About Kevin Buckner:
Kevin studied Medical Laboratory Science at the University of Utah and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 2011. He is a certified Medical Laboratory Scientist, currently working as a Technical Consultant for a clinical laboratory near his home in the Salt Lake valley in Utah. He has a wife and two children. He enjoys playing games of all kinds with his family, especially the Zombicide series. He is known for liking zombies and super-spicy food. He enjoys playing his guitars and listening to heavy metal music, in most of all the many sub-genres. One thing people would not expect by looking at him is that he is also very good at knitting.
What inspires you to write?
I have always liked writing. In recent years, my writing has been inspired by dreams I have had and role-playing game sessions I have run.
What authors do you read when you aren’t writing?
David Eddings, R.A. Salvatore, Alexandre Dumas, and Edgar Allen Poe.
Tell us about your writing process.
I create a loose outline in my head of the beginning, end, and major plot points. I make up the filler as I go. Sometimes, I'll write out a more firm outline after completing a portion of the project, but I usually don't do that. I have used a notebook to outline, but have recently switched to doing everything in Scrivener. I create character sketches in Scrivener both before and during writing. If I know a character will be in the story, I'll do the character sketch before I start writing. When I introduce a new character that I didn't know about from the beginning, I'll create a quick character sketch and add to it as the character develops.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I do have conversations in my head with my characters. A lot of the time, it's because they want to do something that I either don't want them to do or hadn't planned on them doing, so I want to know why they want to do it. Sometimes, I try to convince them to do something else. It doesn't always work, though.
What advice would you give other writers?
Write the story you want to read, but also listen to any feedback or constructive criticism you receive along the way. Take any feedback as if it were meant to help you and remember, you are your own worst critic. Most of all, keep writing! You'll never finish a project you never work on.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I explored various publishers and self-publishing platforms. In the end, I decided to self-publish through Amazon because I found their royalty payments better than the other channels I had investigated. I also like that as long as I don't break their rules, they'll never take my book out of print. I would advise any author to research multiple paths to publication, though, and pick what they are most comfortable with. Writing is more of a side thing for me, so it's okay if I don't make huge sales, but others may be trying to make it their main source of income and would be better off going through a traditional publisher, who would help them with editing, marketing, cover design, and everything else that an author is responsible for when self-publishing.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think book publishing is on the rise. There are so many easy, free ways to publish these days that anyone can publish just about anything. That is going to continue, in my opinion. Book sales, on the other hand, could languish as more people take advantage of self-publishing without going through the necessary steps of rewriting and editing their work until it becomes something people want to read.
What genres do you write?: Fantasy, Sci-Fi
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
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All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
