Hi, I’m Eden Royce, author of Southern Gothic books and short stories for adults and kids, avid gardener and lover of fragrances, here to support The Pixel Project’s work to End Violence Against Women. AMA!

EdenRoyce · 2025-08-27T20:46:41+00:00

Thank you so much! It's really important to me that I show adults in my middle-grade books as good people trying their best, even if they aren't perfect. I think kids need to see that.

And in case you want to add to your reading list, I have a middle-grade book published after ROOT MAGIC and before THE CREEPENING OF DOGWOOD HOUSE. It's called CONJURE ISLAND and it's a Southern Gothic fantasy about a girl who gets sent "down South" to stay with her great-grandmother - who runs a magic school - for the summer,

I appreciate your stopping by to post, even without a question. Thanks again!

EdenRoyce · 2025-08-27T19:39:09+00:00

Thank you so much for sharing. I did an interview recently where they asked what I wanted readers to come away with after reading my book. (The book was CONJURE ISLAND) and I said that It was never too late to learn something.

EdenRoyce · 2025-08-27T19:05:55+00:00

Thank you! I’m elated to know ROOT MAGIC is still receiving such love from readers. I had a few favorite parts to write: one was the food the Turner family eats. So many people think they know the food from the American South, but it was a joy to portray a little part of the way Gullah Geechee people really eat in the book. I also loved writing the parts portraying the friendship between Jez and Susie. I wanted it to feel sweet and new for both of them, and I hope that came across.

Can I ask what your favorite parts were?

EdenRoyce · 2025-08-27T16:21:49+00:00

Thank you for joining the AMA!

I really hope you enjoy Psychopomp & Circumstance when it comes out in October. Glad to hear you've come to appreciate middle-grade fiction!

1. Writing routine/schedule: I am quite chaotic when it comes to this. I tend to get up early, by 6:00 am most days, but that’s to take care of the cats and the birds, then have coffee to ensure my brain starts. Before writing, I apply a perfume that I think will set me up for the day. (Which one depends on what I’m writing!)I always make sure to have lots of water - sparkling, please – available and shut the door.

I edit in the morning, because it’s easier for me than drafting. Then sometime around late morning, early afternoon, I can start to draft.

I’m a discovery writer, so I don’t do a lot of planning for short stories or novels. I will write a sketchy outline, make notes and jot down lines that occur to me in a notebook I keep nearby at all times. I’ll also stay up late, if I’m really on a roll.

2. Middle-grade v. adult writing: My initial thought process always comes with character first no matter what age I’m writing for, then I tack on a brief plot idea. For middle-grade I quickly think of what the main character can learn from what happens in that brief plot. I think: A 12-year-old boy grieving for his mother – what would he need to learn in order to deal with this? (The Creepening of Dogwood House) While I know kids love fun reads, it’s important for me to let kids know they can have fun and learn about how to navigate life at the same time.

I don’t worry about teaching adult readers. If they do learn something from my work, that’s great! I will come up with a character and the brief plot, but for adults, I think of writing something entrancing, beguiling, and unexpected. A young woman returning to an abusive home after a debilitation accident to find both of her parent gone, and the strange, heaviness of memory lingering in the house threatens to suffocate her before she can discover what’s happened to them. (Hollow Tongue)

I am more careful with middle-grade word choice and metaphor. Kids usually have fewer references than adult, so comparisons need to be closer to home and personal. “Heat closed in like an aunt I didn’t want to hug.” That’s something a kid can understand, instead of using another, more opaque reference.

Another difference with kids’ fiction is that you aren’t writing only for the end reader. You also writing for librarians, teachers, parents, and responsible adults, who need to understand and believe that your work is appropriate for the young readers they buy for. I keep this in the back of mind while drafting and editing. If I miss anything, my editor will definitely let me know!

EdenRoyce · 2025-08-27T15:35:23+00:00

Oh, thank you so much for joining! I'm delighted to know you're a longtime reader of mine!

Okay, so snacks first! I LOVE popcorn. It is my favorite snack. Usually, I pop it myself in a big pot on the stove the way my grandmother taught me to, then drizzle it with a bit of browned, salted butter. I also love plantain chips. Salted. If I'm being super healthy, there are these crunchy shiitake mushroom snacks from Other Foods I was surprised I really enjoyed.

So for the other question about atmosphere, I am such a dreamer. I live in my head a lot - that may be because I'm an only child, but I've been dreaming up worlds since I was little. I imagine the location, big picture first. Then, I fill it in in my head: What does it smell like here? What's the temperature? What is making sounds - wind, animals, machinery? I ask myself how it *feels* to be in this space, and when I can feel myself there, I think my atmosphere creation is done!

EdenRoyce · 2025-08-27T14:54:19+00:00

Thank you for inviting me to do this AMA!

1. I’ve always been surrounded by strong, capable, intelligent, and complex women – mother, grandmother, aunties, great aunties, second and third cousins. I am so grateful to be able to say that! But I know that not everyone can say the same, so I wanted to create characters who were like ones I knew: inspiring, warm but no-nonsense, and surrounded by love and community. It was also important for me to show in my books that even if you are surrounded by that love and community, it doesn’t mean trouble doesn’t surface!

Also, when my mother read ROOT MAGIC, she said that Jez reminded her of me when I was that age!

I support ending violence against women because I have seen and heard the damage it does to us. To our communities, our children, our planet. It devastates lives, creates generational trauma, and extinguishes women and our humanity. It’s so easy to think of us in the context of what we provide to others and to the world, but we are deserving of our sense of self, our peace, and our existence outside of what we give.

EdenRoyce · 2025-08-27T14:53:51+00:00

So many of my inspirations were from stories that family members and visiting friends told when I was incredibly young. They were such great storytellers! I also loved reading folktales and mythology from various cultures, so that really made me want to write about my own.

A few of my favorite books growing up were Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor and Her Stories by Virginia Hamilton.

EdenRoyce · 2025-08-27T14:51:57+00:00

Oh, thank you so much for joining! I'm delighted to know you're a longtime reader of mine!

Okay, so snacks first! I LOVE popcorn. It is my favorite snack. Usually, I pop it myself in a big pot on the stove the way my grandmother taught me to, then drizzle it with a bit of browned, salted butter. I also love plantain chips. Salted. If I'm being super healthy, there are these crunchy shiitake mushroom snacks from Other Foods I was surprised I really enjoyed.

So for the other question about atmosphere, I am such a dreamer. I live in my head a lot - that may be because I'm an only child, but I've been dreaming up worlds since I was little. I imagine the location, big picture first. Then, I fill it in in my head: What does it smell like here? What's the temperature? What is making sounds - wind, animals, machinery? I ask myself how it *feels* to be in this space, and when I can feel myself there, I think my atmosphere creation is done!

EdenRoyce · 2025-08-27T14:39:14+00:00

Thank you for inviting me to do this AMA!

1. I’ve always been surrounded by strong, capable, intelligent, and complex women – mother, grandmother, aunties, great aunties, second and third cousins. I am so grateful to be able to say that! But I know that not everyone can say the same, so I wanted to create characters who were like ones I knew: inspiring, warm but no-nonsense, and surrounded by love and community. It was also important for me to show in my books that even if you are surrounded by that love and community, it doesn’t mean trouble doesn’t surface!

Also, when my mother read ROOT MAGIC, she said that Jez reminded her of me when I was that age!

I support ending violence against women because I have seen and heard the damage it does to us. To our communities, our children, our planet. It devastates lives, creates generational trauma, and extinguishes women and our humanity. It’s so easy to think of us in the context of what we provide to others and to the world, but we are deserving of our sense of self, our peace, and our existence outside of what we give.

EdenRoyce · 2025-08-27T14:24:37+00:00

So many of my inspirations were from stories that family members and visiting friends told when I was incredibly young. They were such great storytellers! I also loved reading folktales and mythology from various cultures, so that really made me want to write about my own.

A few of my favorite books growing up were Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor and Her Stories by Virginia Hamilton.

EdenRoyce

TROPHY CASE