Maria Yrsa Rönneus's Blog, page 7

Quagmire

The classic ‘Mission: Impossible’ theme has been playing in my head for a few days now as I have been writing the last chapter of ‘House of Rose’. No, Dear Reader, it’s still not an action book but, a male romantic lead that’s a CT-SFO (Counter Terrorism Special Firearms Officer) begs for at the very least a measly car chase, lest the story will turn out about as sexy as a eunuch. Since we obviously can’t have that, I have tried to write one. I’m not a reader of action, I’m not a watcher of it either. Whether I’m much of a writer of it remains to be seen, but I’ll admit to having struggled.
It’s surprisingly slow work to write a high speed chase by the way.

That’s all I’ll reveal about the plot, Dear Reader, but I thought you might enjoy a glimpse of the setting. ‘House of Rose’ takes place in and around Liverpool. The Wirral is a wedge-shaped peninsula created by the Mersey and Dee estuaries. This whole area is suject to strong tidal forces and during ebb the mudflats expand for miles. The Westernmost tip of the peninsula is Hilbre point and Red Rocks, which overlooks the Hilbre Islands. They’re little more than three tiny cliffs really, but the scenery is beautiful, wouldn’t you agree, Dear Reader?

Thanks to youtubers Paul Hughes…

…and manonabeach journeys…

…we can get a pretty good idea of what it looks like.

With that, Dear Reader, I shall return to my work and wish you a Happy Monday!

(Disclaimer: Above mentioned youtubers are in no way affiliated with me, they have not condoned my work, neither communications nor payments have to date been exchanged. I am sharing their videos simply as a source of information. Image cred: El Pollock/Wikipedia)

 

To Slay A Mocking Cover

Dear Reader, as we all know, we judge books by their covers. The cover is any book’s best marketing opportunity, yet, to persuade someone to pick it up is a matter of split seconds, so it had better be a great one.

What is a “great” cover is to some extent a matter of opinion. Nothing ever appeals to everybody, so the main focus must be to appeal to the book’s target audience. Graphic design-wise it doesn’t have to be cutting edge (unless it’s a book about graphic design) but it has to be well executed. The cover should reflect the book’s genre and, if it’s fiction, convey something of the story or atmosphere. What a book cover it not, Dear Reader, is an illustration of the story. New writers, who aren’t involved in the design of covers, sometimes grapple with this idea. But a cover is not there for the author’s benefit. It’s for the audience’s; it’s an advert, not an exact graphic of the contents.

Think of a shampoo commercial. Having a list of the ingredients roll across the screen is hardly inticing. Instead, showing all the sensuous froth and lather makes us want to buy that product because we picture ourselves in the model’s place.

Book covers aren’t that much different: when we read, we put ourselves in the places of the main characters. The challenge for a graphic designer is to try to distill the entire experience of reading that bok into one still image. Obviously, a lot of detail has got to go in that process.

Below is a sample of my doodles (some are mock-ups) but I do other styles as well. Have a gander at my website for more.

 

Sweden is wet and overcast today, and road workers are digging up the street outside. I think it’s something to do with sewer pipes. Anyway, I’m off to finish my friend’s website and to get a few words in on ‘House of Rose’.

Have a delightful mid-week, Dear Reader, where ever you are!

Giveaway Weekend

Starting off the morning with a little reminder that ‘Oaths of Attraction’ is free on Kindle today and tomorrow. (US time, I think) At least here, temps are getting cooler and it’s a treat to huddle up under a blanket with tea and a book.

(image: pixabay.com)

A fragrant bouquet of roses, phlox, and sweetpeas sits on my desk as I lock myself into the studio for what I hope to be a weekend of writing. My story is stuck in an awkward dialogue and today I intend to show it that I mean business.

With that Dear Reader, I with you a lovely weekend with flowers, literature, and your favorite beverage where ever you are!

August Escape

Dear Reader, most of us usually feel a bit melancholic this time of year as we return to work after summer vacations. This week Swedish schools started for the fall semester. But perhaps this year in particular, we might need a fictional space to breathe, away from the extreme weather, distressing news, and the looming threat of new lockdowns. So, as a little someting to cheer up the gloom, I’m giving away the first volume of Regency Tales this Saturday and Sunday on Amazon. If you haven’t already, make sure to grab it then, Dear Reader!

“Your mother was a whore!

After her parents’ tragic accident; the spirited, principled, and romantic Lady Marigold is plunged into a bleak existence at the hands of her vindictive aunt. Inexplicably, her aunt and uncle seem to oppose any marriage match. Is she doomed to remain her beautiful cousin’s companion? And what exactly is up with her uncle’s shady, overly familiar lawyer? The attentions of the gallant Major Arthur Hastings present a ray of hope; rousing her love and desire. Before long Lady Marigold is persuaded that he is the man of her dreams. But as the major is due to leave for India, she dares not trust that his intentions are serious. It will take all of Lady Marigold’s courage and wit to challenge convention for the right to choose her own future before there can be a happy ending; fulfilling their oaths of affection. Set in the gloomy year of 1816, this vivid drama of challenge and change, blends political satire with philosophy and romance, narrated with humour and an appreciation of the ridiculous.”

Find Oaths of Affection on Amazon

With that Dear Reader, I wish you a happy Wednesday where ever you are!

Thundering Sunday

A frayed greenish thunder-cloud hovers above us like a thick, angry lid. Only a few loud bangs so far, but all the birds are suddenly quiet as if holding their breaths. Not a leaf is stirring on the giant horse chestnut. I’m in my studio, writing and trying to ignore a tooth ache.

(image: pixabay.com)

In ‘House of Rose’, Tom and Rose spend an afternoon just like this together.

“–‘I’m going to see me parents on Sunday’, he said late one evening. They were stretched out on her bed, naked under the whirring ceiling fan. The windows stood wide open in a futile attempt to relieve the muggy air. Thunderbolts painted toothy shadows on the toothpaste walls.
–‘Yeah?’
–‘Yeah.’ Turning on his side, he rested on his arm; letting a tanned finger lazily caress her arm, her collarbone, her jaw. ‘I was hoping you’d come. I want them to meet you.’ –’I’ll bring a pretty planter of summer flowers.’ She smiled, and didn’t bother to show how pleased she was that he had asked.”
(All rights reserved ©2021)

The novella is coming along, albeit slowly, Dear Reader. I don’t always write in sequence and, at 27K I have written about half of the ending but not tied everything up that’ll lead there. So, I’ll get back to doing that now, relishing the fact that it’s finally cool enough to wear a sweater and light a candle again.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed for rain! Have a lovely Sunday, Dear Reader!

Lammas Showers

(image: pixabay.com)

In the third of my Regency Tales, ‘Odyssey of Attachment’, Lammas Day is the main character, Lady Odyssa’s, birthday. Growing up in unusual circumstances, she isn’t allowed to celebrate it.

“Just returned from Lammas service in church, she had no reason to suspect it her last morning at Woodham Langston when she was summoned to her father’s library. The rich flavours of that blessed bread; made from the first wheat from her father’s land, were lingering on her tongue.

Still at the ripe age of twenty, she was looking forward to the secret ritual in the kitchen, when cook would surprise her with a small sponge cake and the servants would drink her health in elderflower cordial. If only Jack had been there! Always he would make her birthday celebration so merry, despite the need to be quiet lest their father find them out. Lammas Day was decreed a day of mourning at Woodham Langston.”
(All rights reserved © 2021)

In Europe, Lammas traditionally marked the beginning of the harvest season and whether you celebrate Lammas, Lughnasadh, or another ritual, or perhaps, like myself, don’t celebrate at all, I wish you a fruitful fall season in all your endeavours, Dear Reader, and a lovely Sunday!

Saturday Dance

(image:pixabay.com)

It was years ago, Dear Reader, that I surrendered to the fact that my husband and I aren’t masters of our own home.
Ah, they have a cat, you might think. Not so. We have birds, magpies specifically. Wild ones that is, that see our house and our yard as their territory and us as intruders. Other species of birds, wagtails and great tits nest below the rafters of our terrace each year. We do know that we ought to clear out their nests and put of nets to stop them but we don’t have the heart. Even if it does mean that they keep us up from 4 am in May and June.

Magpies are different. They nest in the nearby groves and forest, high up in tall trees. They come here to feed, on the bird food, when the great tits let them (incredibly aggressive arseholes, great tits are) or on the gazillions of tiny bugs that live in the moss on our roof. (Yes, we ought to clean that off too.) There’s a whole circus of them, stomping about on our plastic terrace roof, making the noise of drunken hippopotami doing Riverdance. At 7 am on a Saturday morning, that’s just rude if you ask me. What’s even more outrageous is their apparent disapproval of my design choices. Years ago, when I first painted our fence black, the morning after the paint had dried it had evenly spaced white stains on it for metres and metres. Door wreaths are instantly attacked and torn to shreds, regardless of material or style. Rugs left out to air get picked large holes in. It’s very methodical and organised piss-taking. That’s what thanks we get for spending our hard earned crust to feed the birds, magpies included, year round.

In serious, although it’s all true, I really love magpies. I guess partly for their beauty, but mostly beacuse that are clever, arrogant, wild, and unpredictable. Clumsy and funny, and full mischeif. I love that. And I’m really very pleased that they’ve chose to live here. I like to think that it is a small sign of trust. They are not tame by any means, they fly off as soon as we even move. They’re very skittish, and no wonder as there are a lot of people who hate them and hunt them for the sport of it. But I know that they’re curious about us as well. As are the other birds. They sit on the garage roof or in the tree and watch us inside the house – like you might watch strange creatures on tv or in a terrarium. Wagtails are less shy. Unabashed, they patrol the windowsills, picking at the glass, as if to say hello.
Yes, we love it, but if you repeat it to them, Dear Reader, I’ll deny I’ve ever said that. They’d be too fluffy for their feathers if they knew.

Have a brilliant Saturday, Dear Reader, where ever you are, whatever you do!

Covering all bases

One measly online search away, several websites offer free commercial resources for a graphic designer on a shoestring budget. They vary in quality and in what’s free exactly but most of them consist of uploaded member content, i.e. people upload things they give away. In theory, these images are meant to be in the public domain and members are asked before uploading to make sure that files are either their own work or in the public domain. Websites also usually claim to remove copyrighted material as soon as they’re made aware of it.
In theory, that’s how it works. In theory.
But as we all know, some people are stupid, mean, or both so inevitably the theory is flawed. Yes, Dear Reader, this annoys me. Failure to stick to the rules just causes that much bother for everyone.

Websites do typically not guarantee or check before hand that uploaded content is in fact free for commercial use, and to be fair, that would be too big an ask of a free website.
Additionally, around the web you can find elements and images offered free for personal use, but licenses must be bought for commercial use.

What all of them have in common, is that ultimately, it is your responsibility as an end user to make sure that none of the elements you’ve used needs a licence or is copyrighted by somebody else or is trademarked. In a worst case scenario, claiming that you thought the content was ok to use won’t wash in court.

Remember my not so great cover from a few weeks ago? One of the things I was happy with was the faux police force emblem that I had created for my fictional force. Liverbirds are ancient symbols of Liverpool (most seem to agree that they are shags) and to my great joy I found a stylized one at Pixabay.

Now, I’m not a football fan. I don’t pay attention to anything football related, I can’t recall ever having seen the Liverpool F.C. crest so little wonder that I didn’t react.

Weeks later, whilst researching something else entirely, I stumbled across an old news article about a legal kerfuffle over the liverbird symbol. Liverpool F.C. wanted to trademark it to prevent others from making and selling their merch. Liverpool city council objected, as they might.

So I had to dig deeper. I’m certainly not a legal expert but as far as I could understand, the result eventually was that Liverpool F.C. now owns the trademark of that particular liverbird symbol. Yes, Dear Reader, the one uploaded to Pixabay as free to use which I had incorporated into my fake badge. Because somebody didn’t care to check, or perhaps didn’t care period, a lot of my time and work was wasted.

I had no choice but to start over and colour myself lucky that I caught it in time to save myself a potentially hefty lawsuit.

I admit, Dear Reader, that I could not be arsed to design a new faux crest. It appears so tiny on the actual cover anyway that there wasn’t any point. Instead, I mimicked the simple design of many police forces around the UK with a slight 3D effect (above right). EIIR is the royal cypher of Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth II Regina).

Which brings me to the latest incarnation of the cover for ‘House of Rose’. I’ve tweaked the colours a bit, gave the tape more of a 3D effect, and added a rose at her feet.

 

I think I’m done. What do you think, Dear Reader?

So what does one do to ensure that images and other resources offered really are free for commercial use? Well, Dear Reader, there isn’t any one catch-all method. Reverse image searches, contacting uploaders/creators etc. It is a time-consuming process which might not even give you any answers but, as illustrated by this post, it really needs to be done. If in slightest doubt as to whether an image or element is free to use – don’t. Just go with something else, because if you, like me, can’t afford to buy licenses, you certainly can’t afford being sued.

I couldn’t find a way to report content on Pixabay, which is pretty surprising. If anybody knows how to do that, please tell me in the comments.

With that, I wish you a Happy Wednesday, where ever you are!

Cabin Fever

(image: pixabay.com)

The Swedish vaccine roll-out was poorly organised and booking appointments have been difficult for a lot of people. For people in my particular situation, it’s been impossible so, after 17 months, we are still self-isolating here. No, that’s not a typo. 17. Sometimes, it gets to me.

Yesterday only gave us a few drops of rain, but today looks to be overcast again so I am hopeful. My projects for today is helping a friend set up her WordPress page and to get some more writing done. I’m at 22K on my latest novella ‘House of Rose’ and aiming for ≈30K so yay!

With that Dear Reader, I wish you a lovely Tuesday where ever you are and what ever you do!

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Manic Monday

I’ve always found writing a brain-intense bear to wrestle. And I really like bears. But it takes a lot of mental bandwidth and is taxing in a way that painting e.g. never is for me. Creating images, by contrast, was always an intuitive and relaxing process for me, therapeutic even. Ideally, I’d work a few hours at each every day, but I shan’t pretend that my particular brand of madness possesses that much method.
Sooner, it possesses me.

When I have immersed myself into a project I find it hard to stop working at it before I am done. At its best, it results in a focussed and structured procedure; at its worst, it leads to long, obsessive hours of unproductive blockage.
Sometimes, Dear Reader, you need to take a step back from your text, sit on it for a while and see if it squeaks.

There is an ad doing rounds on social media where a well known author says that the greatest obstacle to writing is other people, meaning that they interrupt you. I find this to be true. But there are a million, little annoyances that can potentially break your oh so precious focus once you’ve found it. Other people, directly (they keep trying to get your attention) or indirectly (you open your window and two streets down someone’s having a bbq and you realise how hungry you are); social media; other demands on your time (chores, paying bills etc); external factors (the council decides that today is the day to sweep the streets and it’s loud AF); even weather.

None of these are possible to control unless you have shitloads of money. So for most of us, all we can do is try to find strategies to cope.

Heat is something I struggle with this time of year, my brain melts into snot in temps above 23°C. (Yes, yes, Dear Reader from warmer climes, I hear you laughing. But whilst that may be nothing to you, I’m just not built for it.) Needless to say that my writing activity, or any activity, in July is very limited.

There isn’t that much I can do about the heat, on very warm days I sit in our basement, which is bearable but very uninspiring. The best I can do is to try to change my perspective: the heat forces me to take breaks from writing that I may not otherwise could have made myself take. Breaks that provide well needed distance from the text.

The last few days, I’ve spent in sweating and agonising over the ending of my latest novella only to realise today, when it’s cloudy and cooler, that the answer was staring me right in the face all along. The text isn’t flat, it does squeak with the mighty roar of an angry rain frog.

So Dear Reader, I wish you a happy Monday, where ever you are, whatever you do, meanwhile, I’ll lock myself into my studio, cherishing today.