Crafting the Cover

A timely topic for me this week as we just released book two in my Sorcerous Moons series, ORIA'S GAMBIT, which was a bit later going up than originally planned because we were tweaking the cover.

Okay - because I asked for a huge change after I saw the final cover. Here's the story.

See, I'm still new at designing my own covers. With my traditionally published books, like The Twelve Kingdoms and The Uncharted Realms, the covers are presented to me as a fait accompli. I get a little input at the beginning, but that's it. Because I'm publishing the Sorcerous Moons books on my own, I work with my cover artist, the amazingly talented and infinitely patient Louisa Gallie to come up with just the right cover.

We started with me sending Louisa the draft of the book. She read it (one of the perks for her, she claims) and sent me some initial sketch ideas.

I liked all of them, but none felt exactly right. This is the hard part for me. I have a really hard time envisioning what I think it should look like and communicating that.I kept coming back to look at them over several days and ended up saying:

I think none of these really sing to me, though I totally see what you’re going for. I like the action of #1, though not the exact pose. LOVE Chuffta flying and flaming and I like that background. I also like the background of #2. What about this? What about a pose similar to #2, but in her rooftop garden, with them at kind of a tense standoff and Chuffta flying and flaming above? And maybe she should be in her mask? It doesn’t have to be a scene directly out of the story. Though another thought could be something from the testing scene at the end. I’m just throwing stuff out here....

Louisa replied:

So, something like the pose of 2 but with the tilted, actiony angle of 1, Chuffta, and the background from 3? Trying to get the image straight in my head.
I can put her in her mask, it would work for a tenser scene if we can't see her expression. They're described as smooth and featureless but I seem to remember cheekbones mentioned. So would her mask be shaped with the contours of a face (cheekbones , nose, browbone) but without eyes or lips?

We went back and forth a bit and she worked on it from there and next sent me these sketches:

I still wasn't totally on board, though I wasn't sure why. I was finding that I couldn't get closer to knowing what I wanted by seeing what I *didn't* want. Louisa sent me a new sketch with this caveat:

My clients are never supposed to see this stage of a sketch, but as we're exploring...

I could turn him like this? I did increase the tilted view simply because two people standing side by side, facing the same way, can get boring quite quickly, and it adds some drama. I think maybe I'd want to angle him more behind her just to add some more depth and so they still look far apart (although technically it creates less distance between them on the canvas, which helps with a vertical aspect ratio.

Hear that crazy artist talk? I was all, sure, what you said. Though I pointed out that he should probably be holding the axe in his right hand.

Turns out that's easy to flip! She sent me three more sketches, along with this explanation:

Ok, I've sketched the amended poses out properly, and there's a flipped version so the axe is in Lonen's right hand. I think it maybe looks a bit better the original way, but it's really not much difference either way. So your call!
The only small difference between the two versions here is whether their hands have actual canvas space between them. They're not actually touching in either but if they're just barely not-touching, then technically their hands should overlap because of where Lonen is standing. It does also let me bring them closer together and make the figures a little....but looking at them now, there's no real huge difference. It's a tiny detail and I'd be ok with either.

I was liking it and we went with the flipped version. She sent the next sketch to let me know she was making progress and would be refining details.

I gave her a few thoughts and she sent the almost finals.

At this point I discovered I'd missed something along the way. Enough time had lapsed that I'd forgotten I'd asked for her to wear the mask! I'd been thinking her face just wasn't done and now... well, the mask looked creepy. Also I remembered that Lonen has a scar on his face! I said:

So, what I said about the scar: They locked eyes and wills. His, densely fringed with black lashes, were a dark gray, like the granite their sister-city to the north, Arvda, sent in trade. Surprisingly lovely, they would have made him look feminine but for the angry line of a recent scar that dragged from his forehead, skipped his eye, and continued down his cheek. Nearly missed losing that eye to whatever had sliced at him, something thin and sharp by the look of it.
 Lonen lay on his back, face relaxed so the scar that cut from his forehead, over one eye and down his cheek didn’t pull to the side as it did when he was awake. More scars criss-crossed his chest and concave belly—funny that her sgath didn’t show them.

As for the rest – looking good! Love how the title/fonts look.

Her left, upraised hand looks funky with the way her fingers are spread – can we bring them together?

Also, I think the mask needs to be smoothed. I’d forgotten that we’d talked about her wearing the mask and I was all wtf is wrong with her face?? Lol. So *I* didn’t see that it was a mask, so I think we need to make it more mask-y. A blank oval might work better to make this more obvious?

Can we add a moon to the sky? Either is fine. Maybe too hard with the text and Chuffta, too.
 And it there’s any way to make her hair look more copper (maybe there isn’t) that would be great.

At least she didn't kill me. That was still to come. She said:  

Ok. I really tried with the mask but a plain blank mask, or even one with eyes and no other features, looked totally bizzare. At a normal distance it looked like she had no face at all (like we'd forgotten to add it) and even when zoomed it it just looked weird and at best, sci-fi.  So, I did my best to smooth out the features and make it more metallic so it looks more mask like. What do you think?
Moon did conflict with the text and Chuffta so it's partially behind a cloud, but still there!
I adjusted her hand and gave her hair more coppery metallic tones.
 Unless theres' anything really critical (or really really tiny) this is all the time I have more changes, as I'm on a train after work tomorrow. I'll have a little time at lunch or first thing before work if there's anything very quick.
I'll upload the high res files now, crossing my fingers they're ok, and send you the links! 

And here's that cover: 

And... people - Louisa did an amazing job! But I *hated* the mask. I showed it to a few people and they all used variations of the word "offputting." We were at the drop-dead mark for getting the book released on time, Louisa had killed herself to get this finished by the deadline and was going away for the weekend. 

This wasn't tiny.

But I also didn't want to put it out there with an offputting cover. 

I emailed Louisa with the bad news and she exercised that infinite patience. Five days later, Oria had a face. 

I'm really pleased!

And now we're starting on the cover for book three, THE TIDES OF BÁRA. I'm sure Louisa is breathing a big sigh of relief, as I just approved the very first sketch.

About the Book

A Play For Power

Princess Oria has one chance to keep her word and stop her brother’s reign of terror: She must become queen. All she has to do is marry first. And marry Lonen, the barbarian king who defeated her city bare weeks ago, who can never join her in a marriage of minds, who can never even touch her—no matter how badly she wants him to.

A Fragile Bond

To rule is to suffer, but Lonen never thought his marriage would become a torment. Still, he’s a resourceful man. He can play the brute conqueror for Oria’s faceless officials and bide his time with his wife. And as he coaxes secrets from Oria, he may yet change their fate…

An Impossible Demand

With deception layering on deception, Lonen and Oria must claim the throne and brazen out the doubters. Failure means death— for them and their people.

But success might mean an alliance powerful beyond imagining…

Amazon

Smashwords

The Character I'd Love To Write

Confession time: I really don't want to write any characters but my own. Yes, I enjoy the heck out of other people's books and there are characters I LOVE...but I don't want my version of their world and continuing story - I want the actual, original author's plot. And not as continued or extended by anyone else...

When I was a kid and there was a world I longed to be a part of - Trixie Belden maybe, or Robin Hood or Tom Corbett Space Cadet - I wrote myself into their worlds (fan fiction before I even knew such a thing existed!) as a character of my own.

I've thought and thought about this post all week, trying to come up with somebody's existing character I could honestly say I wanted to write stories for and the best I could do was Eomer from Lord of the Rings. I wanted a LOT more of him (but how much of that had to do with Karl Urban I'll leave up to you...)

Now I really liked Marcella's idea yesterday, of taking someone real and wanting to tell their story...but as soon as I do that, my brain starts adding science fiction and fantasy elements and that's kind of how I started writing my Gods of Egypt series in the first place. I don't want to be be tied to reality or anyone's actual life.

I would enjoy being invited to write my own story with my own characters in certain authors' worlds, as I've mentioned (probably too often!) in the past, but the blog topic for the week wasn't "what other worlds do you want to write in"...

As far as characters in my own books, I've been wanting to get to the story of Khevan the D'nvannae Brother and Twilka the Socialite, supporting characters in Wreck of the Nebula Dream, and What Happened Next. I even had the plot pretty much figured out but I just never had the motivation to sit down and write it. Last week I finally figured out that if I wasn't writing, it wasn't the right story so I challenged myself to take a totally new tack and - there the adventure was! I've had readers asking me for more about Khevan and Twilka since Wreck came out in 2012, so I'm hoping people will enjoy it. Nick and Mara do have a role to play in the action.  The goal is to publish the book before the end of 2016.

I also want to tell a new story for Mitch, the sergeant in from Escape From Zulaire  but I'm still listening for the Muse to give me the right challenge for him to tackle.

And Edekh, the Chief Scribe in the palace of my Pharaoh in ancient Egypt, really needs his own book but again, waiting for the Muse to deliver more details.

What character in a book have you always wanted more of?

WIsh I Had, Wish I Could

This week's question has two possible translations, I think. What characters would I like to have written. And: What characters would I like to write. Both easy answers. Characters I wish to all the gods I had written? These guys.

Badly enough that my first SFR (which shall never see the light of day) was far too easily identifiable as a Firefly wannabe. When I love something, I'm apparently REALLY good at mimicking the voice of it. Which, turns out, might be the fast track to a copyright infringement suit, not to mention all kinds of wrong. Too bad there's not a living to be made pretending to be one of the writers I love - but they all doing just fine being them.

This then leaves me with what I would like to write. Someday. I would like to do some serious research and then some serious dramatization of this lady's life:

Then Hatshepsut. First queen, and then pharaoh. Her reign was one filled with peace, and prosperity. The arts flourished. So did the economy. But it all clearly came a cost, with many enemies made along the way. I'm fascinated by her and by the questions that arise surrounding her rule - was it a means by which she protected the throne for her son? Or was it a power grab? A clear usurpation that merited the treatment she was given after she died with her name chiseled off monuments? Erased from history and from the afterlife altogether? So many questions beg a huge, long list of stories. She intimidates me for that reason. I don't know if I'll manage her story or not. But I sure would like to.

Who Else Would I Write?

You know, I love writing the Maradaine books, and I have a bunch of other stuff in the back of my mind beyond those books.  I've got plenty to keep me busy for years to come.

That said, if I got the call from DC to, say, take over Green Arrow, I'd be all over that.  I mean, if you've read The Thorn of Dentonhill, the idea that I'd be into writing a bow-wielding vigilante isn't too surprising.

Yeah, that'd be pretty awesome.

That said, I've got plenty on my plate, including finalizing The Imposters of Aventil, and a few more things in the hopper that I'll be telling you about soon.

Until then, into the word mines.

The Character I'd Like to Write: The Classic Villainess Medea

Once upon a time back in college, I took a class in which we had to re-write famous stories into short stories told from the perspective of a lesser-known character. So.Much.Fun. The assignment that sticks with me is rewriting Euripides's Medea. I think I picked one of the boys to be my POV character for the class, but, man, I really wanted to tell Medea's story from her POV starting at the beginning--like the pre-Jason beginning. I contend that it's totally possible to make her a sympathetic character if given her own agency independent of the patriarchy filter.

Yes, I realize I just said that about a woman who murdered her children seemingly to spite her husband. That's after she sent a poisoned wedding dress and crown to the would-be bigamist's would-be second wife. Which is years after she hacked up her brother's body so her then-crush, Jason, could escape with the golden fleece.

Hey, there are people who cheer for Cersei Lannister too. Just sayin'...

That's probably why I tend to write strong female characters who can easily be viewed as villainous if the story is told from anyone else's perspective.

The Character I'd love to write.

So many choices...

Limiting it down to one?

The Creeper.

Who's the Creeper, you ask? He's a character from DC Comics.

Jack Ryder is a reporter in Gotham City. Once upon a time he ran across the wrong bad guys, a mad scientist and a Halloween costume. The end result its that when Jack Ryder touches a device planted in his arm, he becomes the Creeper.

So what it is about the Creeper? He's a good guy with just a slight twist of the Joker thrown in to add to madness. He MIGHT have some DNA from the Joker. he MIGHT have a few supernatural twists. He definitely runs toward the crazy side and he can be horrifically violent. I ask you, what's not to love?

The Creeper was created by Steve Ditko, the very same gentleman who created Spiderman along with Stan Lee. He is disturbing and off the rails in the best possible ways. There is so very much I'd like to explore about him and so many tales I would love to tell. I think he could be a unique Gothic hero in Gotham of all places. A chap who handles the things that Maybe Batman doesn't get around to seeing. And that says a lot as Batman is the world's greatest detective.

Oh, and in a pinch I'd gladly work on Batman. :) Or the Joker for that matter.

The Character I'd Love to Write? Phèdre!

Our topic this week among the Seven of us SFF types is The Established Character We'd Love to Write.

Because, of course, all writers start out as readers (or they should), and we're all fangirls and fanboys at heart. In fact, I'd wager that many writers conceive the first spurring desire to *really* write something (as opposed to playing around with stories about our pets) from reading a story, world or character that lit us up. I think this is why so many writers get started by writing fan fiction. Yes, it's easier to play in a world with characters someone else has created - but also that love is what sparks enough fuel to do the work.

(Writing is hard work, whether fan fiction or creating your own worlds. Never believe anyone who says otherwise.)

There are a LOT of established characters I'd love to write. Or wish I'd written, which comes out to about the same thing. In fact, I suspect a lot of my writing is me working out how I would have written certain characters or worlds.

But today I'm picking Phédre nó Delaunay of Jacqueline Carey's absolutely brilliant Kushiel series.

Full confession: not coincidentally I read these books only a year or two before I got serious about writing my own fantasy. Thus I do think of this character as a spark that finally gave me enough propulsion to do the hard work.

Why Phédre?

First of all, at that time (book one came out in 2002), there were few epic fantasy novels or series with a fully gratifying political and mythological sweep that featured a heroine as protagonist. The initial trilogy centers on Phédre - told in first person point of view - and the story is about her journey. She's not a partner or an accessory. In fact, the male characters, while heroic in their own ways, are accessories to her story.

That electrified me.

(I can't tell you how many epic fantasies I set aside over the years because I wearied of reading about men romping about doing interesting things while the female characters barely registered as more than cardboard props.)

Also, Phédre is a sexual being. She's a courtesan. She's also a spy, a brilliant linguist and an skillful navigator of tricky political waters. She is all of these things at the same time. Her sexuality is integral to who she is - and is a strength that allows her to triumph. Love love love.

Finally, Phédre possesses a kind of unshakable integrity that I admire in my heroes. She always fights to do what's best, even in the face of others' disdain or dismay. Her internal compass leads her unfailingly. Not that she doesn't doubt, not that she doesn't suffer tremendous setbacks - but she always sticks with what she believes to be right, even if the people she loves most disagree.

Amazing series. Amazing character. Amazing world.

Oh! Also, I'll be at WorldCon this week. Check here for my schedule!

Networking Plus A Cover Reveal

Networking IS my superpower...as others have also said this week, not the kind where you attend functions and hand out business cards, but the everyday interaction with people, conversations, helping someone out, receiving assistance, just getting to know who to call or message to ask a question...I love the "people part" of any job or pastime.

About two years in on the old day job at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab I got assigned a desk in the Acquisition Division providing a contracted service which literally every area of the Lab utilized at that time. It was crazy busy and nonstop. The first day I counted 300+ phone calls and went home with a blazing migraine. The next day I came in with a plan and got organized. I got to know people on all the Projects and in every Division, at all levels. I helped them, they helped me, we all had a common purpose to support NASA. I became an expert on the subjects involved in that contracting area and served on committees and special projects where I met more people, acquired new skills and had more fun. (NOTE: JPL is a pretty exciting place to work in general, cool stuff happens there daily.)  That job became the foundation for the rest of my career at the Lab, doing a lot of other things, and it didn't hurt that no matter what the question or issue was, I knew who to call. (No, not the Ghostbusters...). Maybe I wouldn't know the ultimate authority or decision maker but I guarantee you I'd know where to start the chain of calls or e mails and I would get the answer.

I'm having similar fun in the author world - although not supporting NASA directly any more LOL. (Will always be a NASA geek.) My latest project (yes, now we're seguing to the cover reveal) is a really fun anthology involving science fiction romance, with pets thrown into the mix as part of the plots. Pauline B. Jones and I, who met through the Science Fiction Romance Brigade (which our SFF7 Jeffe told me about in the first place and Marcella invited me to join once Jeffe introduced us - networking at work, TYVM, ladies!). Pauline and I became fast friends in recent years - our devious minds work alike mwahahaha - put the anthology together and invited seven other authors we knew, who we thought might enjoy the challenge, added a very worthy charity and voila!

Here's the press release!

Pets in Space

Out October 11th, 2016

Even an alien needs a pet...

Join the adventure as nine pet loving sci-fi romance authors take you out of this world and pull you into their action-packed stories filled with suspense, laughter, and romance. The alien pets have an agenda that will capture the hearts of those they touch. Follow along as they work side by side to help stop a genetically-engineered creature from destroying the Earth to finding a lost dragon; life is never the same after their pets decide to get involved. Can the animals win the day or will the stars shine just a little less brightly? New York Times, USA TODAY, Award Winning, and Bestselling authors have nine original, never-released stories that will capture your imagination and help a worthy charity. Come join us as we take you on nine amazing adventures that will change the way you look at your pet!

10% of profits from the first month go to Hero-Dogs.org. Hero Dogs raises and trains service dogs and places them free of charge with US Veterans to improve quality of life and restore independence.

A MATE FOR MATRIX: CYBORG PROTECTION UNIT

By S.E. Smith (New York Times/USA TODAY Bestselling Author) Matrix Roma is a member of the elite Zion military Cyborg Protection Unit. Matrix gets more than he bargains for when his cyborg partner, a hybrid Wolfhound named K-Nine, goes missing and ends up finding a mate for Matrix in the middle of a deadly mission on an unknown planet called Earth.

STRAY

By Susan Grant (New York Times/USA Today Bestselling, and RITA Award Winning Author) Interplanetary Marine Lt. Lukas Frank has a lot in common with a street dog named Bang-Bang; they both started off as scrappy orphans fighting to survive—and beat the odds. Things change when Bang-Bang leads Lukas to starpilot Capt. Carlynn Riga. The tough war hero learns what it means to surrender — his heart. Lukas’s struggles with PTSD threaten to tear the three of them apart, but nothing threatens them more than when Carlynn goes missing on a mission. Can a scarred marine and his unlikely canine partner find Carlynn and bring her home, or will he lose everything he’s finally found worth fighting for?

SPARK OF ATTRACTION

By Cara Bristol (USA TODAY Bestselling Author) Memory: intact. Cognitive function: enhanced. Emotion: erased. After becoming a cyborg, Captain Dante Stone didn’t think he’d ever feel again, until a traumatized young woman and a ball of synthetic fur named Sparky helped him to love.

STAR CRUISE: STOWAWAY

By Veronica Scott Cargo Master Owen Embersson is shocked when the Nebula Zephyr’s ship’s cat and her alien sidekick, Midorri, alert him to the presence of a stowaway. He has no idea of the dangerous complications to come – nor does he anticipate falling hard for the woman whose life he now holds in his hands. Life aboard the Nebula Zephyr has just become more interesting – and deadly.

THE REAL DRAGON

By Pauline Baird Jones Emma Standish didn’t think her day could get any worse. Her dad is marrying his boss, her dragon suddenly came back talking and typing, and it’s her fault the Earth, or at least ten square miles of Texas, is going to be destroyed. That’s what happens when you forget something very, very important. Luckily for her, she’s got the love of her life that she can’t remember and her dragon by her side. Who needs to worry when you’re having a day like this?

STARDOG

By Laurie A. Green Navigator Taro Shall has a mission no one wants – find a way to eradicate snakes on a starship. He never expects to find the answer to his problem in a charming street vendor named Adini. His already unusual mission becomes more complicated when he suddenly acquires an adorable StarDog that soon sweeps him and Adini into the maw of a brewing insurrection.

SPIKE

By Alexis Glynn Latner Young Roboticist Ten Jaxdown has to deploy, and possibly sacrifice, the swarm of investigative robots that he has invented and cares about more than anything else in the star system. It may be the only hope for those depending on him and his robots to save them. Yet, even as frantic preparations for the unprecedented deep-space rescue mission are set in motion, it could all be threatened by sabotage. Anastasia Steed is an intrepid young mission designer. She steps forward with an idea that can improve the odds of the mission. Neither she nor Ten expect the assistance they receive from a very unusual pet. A pet that will bring together two alienated human beings who didn’t realize they needed each other. Can Ten and Anastasia discover who is behind the sabotage, save the mission, and discover what is evolving between them? With a little bit of unusual help, anything is possible.

SPACE RANGER

By Lea Kirk Graig Roble is the Senior Commander of security for the Guardian Fleet. His expertise as a weapons specialist and combat master is his world, what he was born to do – or so he thought until he finds his resolve and focus inexplicably wavering. Even returning to his position aboard the Atlantis can’t save him; if anything, it has left him questioning his own motives. He never thought that could happen until he met Simone Campbell. Simone's focus is on her home world - Earth. She thought her life was full with her research as a botanist.....Graig's gift of a puppy to keep her company does more than that, it keeps him in her dreams. How can such a simple gift bring her comfort and make her long for more? Graig and Simone are about to find out that sometimes love can blossom from the smallest, furriest ties.

ESCAPE RUN

By Carysa Locke Teegan’s job as a hunter is to track down the Talented, those driven insane by their gifts. She and Ember, her psychically gifted fox, have tracked dozens of people for Cole, the man who works to rehabilitate and recover these troubled souls. When one of Cole’s most dangerous patients escapes, Teegan and Ember are on a hunt that could prove fatal if she doesn’t keep her focus on her mission. Unfortunately, Cole is proving one distraction that might make this her last hunt if she can’t do that. Can Teegan keep her heart and mind in the game long enough to save an entire planet’s population, or will her distraction lead to heartache – and possibly death for everyone?