journeys, and there are benefits to each. He is a Hollywood screenwriter who continues to do well. I am a novelist with 15 books with Big 5 publishers who is secure and can pay for medical insurance and college tuitions at overpriced schools for two boys. The way to speed up the process, clearly, is to quit working the day job and write full-time from the start. I was a big chicken and didn’t do that. I’m happy and secure, but with the success I’ve had, it’s pretty clear I could have been even more successful if I’d taken that chance. No regrets though. I see a lot of artists struggle and live poorly while trying to make it. I didn’t. I’ve always had a lawyer salary (and a house that’s paid off) to support my creative endeavors. Caveat: not everyone can juggle a full-time job, family, and be an artist too. I’m lucky to have high energy, drive and family support. Other tips – become an expert in your area of art, network with others in that area “in-person,” be a professional, be nice to everyone, attend conferences, and, again, put in your 10,000 hours becoming good at your thing!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I have written 15 fantasy novels as Royce Buckingham, which is my actual name (I get asked this a lot). Most of my novels are initially released in Germany where I’m a bestseller. I got into the business of writing fantasy as a “middle grade” author with Penguin (Putnam), and I have three monster stories in English for 8-12 year-old range (though adults read them too). I am very proud of these books, and they are available online. They are: Demonkeeper (3-book series), The Goblin Problem, and The Dead Boys (voted best middle grade book in Washington State). I’m working on finding a U.S. publisher for my other German novels, especially Monster Lawyer, an adult series about a lawyer who represents monsters. Super fun, funny, and horrible in the best way. This series has also made the rounds in Hollywood, and we’ve been working to find a producer to turn it into a tv series. More info about all of this can be found at my website is roycebuckingam.com.
My brand: Fantasy Author/Screenwriter
My clients: readers, publishers, tv and movie producers
My start: children’s fantasy novels
Have you ever had to pivot?
As an author, you must be ready to pivot. I’ve had 3 of my editors fired, and each time your editor at the publishing house gets fired, you get fired (unless you are a big author such as Stephen King). So I’ve been let go twice from publishers and once from Xbox, when the game for which I was writing a story was canceled. The ANSWER to these obstacles was to pivot. I did a “work for hire” deal to get in with another publisher. I began writing adult books when I didn’t get a new children’s book contract. My wife once said, “it’s a climbing wall, not a ladder.” The path is not straight. You must be willing to go backward, around, and even fall and start over to find a new way up! I had intended to be a screenwriter initially, but when I sold both my novel and my screenplay, the publisher offered another book and the studio did not offer another script deal. So, suddenly I was a novelist! Not what I was going for, but okay, let’s see where that goes. And here I am decades later with 15 books. George RR Martin famously couldn’t get his fantasy stories made in Hollywood as a screenwriter, and so he left Hollywood to write books, and…Game of Thrones. To bring it full circle, I’m shooting a short movie this summer. :)
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
When you’re young, people will tell you to “follow your heart.” Okay, that’s fine advice to get you going and make it fun to begin with (and it should be fun), but I had to unlearn that and get practical about my approach to actually have a writing career. I saw a sign in a cubicle once that said “Follow your heart, but take your brain with you.” I love that. That says exactly what I mean here. You cannot only write what you love. You also need to “write what you know.” You have to learn “what audiences want.” You have to “kill your darlings.” You cannot be too proud to take criticism or to backburner what you love in favor of something you can sell. I don’t mean that you need to “write to the market,” but you should have directed passion, not blind, flailing passion. Art for consumption, such as fiction, is a pact between you and your audience. It’s not journaling. And yes, there are exceptions, but exceptions are rare by definition and usually not a career. To end on a positive note: you can learn to be a good writer. Yay! You don’t need to be born with it. So for anyone whose passion or talent isn’t enough to power the rocket, you can be a technician, a hard worker, or even a hack who is good at marketing and still play in this sandbox. :)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://roycebuckingham.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roycebuckingham_author/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorRoyceBuckingham/
