Sandra started this week's chain with the question: During National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), writers attempt to write 50,000 words in 30 days. Do you set daily writing goals for yourself,
either a certain word count or time spent on writing? Does this include
other writing-related activities, like research, plotting, or revising?
Do you focus on reaching the end of the journey (such as finishing your
current project), or do you enjoy the writing process along the way?
Having read Katrina's preceding response to this chain, I have to say--I'm not that different from her, though I don't even have the great excuse she has! My kids are nearly grown (one a senior in college, the other in high school) but between my responsibilities as a professor of graphic design and deputy chairperson, my freelance book cover design business, figuring out how to promote my forthcoming book, BREAKING GLASS, and everything else, my writing is sporadic. I do, however try to write every day, even if it's just tweaking the same dang paragraph over and over.
Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I get on a roll and I can spew out three or four chapters in a day. Last month and this month, my concentration has been sorely tested--first by the sale of another book to Spencer Hill Press, VISION, for 2014, then by some crazy stuff at work, THEN by Superstorm Sandy, which though it didn't affect my electricity, basically shorted out my brain for an entire week. Then came Election Day--so now, this Saturday (after posting a day late) I am feeling like I may have things back under control. Now the words are beginning to flow again.
At my best, I can knock at an entire first draft in two weeks. I actually did this with BREAKING GLASS back in June 2011. My good friend and critmate, Kate Milford challenged me to finish the ms I was basically nursing for six months and had only gotten to chapter 8. Well--in two weeks I DID finish that baby. And, to top that, I wrote the entire first draft of VISION in the month of January 2012. So, for me, I guess the question is focus. For LIFE AND BETH, the old ms I am completely rewriting, I'm having some gnarly plot issues, which, I am hoping if I can wade through, I can wrap this baby up before the year's end.
This is for Michelle. Hang in there, Hammy!
I now turn this blog chain over to my good friend and fellow "hamster" Michelle McLean, who is knee-deep in some serious output. I'm hoping her little hamster legs can keep running at the same crazy pace! She needs bionic hamster feet!!!
What you're about to watch below is a sped up version of the full cover for EXTRACTED taking shape before your eyes. It is composed of about 25 high resolution images on 57 different layers put together in the program Photoshop. In Photoshop a layer interacts with the layer below in very specific ways, sometimes blending or inverting and sometimes masking parts of the image you want to hide. I am continually learning new tricks! Working in Photoshop is a little like being a wizard as you can make almost anything your mind can dream up a reality--and create something that surprises even you.
Now that you'd watched the cover unfold, want to know a little about the amazing EXTRACTED?
The
Tesla Institute is a premier academy that trains young time travelers
called Rifters. Created by Nicola Tesla, the Institute seeks special
individuals who can help preserve the time stream against those who try
to alter it.
The
Hollows is a rogue band of Rifters who tear through time with little
care for the consequences. Armed with their own group of lost
teens--their only desire to find Tesla and put an end to his corruption
of the time stream.
Torn between them are Lex and Ember, two Rifters with no memories of their life before joining the time war.
When
Lex’s girlfriend dies during a mission, the only way he can save her is
to retrieve the Dox, a piece of tech which allows Rifters to re-enter
their own timeline without collapsing the time stream. But the Dox is
hidden deep within the Telsa Institute, which means Lex must go into the
enemy camp. It’s there he meets Ember, and the past that was stolen
from them both comes flooding back.
Now armed with the truth of who they are, Lex and Ember must work together to save the future before the battle for time destroys them both…again.
Now, you may think I'm silly, but my cover even makes me want to read this more.
A cover designer strives to encapsulate the essence of the book into a memorable design combining distinctive images and typography. To do this, the artist must take the time to try and understand the atmosphere and style of the book as well as the target audience's tastes (since this is a marketing essential). A good cover creates a sort of "brand" for the book and constructs a framework for the reader to immerse themselves in. Authors understand this instinctively, and if the result is to their liking, are happy to embrace the artist's work as representative of their own creation. As an author myself, it is the greatest honor when another writer feels my design exemplifies their work.
If you want to learn more about my cover designs and follow new releases as they are revealed, you can visit my Facebook cover designer page at:
http://www.facebook.com/LisaAmowitzCoverDesigns
If you are interested in my forthcoming books from Spencer Hill Press,
BREAKING GLASS, July 2013 and VISION, May 2014 you can visit my Facebook author page at:
A
thousand years ago, two young lovers were betrayed--Alger Waterlow to his
death, and Hanalea, Queen of the Fells, to a life without love.
Now, once again, the Queendom of the Fells seems likely to shatter apart. For
young queen Raisa "ana'"Marianna, maintaining peace even within her
own castle walls is nearly impossible; tension between wizards and Clan has
reached a fevered pitch. With surrounding kingdoms seeking to prey on the
Fells' inner turmoil, Raisa's best hope is to unite her people against a common
enemy. But that enemy might be the person with whom she's falling in love.
Through a complicated web of lies and unholy alliances, former streetlord Han
Alister has become a member of the Wizard Council of the Fells. Navigating the
cut-throat world of blue blood politics has never been more dangerous, and Han
seems to inspire hostility among Clan and wizards alike. His only ally is the
queen, and despite the perils involved, Han finds it impossible to ignore his
feelings for Raisa. Before long, Han finds himself in possession of a secret
believed to be lost to history, a discovery powerful enough to unite the people
of the Fells. But will the secret die with him before he can use it?
A simple, devastating truth concealed by a thousand-year-old lie at last comes
to light in this stunning conclusion to the Seven Realms series.
Cinda blogs with me over at the Enchanted Inkpot, and I was completely unfamiliar with her work until this past
summer. But one day at Barnes and Noble I recognized the name and decided to purchase
the DEMON KING, the first book in the Seven Realms series. That was in late
August. Since that day, less than two months ago, I have blazed through all
three books in the series (THE EXILED QUEEN, THE GRAY WOLF THRONE). Given my rabid obsession, Cinda kindly took pity on
me and sent me a copy of the forthcoming CRIMSON CROWN, the fourth and
(final—man I wish it wasn’t) book in the series so I could review it. I devoured
it in a day and a half. All 596 pages!
I am not usually an avid reader of high
fantasy, though I am a great lover of Tolkein and GRACELING is a personal
favorite of mine. But beyond that, I tend to stick to urban fantasy, paranormal
thrillers and dystopics. Yet, somehow, improbably, THE DEMON KING hooked me
immediately. It may have been the alternating POVs between wily pauper and
street thief, Han Alister and the independent-minded mixed blood heir to the
Gray Wolf Throne, the impetuous Raisa ‘anna Marianna.
Chima is some kind of grand-master
world builder. It’s as though she herself is a weaver of the same magic she
describes, constructing the world of the Seven Realms, so thoroughly and solid
in its details, you can imagine yourself there. Chima’s Seven Realms is a world
of magic, cruelty, clashing cultures and danger. It’s as full of political
intrigue as any spy thriller. And it is also, at its heart, a beautifully
moving love story—a tale of love denied, and love at last realized. The series
can be brutal, filled with the cruel acts of the heartless blue-bloods committed
against the hapless peasantry. The scrappy resourcefulness of the
irresistible Han Alister, who born to nothing, claws his way up from the filthy
streets of Ragmarket to the pinnacle of society, and straight into a princess’s
heart, will keep you riveted. In a nutshell—this series is EPIC on a grand scale.
But while it is epic, it is also
detailed and full of the minute observations of intensely thorough character
building. It is rare to find such a rollicking adventure, filled with so much
nuanced human interaction and their complications. Cinda William Chima’s
characters are neither all good nor all bad, in my opinion, one of the series’
great strengths. Nothing is black and white. In Chima’s villains there is good,
and in her heroes, ruthlessness and a willingness to make hard choices. There
are many characters whose true intentions are a mystery, such as Queen Marianna,
the dashing young wizard Micah Bayar, Reid Nightwalker, Cat, the street waif, Fiona, Princess Mellony, and the embittered Adam Gryphon. It’s not really clear
until the end whom the true villains are. Even the arch nemesis of the book,
the ultimate villain of the Realm, the Demon King himself, is not what he
seems.
The CRIMSON CROWN is a breathtaking,
action-filled and heart-rending conclusion to a thrilling series. And for me,
under the adventure, fantasy and world building is the very large and full
heart of this writer, who is clearly telling us something about our own world.
I can go on and on, but I think it’s
time I give Cinda a chance to speak for herself. Please excuse me if my
questions range from the esoteric to the extremely lowbrow. I’m trying to ask
questions no one has asked her before!
Cinda,
I detect a fair amount of allegory in your series. We have very diverse and
intolerant cultures squabbling amongst themselves in the Realms for centuries,
until finally an open-minded queen steps forward to try to bring them together.
There is Han Alister’s tale, the destitute thief who fights his way into the
upper-crust of society, finding it even more treacherous than the dangerous
streets of his criminal past. Also, there is the lie—the false myth on which a
thousand years of enmity is based—the tale of the Demon King.I won’t give that secret away, but tell us,
Cinda, what are some of the themes you are touching on in your books? What’s on
your mind?
I’m a strong believer in the notion
that theme comes from story and not the other way around. In other words, story
comes from the desires of characters and not the desires of the author. That
said, certain themes surface in my novels over and over. For example, how we
are often imprisoned by history and so commit the same mistakes over and over. I
do believe that unfettered power corrupts, which is why my wizard characters
are so often arrogant and corrupt. I’m fascinated by how resilient some people
are—in real life and so in story. Han Alister is a character who survives many
setbacks and tragedies, and somehow finds a way to move forward.
What
cultures influenced the different peoples in the Seven Realms? What geographic
terrain inspired the landscape?
In order to be believable, a fantasy
world has to be coherent and integrated—all the elements of setting have to
work together. So when I developed the mountainous queendom of the Fells, I
thought about what kind of people would thrive there, and how they would make a
living. They wouldn’t be farmers primarily, because agriculture is difficult in
that terrain. And so they’re miners, and metal-workers, and artists.They have to be traders, because they trade
for products they can’t produce themselves. The clans owe a lot to indigenous
peoples everywhere, but especially to the First Peoples of the Americas.
Fantasy landscapes are, of course,
based on the real world. It’s those sensory details from real life that make the
world real to the reader. I have never been to the Seven Realms, but I’ve been
to the Canadian Rockies, and to Yellowstone, and to New Zealand. I use
photographs, journals, and memories from travel to build new worlds.
Now for the lowbrow gushing fangirl
question: What actor would play Han Alister in a movie? How about Raisa? Micah?
Amon? (Can you tell how attached I am to them?)
I’m not going to be able to help out
much there, though I often get sugestions from readers. I have so little
knowledge of popular culture, I’m the family joke. I think it would be cool if
the cast were made up of relative unknowns, so that the actors could more
easily inhabit the skins of my characters.
Han’s street lingo is one of my
favorite aspects of the book. It so clearly defines his character and also
tracks his transformation from guttersnipe to the most powerful wizard in the
Realm. Someone once asked you on your website where the slang comes from. Can
you elaborate for us?
Most of the Ragmarket and Southbridge
street slang is drawn from actual 17th and 18th century
British thieves’ slang, or cant. There are dictionaries online and in print of
thieves’ cant. Here’s a link to one site I’ve used extensively. http://www.pascalbonenfant.com/18c/cant/
The important thing with dialect and
slang is to use a light hand—otherwise it gets annoying. One of the challenges
with Han’s speech is that it changes over the four books. Gradually he loses
some of the structures and slang characteristic of Ragmarket cant, and begins
to develop speech that can serve him at court.
I know you have another series, the
Warrior Heir Series. Can you tell us about this?
The Heir Chronicles is a contemporary
fantasy trilogy set in Ohio, beginning with The Warrior Heir. I began writing
this series when my sons were 13 and 16. I wanted to write something they would
enjoy reading, and so I wrote a story about a high school student in Ohio who
learns he is among the last of a guild of magical warriors being hunted by
wizards to play in a deadly tournament known as the Game. I’m currently writing
two more novels in that series.
Okay—I just have to ask this. You say
on your website that the CRIMSON CROWN is the last book in this series. Does
this mean, that perhaps there is another series with the same characters in
your future? You mentioned on your website that this book was inspired by an
unfinished adult fantasy you’d written. Are you finished with our friend Han
Alister, or has his story only just begun?
I have no specific plans to write more
Seven Realms books. As soon as I mention more books, people are writing to me
asking me when they’ll be released! I guest the best answer is that there are
many stories in the Seven Realms, and I would not be surprised if I ended up
back there again. But I’m currently working on two more Heir Chronicles novels.
Thank you for stopping by, Cinda. It was a total pleasure to have you, and I am already engrossed in THE WARRIOR HEIR.
If you'd like to learn more about Cinda and her books, visit her at:
These days, so many popular YA and MG books become movies. It seems to me sometimes that the YA community is sort of like a movie think-tank, fermenting the best ideas for adaptation. And of course it's every writers' dream to see their movie on the big screen. (After all, it's like the movie is already in our heads, right?)
People's opinions on this vary. Many refuse to see a film based on a movie until they've read it, and just as many read the book after. Movies increase readership, no matter how you slice it. And of course, there are those that say the movie can never measure up to the book.
I personally can't think of too many instances that are more successful than Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. I can't even imagine the pressure on the film-makers not to disappoint their loyal fans. And I think the verdict is in--the Harry Potter movies cemented the series place as a classic of the early 21st century. And I haven't met too many people who would complain that the Hunger Games movie was a failure. The casting, in my opinion, was pure genius--and so, another dynasty was born. In fact, my own daughter who at age 16 had never had the faintest interest in the books that I gobbled up so voraciously I had to ration my reading time, went ahead and read all three books nearly as quickly. So did so many of my college age students. In fact, my graphic design tutor, a young man in his early twenties, was so taken with the series, that after seeing the movie, started dressing just a bit like Katniss.
But, in the wrong hands a poorly done movie can be devastating and embarrassing. A good example of that is the Eragon movie. It really could have been done so much better. Another one that I found disappointing was Bridge to Terabithia. I hadn't read the book and found the movie to be totally different from the way it was marketed.
And guess what I'm not going to be talking about. Yep, that's right. Twilight.
So how about you? What are some of your favorites? Clunkers? What book would you like to see on the big screen? The book I would love to see as a movie is The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater.
So please check out Katrina Lantz, who precedes me on the chain, and Michele McLean who follows me (and will probably be posting like now, since I am late).
Just wanted to give you a heads up. On Tuesday, on the release day of her final book in the Seven Realms series, THE CRIMSON CROWN, I will be posting an exclusive interview with Cinda Williams Chima!
I was asked by my friend Christine Fonseca (aka The Energizer Bunny) to participate in this blog tag event detailing what we are all working on, so here goes.
What is the working title of your book? Exceptional Where did
the idea come from for the book? From my life What genre does your book fall
under? young adult magical reality Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie
rendition? hmmm. no idea!
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? A ghost in the art closet haunts an insecure artist geek Will your book
be self-published or represented by an agency? I have an agent How long did it take you to
write the first draft of your manuscript? I haven't written more than seven chapters! What other books would you compare
this story to within your genre? Oh, um. My own book--Breaking Glass? Who or What inspired you to write this
book? I always wanted to rewrite my own sorry high school experience from an adult perspective. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? Romance? Mystery? Clues in the art closet?
I've been a graphic designer for many, many years. As a matter of fact, my day job is teaching graphic design at Bronx Community College where I have my students create their own cover designs. But it's only been recently that I've delved into the world of cover design myself. After getting the the amazing opportunity from my publisher, SPENCER HILL PRESS, to design my own cover, I've gone on to do quite a few more for them. The above cover for the forthcoming book, AWOKEN, is the first of the SHP covers to be revealed. Expect more to come.
Cover design, the way we do it at SHP, is a fascinating process. At SHP, it's a collaboration between the editor, the author and me. We really listen to what the author wants and try to represent the spirit of the book as authentically as possible. It's an incredibly exciting process. In some cases, I've only been given the blurb, as in the case with AWOKEN. In other cases, I've read the whole manuscript. It really depends on how long it takes me to grasp the fundamentals of the book.
It took a lot of comps for me to get this book right. I really had no idea how to portray this rather complex tale. Below, I've posted the final comp that became the cover you see above. What we do is find low rez images from stock photography houses and play around with them until we capture the right mojo. I've yet to set up a photo shoot, though SHP is open to that possibility. I guess it's my roots as an illustrator that drives me to combine multiple images to get the effect I am looking for. And of course, the final touch is the typography, something all my students at BCC know I am absolutely adamant and exacting about. (I give some of them type nightmares). For the final, the high rez images are purchased, and then the cover has to be rebuilt from scratch to look as similar to the comp as possible, and of course, cleaner, crisper and better.
If you want to see more of my cover designs, and keep up to date with new work as it is released, you can check out my page on here, or visit my Facebook designer page at: http://www.facebook.com/LisaAmowitzCoverDesigns?fref=ts
This is the final rough comp made of low rez images.
You can even see the stock houses watermark if you look closely enough.
I used to be of the mind that character names are extremely
important. I have always chosen mine very carefully, probably even more
carefully than I named my own children. Names do shape personality, so, to that
end, I always thought, a character’s name is critical.
For instance, in my very first book, a book I have buried in
a very deep dark hole never to be unearthed again (even my agent begged me to
let her read it and I wisely refused) I still love my character’s name. The mc
was named Will and basically, his name was a pretty concise characterization of
his personality. He had a very strong Will! And you know what his love
interest’s name was? Faith! Oh, but the book was a hot mess. I couldn’t even
tell you what genre it was.
I have two other characters from shelved books whose names I
love so much, that one I am bringing one of them back in a different book. That
would be mysterious and stormy Xavier. Man, I love that name, and I love that
character! The other character whose name I felt fit the sweet gentle soul of a
poet was Mateo. And because I love that character and the name to go with it, I
do plan to bring him back.
But, my favorite character name is the mc of my forthcoming
book, Breaking Glass. That would be the ironic and troubled Jeremy Glass, and I
have to say, his name came before anything else. It just seemed to fit.
But do names really matter all that much?
When I first
started reading the Hunger Games, I just couldn’t wrap my mind around those
names! Katniss Everdeen?? Peeta? Gale for a guy? They were just so odd, and
seemingly random. And now they are household names. In a lesser book, they
might have been borderline ridiculous.
I am currently reading a wonderful fantasy series by Cinda Williams Chima *psst--interview coming in a few weeks* called The Seven Realms series. The main characters have
complicated, almost clunky names that bothered me at first. The male main
character is named Han, and the female is named Raisa. I don’t particularly
care for the names as they are not every lyrical or descriptive in my opinion.
However, after the third chapter, I ceased caring. Han, simply became Han.
Though the name told me very little about this complex mc, eventually, his
multi-faceted character defined the name!
And what about Harry Potter? I don’t believe there is a book
I can site with better and more appropriate names. Severus Snape? Please,
someone do better than that. Delores Umbridge, is perhaps my favorite. The
names add color and wit to the tale, and enhance the whimsical world of JK Rowling.
So, the verdict? Write a great character and weave an
excellent tale, and the name will come to fit the character rather than the
other way around.
For further reading, here are some links to other articles
on character names.
