Royce Bond Writing Tips

Royce Bond, published his first book, Kitchen Science, with Ashton Scholastic after he won the prestigious National B.H.P. /C.S.I.R.O. Science Teacher’s Award. This book was used in schools throughout Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia, and in some schools in South America. Many books in the science field followed.

Since his retirement, he has changed his writing to young adult fantasy novels. The Princess and The Pirate, the first in the series The Knights of Katesch was published by Morris Publishing Australia in 2013.

Royce’s writing tips are based on his second book in the series, The Summoning of One.

ABOUT THE SUMMONING OF ONE

Andrew Weatherby, a bullied computer nerd from Central Queensland is ripped from his world to lead The Knights of Katesch in their direct attack on Maligor the Destroyer. In the midst of the battle in Mountain City, he rescues princess Katarin to find he has been betrothed to her since birth.

This feisty young lady risks her life to save Andrew. The Knights believe that have finally defeated Maligor after ten thousand years of conflict. In an attempt to escape the fanatic red guards seeking revenge for the death of their god, Agmar accidentally releases a monster army: the Kazdoom.

WRITING TIPS WITH ROYCE BOND

Five writing tips based on writing “The Summoning of the One.”

1. Day dream the overall story outline before you start

When I get a seed of an idea on a new story I spend a lot of time day dreaming this story. I mainly focus on the overall outline. I write this down and over a few days to even a few weeks I keep imagining what happens overall in the story. During this time I often develop a mental image of what my main characters look like and what their personalities are like. This outline acts like a skeleton on which I hang the rest of the story.

2. Use personal experiences as a basis for some of the scenes

I try to incorporate some of my own personal experiences into the story. This way I can pull on the emotions I felt at that time. For example in “The Summoning of the One” the main character Andy is attacked by a gang of bullies, who hold a knife, baseball bat and star picket. In my life I was attacked at school by bullies with hammers.

3. Choosing the personality for the main characters

I visualise what my characters look like. Then I decide what sort of personality they will have, and how this personality will change throughout the book. The way I do this is I watch people. I mostly watch people I know and family members. This way I know how they react to various circumstances and stresses. I then take parts of a variety of people’s personalities and mix and match them until I have the traits I want for my characters.

4. Begin the story with a bang, (action, or mystery, or both) and end each chapter with a hook

Writing a book is much like fishing. No fisherman goes out without bait or a lure. The first sentence of your book is the hook in the reader’s brain. I try to start my books with action or mystery. Then at the end of each chapter, I put in another hook that makes the reader to want to turn the page and keep going.

5. Use instrumental music to switch your brain on to writing

Before I begin writing a book I need to find an instrumental piece of music that has the feel of my story line. For example I use the instrumental music from the first “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie as a key to creating the writing atmosphere I need to write my series “The Time Warriors.”

Inspiration for writing

I began daydreaming about fantasy adventures when I was 7 years old and started working on market gardens with my family. I didn’t start writing fantasy stories until I was in my mid-fifties, so I had many decades of daydreaming to fall back on for my stories.

Why did I change genres?

I changed from writing science for children and teacher resources to fantasy, because I felt I had stories in my mind that wanted to be told. I am firmly of the belief that stories control the writer and not the other way around. A story teller is someone who can’t help him/herself, he/she has to tell stories.

Our whole lives are bathed in stories and it is the story teller who can take these and create a coherent whole, so someone else can read them. If you are a story teller, you have to tell stories, whether it be as a book, or orally, you simply can’t help yourself.

I have always been a story teller. My writing of non-fiction was like an apprenticeship in writing. In was during those years that I learned my craft. Even though at that time I was making good money with my science books and I was travelling the country free of charge (paid by the publishers) I felt dissatisfied.

I eventually cancelled my contracts, because I didn’t want money to be the motivation for me to write; besides I loved being a teacher. There were other reasons as well.

I began to write fiction, with no hope or plans for publishing, I just loved the joy of writing, creating and sharing with my own children. I now had no deadline pressures, no editors to worry about; I could get lost in my own world and enjoy it.

I am now back to that position and I am loving it. I am free to write what I want, when I want and even to stop writing for a while, so I can get immersed in another interest. I am currently making bamboo flutes and the act of making these is inspiring me to write a fantasy story about an apprentice bamboo flute maker.

I have one book to finish, “The Hunter.” It’s a sequel to “The Knights of Katesch.” Once it is completed and my children have a copy I will begin “The Flute Maker.”

Royce Bond

WHERE TO BUY THE BOOK

WHOLESALE AND RETAIL ORDERS:

Dennis Jones and Associates – http://dennisjones.com.au

James Bennett library suppliers

Peter Pal library suppliers

http://www.morrispublishingaustralia.com

eBook available on Amazon, Smashwords and many online stores.

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