Cover Art

June 5, 2015 / Lisa / 6 Comments

I’m not an artist, in spite of my brother once telling me I painted with words. That was the kind way of saying that attempts at drawing sucked. I even bought a book on how to draw with pencil. I mean, if I can write with a pencil surely I could draw with one. Right? That ended up being an excuse to buy some nice pencils and cool leather-bound books with parchment to hold all the drawings. Nothing was unrecognizable. And I followed the directions!

Added to the lack of drawing ability, I also am terrible at colors. No clue what goes together. When it was time to paint our house the only reason it came out good is that I got one of those little paint booklets that tell you what colors to put together. Since our house was built in 1928 I went with the ‘Historic Collection’.

With that background, you’ll understand my frustration with book covers. I have a wonderful cover artist, but she can’t read minds, unfortunately. For the upcoming Ghost Roads, I knew I wanted to hint at the mystery, I knew I wanted to tell a story, and I knew I wanted something to grab the eye. Using story elements from the book, I asked the cover artist to put a forest service road going up into woods that were on fire, with a skull or bones in the road, and a feminine shadow overlying the bones.

The theory was good.

I got the rough draft last week. I loved the way she did the fire. Everything else? Not so much. And it’s taking me a long time to figure out why, so I can tell the artist and not waste her time. I doubt she’ll appreciate things like ‘Oh, I don’t know. Something’s not quite right.’ Or ‘Could you maybe start all over?’ Or even, ‘You did what I asked for but now I don’t want it anymore’.

To avoid being fired by my cover artist, I have struggled to figure out what I don’t like about the artwork. And I’ve come up with this.

A cover should be a short story, not a novel.

I believe I’ve put too many elements into the cover. As my editor, author Susan Schreyer said, the eye doesn’t know where to look. As my publicist who’s building my website said, ‘Hey, a Nancy Drew!’ And trust me, he wasn’t saying that in a complimentary fashion. He was laughing pretty hard, actually.

I also wasn’t wild about the fonts used. My publicist thought, ‘Nancy Drew’. I went more with ‘Scooby Doo’.

I’ve responded finally to the cover artist, who was getting worried by the internet silence. After she has done all this work doing exactly what I asked for, I’m now asking her to shift it all around and remove some elements.

The thing is, I still don’t know if what I’m asking for is the right thing. After all, my idea of painting is paint-by-number. Or tracing. I can trace.

Anyway, the changes should hopefully be a short story and we’ll see how version two goes. Oh, and I did offer to pay her more since I’m being a problem customer.

What are your thoughts?

First attempt at Ghost Roads cover.

The Big ‘Why’?

May 22, 2015May 22, 2015 / Lisa / 3 Comments

Typically I have no problems coming up with story ideas. And typically the question ‘what if’ sends me gleefully off to the writing space.

With book three waiting only on cover art, two manuscripts that need heavy revising, a stand-alone story just starting the first draft process, and a current editing job, I am busy with words. Yet I need to start book four and this time I only have a glimmer of an idea, which is a first for me. Another first is that I’ve tried out some ideas, floating them to my editor and friend, author Susan Schreyer, who has very kindly given me feedback. Most aren’t going to work. I’m not surprised because even as I was telling her my ideas I felt no bubble of excitement. You know, that urge to rush gleefully to your writing space. Instead I shuffle around and look for dirty laundry, dirty dishes, or as an extreme last resort, dust bunnies.

You know how it is when you try too hard to pin an idea down, and it squirts out from under the pin and jets away? That’s how this current idea is acting. And instead of the ‘what if’ question that has always, in the past, spurred me on, I’m finding the following word taking up a lot of space in the writing brain.

Why?

I’m trying to figure out why someone would deface or vandalize a memorial to a group of miners who died in a mine fire. I’m looking for a deeply personal reason that will tie past to present, and goes beyond the simple act of protesting what either the memorial stands for or the mining business.

If I can figure out who would do that act, I’ll have my reason. But then I pause and think, well, if I have the reason then I’ll have the character. I’m currently stuck in the loop – if I find out this then I’ll have that, but I need that to find out this.

Probably what needs to happen is that I stop talking, stop worrying, work on the other writing projects, and let this idea ‘daydream’ its way through my subconscious. A walk in the woods, where I can just let thoughts go and let that inner writer wander as well, will also help.

In the meantime though, I’m wondering, why?

The following photo, from wikicommons, is of the Sunshine Memorial, near Kellogg, Idaho. The miner is surrounded by ninety-one miniature headstones, each with the name of a miner who died in the mining disaster of 1972. I was down in the Sunshine mine just a few years after this fire and have a healthy respect for anyone who can do that job.

A Sunshine miner

The Theme of Blurbs

April 26, 2015 / Lisa / 2 Comments

I’m struggling to write a cover blurb. You know, those little bits on the back of a book that make you want to read it. I swear the dang things are harder to write than the whole novel. They have to do so much with so few words.

One of the things they must at least allude to is the theme. Or maybe it’s the premise. I get them confused. So yesterday I went back to scraps of paper all writers have. Where you hear something, read something, think of something…and jot it down with no idea what you’ll do with it later. I am really bad at not also jotting down the source. So unfortunately I can’t attribute the following quotes to the very wise person who wrote them. I do know they came from a book on writing.

‘Theme is the central concern of the story, gives it focus, and is the invisible thread linking elements of the story.’

‘Premise is linked specifically to the conclusion, the truth proven by the story’s events and ending, often reflecting the protagonist’s journey of understanding and can be summed up in a simple statement – one character must be changed by what the premise proves. The premise and ending must always reinforce each other.’

You’ll notice that the explanation of ‘premise’ has a lot more words than the explanation of ‘theme’. I believe that’s because a writer is more aware of the premise while writing. It’s a tool used to tie all aspects together. The theme on the other hand, typically doesn’t show up until the edit process. Or for some, like me, four books into a series. When the thought bulb suddenly lights up and you realize that your stories all see to have the same underlying meaning. Plus, premise is usually explained in at least one complete sentence, where theme is typically explained in one or two words. A phrase maybe, if you’re lucky.

If I have an idea of the theme, and know the premise, those two tools give me the words that I know must be included somehow in the cover blurb.

The following statements and questions also help craft the blurb.

‘Is the protagonist ever in danger? Failure to solve the problem must seem to promise disaster.’ If you know the danger, the solution, and the disaster, you’ve pretty much got your key words for the blurb.

‘The inciting incident creates the first goal, upsets the balance, and is needed in act one.’ If you go back to the opening, find the inciting incident that starts the whole story rolling, then most of the time that also gives you the opening of the blurb.

So with all those tools and wonderful suggestions at hand, is my cover blurb done, perfect, and ready to grab readers?

Not even close.

But at least I know what one should look like if I ever finish one.

Here’s the view from the back door this morning. Much nicer to spend time gazing upon, than looking at empty pages with the nagging thought ‘finish that blurb!’.