Barbara G. Tarn's Blog, page 121

Happiness is…

Sunday Surprise

And it’s a guest – because that’s what friends are for! A very special thanks for filling in for me – my eye is almost healed (although I’ll have it checked on Tuesday, just in case) – and a very warm welcome to Shafali! (p.s. if there are typos, forgive both of us… and click on the images to see them bigger, thank you!)

Creating Cover Art for B. G. Hope’s Body-switch Novellas:

Creating cover-art for novels is something that I hadn’t considered doing, until Barb wrote in to ask if I’d be willing to work on the covers for her body-switch novellas. I do cover-art and inner illustrations for business and political magazines, and if I remember right, it was this cover for The American Spectator magazine that made her consider the possibility. I am glad that she decided to hire me for doing her covers. I got the opportunity read her magical stories for free, painted three colorful covers, and then received the artist’s copy of the collection of her novellas. What’s more is that I also got a bonus for completing the assignments in time. (Thank you :-)

I love to create cover-art because unlike a simpler assignment of a portrait or a caricature, it requires a lot of thinking. Cover-art requires the artist to weave at least three different expectations/constraints into one image.

The author’s expectation: The author may be looking for an abstract idea; or a fairly concrete representation of the characters/places in the story; or nothing specific at all.
The audience’s expectation: This is something that an artist gleans from the story. When I create artwork for the magazines, I generally have a good idea of the audience it caters to. In the case of novels and books, it’s something that I sense from the story.
The technical constraints: Unlike other kinds of illustrations, which allow the artist some freedom of aspect ratio, actual dimensions and layout, cover-art begins with constraints.

The first cover that I did for the Body-Switch series was Ciaran & Harith, which was almost immediately followed by Johnny & Marion. The newest has been for Pat & Babs!

I follow a simple two-stage approval process for my illustration work. First I send in the sketch for approval and then I start painting. The creation of the sketch is the culmination of a process that begins with imagining the scene and then moves into the realm of design where I begin calibrating it against the three parameters cited above. Here’s how I went about creating these covers for Ms. Hope’s books.

Ciaran & Harith:

The author had mentioned that she wanted the two protagonists in her novel to appear on the cover, and she had given me some real-life references of people she wanted them to look like. Barb had spoken about this being a three novella series, so I wanted a common thread running through all the three covers. I also wanted to add a touch of magic, because the meddling witch’s magic is one of the things that sets these stories apart. The city-skyline just occurred because the impression that the story left on my mind was that Samantha the Witch was at her magical best in the nights and the story unfolded in a city.

Harith, an Indian, had to have the Indian Bollywood star look, and Samantha was a young, fun-loving, gypsy-ish witch (so the flower, and that impish grin.)

Johnny & Marion:

This was the second cover I did for the body-switch series. Samantha the Witch had grown older in this story. I brought the focus onto her eyes so that she’s seen casting the spell directly with her eyes. The theme continued through the two characters, the spell, and witch. That was enough for continuity – I now needed something to bring in a variation…so I thought of changing the color. Ciaran & Harith had blues, indigos, and aquamarines. I went for greens and olives this painting.

Pat & Babs:

The character, the spell, and the witch’s eyes – they formed the thread that formed the thematic connection. When I read the book, I felt that this story happened more indoors than its predecessors. Barb also wanted the Moka-maker in the Babs’ hands (Babs’ btw is modeled on the author herself.) So the variation came in with the indoors theme, but to form a out-of-the-world connection with Samantha, I framed them in a sort of window, and added an abstract silhouette of a man in the background.

 

Shafali’s Art Gallery: http://shafali.wordpress.com/gallery

About Shafali: http://shafali.wordpress.com/about

Random Friday

My left eye is red again, so I’ll keep this very short. If you’d like to be interviewed or have a character interview on this blog, drop me a line at creativebarbwire at gmail dot com, and I’ll send you the questions. I’d be grateful if you filled this blog with your words while I recover! ;)

Have a great weekend!

Writer Wednesday

As promised, Kilig&Hakeem #3 is out now on Amazon, Kobo, Smashwords, Apple and Barnes&Noble. A special thanks to that anonymous who got it on Amazon DE, probably seeing it in the new titles listing. Hope you get the rest of the story as well – Saif’s Legacy and Kilig’s Heart. #4, Assassins’ Destiny, will not come out on its own (a special thanks to Lissa for helping me with a final title), but you will be able to read it both in Kilig&Hakeem – out in December – and the whole story Kilig the Sword, out in January also in POD. In a couple of weeks I’ll publish Saif&Kilig – just waiting for the cover artist to deliver. Kilig the Sword will include Saif&Kilig, Kilig&Hakeem and a bonus story, Fighting Monks School. Should make for a novel-sized printed book! :)

I have now really finished Star Minds Next Generation (might be book one since it’s a short novel, but I’m taking the rest of the month off to work on other projects) and as soon as I manage to re-read it, I’ll send it back to betas. And after I’m done with revising the Amazons story and the historical novel, I’ll get back to the Star Minds universe and see if I can tell more about the next generation – focusing on Kol-ian’s son Kay-low instead of Shan-leo and Dadina (who get the honor of the cover anyway).

I’m also writing a new short for the anthology… so you’ll have one old story and one new! :) And I’ll be using both English pen names… So, even if I’m not doing NaNoWriMo, I’m not iddle, as you can see. Might not be 50K, but producing 30K a month every month is much better than a one-month-per-year writing spree… Still, if you don’t have a writing routine yet, go for it! :)

No writerly links… Nothing I found worth sharing! ;) Just go back to writing and don’t waste time reading this – for your own good, I’ll keep the posts short all of November, so you have more time to write! :D Have a great week!

Happiness is…

Sunday Surprise

And it’s the author of the month at the Smashwords Authors group on Goodreads! She lives in one of my favorite American towns! And she still writes longhand like me, yay! And look at those covers… Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Sabrina Flynn!

Where do you live and write from?

I live and write in California. More specifically, in the San Francisco East Bay area.

When did you start writing?

I’ve always loved to write. It is just something that I’ve always done. I still have little stories from when I was in Kindergarten!

What genre(s) do you write?

I write High Fantasy and Historical Mystery. Currently, I alternate between the two series. The fantasy series is called the Legends of Fyrsta and the first book in that is A Thread in the Tangle.

Synopsis:

“In a shattered realm where gods breathe and battle, sixteen-year-old Isiilde must find her feet among people who both despise and crave her kind. She trembles on a precipice, caught between the lust of men, the greed of kings, and an eternal struggle for dominance. As three powerful kingdoms vie to own

her, the fire in her blood awakens, sparking a cataclysm of events that spiral into disaster. A barbarian, a madman, and a timid nymph are all who stand between light and oblivion.”

The Historical Mystery, the Ravenwood Detective Agency series, is set in turn of the century San Francisco. Much of it takes place in the infamous Barbary Coast, which isn’t much different from a port town that you might find in a fantasy setting. The first book is called From the Ashes.

Synopsis:

“Atticus Riot is an ex-gambler turned detective, but after twenty years of roaming the Barbary Coast, he’s about to toss the game for good. After his

partner Ravenwood is savagely murdered, he wants nothing more than to rid himself of his dead partner’s legacy and retire. But man plans and God

laughs: the young wife of a prosperous businessman is abducted. Two separate ransom notes are sent to two different relations, leaving the

police baffled. Reluctantly, as a final favor to an old friend, Riot takes on the case, feeling half a man without the brilliant Ravenwood.”

One day I’d like to venture into Scifi with a Steampunk series set in an alternate London-esque type city.

Where do you find your inspiration?

Inspiration is all around us, I think. Just living life is inspiration for me. It’s important for a writer to be amazed and curious of the world around. Ask questions, explore, and most of all, observe—people, places, animals, the sunset, you name it. And then it’s a matter of letting your mind run free.

I have always been an active person, and I find that the more I walk and the more I swim or any activity (even cleaning the house) is a wonderful chance for my mind to wander.

Something might trigger a thought, too. Anything really. The entire idea of my fantasy world of Fyrsta was sparked by a split second glimpse of a movie preview. Even though it was nearly 22 years ago, I still remember the moment. The preview was for Bram Stoker’s Dracula, when Dracula, who is decked out in his crimson armor that looks like muscle and sinew, flashes onto screen. From there, my mind kept churning over that image, and kept adding more fuel to the image until a world sprang to life.

Do you put yourself in your stories?

Not directly, no. But I think that all writers have a well of experience that they draw from when they write. Things they’ve collected, learned, and experienced. I draw heavily from this well, and reach all the way to the bottom to dredge up the unpleasant and the dark and mix it all up so to speak.

Do you have a specific writing routine?

I always have a notebook with me. When I was a teenager, I got into the habit of writing a first draft in longhand. Later on, this habit allowed me to write when I was working full-time, on vacation camping, or when I took my kids to the park. As a mother, I had to squeeze in every spare moment I could, and then late at night, when the kids were sleeping, I’d transfer what I’d written. Now that my kids are in school, I have more freedom, and am trying to train myself to write the first draft on a computer. Although for tough parts, ones where I need to feel my way through, I’ll revert back to longhand. It’s easier for me to work out tricky scenes that way.

Outliner or improviser? Fast or slow writer?

Definitely an improvisor! I’m an organic writer. I let a story grow as I go along. I sort of let the characters and setting have free rein. The story takes on a life of its own and that way its not constricted by my idea of what should happen.

I don’t really know if I’m a fast writer or a slow one. Never really compared myself to another writer. I started writing the first draft to From the Ashes in January and it was edited and published by May. My latest book, King’s Folly, is about 134,000 words and took me 3-4 months.

Tell us about your latest book

King’s Folly is in the last edit stage right now. It’s book two of my Legends of Fyrsta series. It’s so close to being published. The editing process is just something that you don’t rush. Hopefully it will be published in the next few weeks. You can read the first two chapters here.

Synopsis:

Battered and broken, Marsais, Oenghus, and Isiilde have risked an unknown Gateway to flee a traitorous madman. The Portal spews the three, along with a trio of devout paladins, into a vast wilderness of lurking death. Isiilde soon discovers how inhospitable the realms truly are. The courageous nymph can only follow her guardian Oenghus and her Bonded through horrors unimagined, as she tries to navigate the darkness creeping over her own heart.

Indie publishing or traditional publishing – and why?

I think it depends on the individual writer. The industry seems to be moving towards a mixture of both, even from traditionally published authors, which is great.

I never really planned on publishing any of my books, but a professional editor read some of my fanfiction on a forum I frequented, and asked me if I had any books of my own. I did. She read A Thread in the Tangle and loved it, and pitched it to the head of her major publishing company. After hearing the synopsis, without even opening the manuscript or glancing at the writing, he flat out refused it and said, ’Nymphs won’t sell. People think of Lolita when they hear the word nymph.’

I thought this was odd. I think any writer is willing to be told that their book won’t sell because the writing isn’t up to par, but for something to be rejected because of what is currently popular is pretty disheartening. How are new books and genres going to be found with this attitude? This is the reason that I love self-publishing. Instead of having these big publishing houses determine what they want readers to read… readers get to determine what they want to read.

Shortly after, I entered and won a writing contest hosted by Annelie Wendeberg, award-winning author of The Devil’s Grin, and she motivated me to self-publish by shoving me in the right direction. I taught myself how to use art programs, format, and am having fun trying to navigate the marketing end of things. I like self-publishing because the entire process, from first draft to final product, stays in my hands. It’s really just an extension of the creative writing process.

Any other projects in the pipeline?

I’m going to start researching my next Ravenwood Detective Agency Mystery. I like alternating between series because it gives me a break from the characters and gives me some distance while ideas brew in the back of my mind.

What is your goal as a writer and what are you doing to achieve it?

To write for myself, and have fun doing it. If people like what I write, then that’s cool too.

About Sabrina Flynn:

Sabrina lives in perpetual fog and sunshine with a rock troll and two crazy imps. She spent her youth trailing after insanity, jumping off bridges, climbing towers, and riding down waterfalls in barrels. After spending fifteen years wrestling giant hounds and battling pint-sized tigers, she now travels everywhere via watery portals leading to anywhere.

Author Website: www.sabrinaflynn.wordpress.com

Random Friday

I guess I’m going to ramble on Lucca Comics – even worse than last year, since there was the sun shining, so on Saturday you couldn’t walk anywhere and the little town was packed. Luckily I had done everything I needed to do on Friday, when it was less crowded. This time I bought the tickets online, so there was no line to get the bracelet to enter the various places, but they had put stuff everywhere, so it was really hard to find a non-crowded street anywhere.

The only reasons I went back (I had no intention after last year’s experience) were I needed to meet Maurizio Manzieri (guest of honor) and the cover artist for Male Lovers, who had two yaoi comics out (you can find the English versions here). And she did a pencil drawing for me, see (and I got the card with her character as well – I never have enough of that kind of men!)?

I think you can still order both even if it says only until Nov.3 – I forgot I had to pre-order before then, we’ll see if I get it anyway… Why do I want the English version when I have the Italian one? Because I like that gal and I want to support her! :D Now I really really should sign up for Patreon and start supporting her regularly… okay, that’s a New Year Resolution! :D

Now, quick announcement. If you missed Wyrd Worlds and would like to be part of another free anthology, check this call for speculative fiction autors – no pay, free book, exposure, that’s all there is. Much like for Wyrd Worlds. I’ll probably contribute something, but I don’t know what yet. And then I’ll invite the fellow contributors on this blog, so stay tuned! :)

So, that’s all for today. I still have a pile of DVDs to watch, but I’m too busy writing that Star Minds Next Generation. Hopefully next week I’ll start! :) Have a great weekend!

Writer Wednesday

New title out! Kilig’s Heart, sequel to Saif’s Legacy, is now out on Kindle, Kobo, Apple, Barnes&Noble and Smashwords. I’m showing all the covers here, since #3 will be out soon anyway. As for #4, it will be included only in the full story of Kilig & Hakeem’s love. So, if you’re a sucker for HEA, don’t read beyond Hakeem’s Rival for this M/M romance! ;)

All the Assassins’ Guild stories will come out by December, along with an Amazons story that I wrote last year but haven’t published yet. I’m still working on Star Minds Next Generation, publication date delayed to January, since those characters keep talking to me like the previous generation and won’t leave me alone until I properly tell their story (I know I already said that, but the next generation is just like the previous one, obviously!). So even the beta-readers should get ready for another adventure of Shan-leo and Dadina and the new characters that appeared in what I’ve written so far (the final chapter will be completely rewritten and postponed, so Jo can have a lot more of the new hot guy! ;) Stay tuned!).

Bundles galore! Twelve Shades of Midnight and two non-fiction bundles for writers – the NaNoWriMo Writing Tools (for you NaNoers out there, but also everybody else, in fact I got that one even if I’m not a NaNo writer – which, of course, didn’t help my TBR pile and made it even bigger, so who knows when I’ll get to read them, but well…) and the Indie Author Power Pack, both at very low prices for their worth.

And don’t forget to check the Two Important Publishing Facts Everyone Gets Wrong! :) Almost back to the real world… three weeks off can really help! :D Have a great week!

Happiness is…

Sunday Surprise

And it’s another Wyrd Worlds author! Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back Neil Shooter!

Where do you live and write from?

I live a quiet suburban life not too far from Toronto. Far enough away, you might say. I love the hilly rural region to the NE of the city, and I love that it is accessible to me “at this end of town”.

I usually write right here, on my couch, laptop on my, well, lap, and clicking away incessantly. But sometimes it just feels better to have good old pen and paper, and then I can be anywhere: front porch, back yard, lake front park, coffee shop, passenger seat, bed, kitchen table, toilet, or, indeed, right here on my couch.

When did you start writing?

I can’t remember when I started writing, because it’s something I remember doing, and enjoying, since I was very small. I didn’t pursue writing seriously, because it seemed to me that I was supposed to get a degree, and a job, and a house, and a car. But that kind of life was never suited to me, nor I to it, and I would find myself scurrying outside on my breaks to jot down a few words, or running to the washroom with a scrap of paper hidden in my pocket and my trademark pen on my ear (a habit carefully cultivated so as to never draw suspicion).

When I finally realized I had my priorities wrong, I made sweeping lifestyle changes, and began self-publishing. I still have to work for a living, mind you!

What genre(s) do you write?

I write science fiction or fantasy, or some combination of the two. I am very disappointed by the science accuracy level in most science fiction movies, and so I have always strived for realism in all my writing. Even if there is magic, or super alien technology, people are still people, and the world still has to be internally consistent.

The simple modern world usually fails to grasp my imagination, and so very little of what I write is set in the real world of today. I’ve tried to expand my horizons, but not with any great success. I simply enjoy what I enjoy, I suppose.

Where do you find your inspiration? Do you put yourself in your stories?

I find inspiration all the time. If I’m without pen and paper, I can make notes on my phone, but usually I am prepared. The down-side is that I can’t read anything without finding inspiration from it. Or watch anything. Put me in front of a documentary, and I’ll be scribbling away, taking notes like in class. Even dramas can trigger something. Most of my inspiration, though, comes from things that I read, from news, to surfing the internet, to novels, to the local newspaper. You never know when it will strike!

I’ve been looking through a box of 25 year old newspaper clippings, and some of them are real eye-openers. Yes, I’m the kind of person who can move from one continent to another, and still manage to bring boxes of newspaper clippings with me…

There is a little bit of me in every story, I must confess. There’s also a little bit of the people I know in every story. My own emotional experience can illuminate a character, and I’ve always been good at playing devil’s advocate, or seeing things from other people’s point of view.

Do you have a specific writing routine?

One day I hope to have that luxury, but right now I have a day job that pays my bills. That said, I have a gentle start to the day, browsing news stories, doing some light research, or noting down an “important” dream. Almost every day I have the chance to sit for an hour or two by myself and just focus on the ideas in my head. I enjoy having the kind of job where you can let your mind wander to an extent. For me, this mental calm of being physically occupied contrasts nicely with the focus of reading and writing. The trick is to be able to remember your train of thought hours later when you have opportunity to get things on paper!

I’m more creative at night, I suppose because of a day’s worth of thoughts bubbling about in my brain, unless that time of day is simply the time that everything else has been done, and I can sit and think? I like silence, or occasionally some soothing mood-building music.

Outliner or improviser? Fast or slow writer?

I think I’d be a fast writer if I simply had the time, or the opportunity, to write more, but on average I’m quite slow. I’m kind of hot and cold, because no two days follow the same schedule.

I find that improvising gets me a certain distance into a story, and then I get lost. But on the other hand if I plan everything out, it seems to take all the juice out of it. I’ve been trying to find a kind of hybrid way of doing things, so that there is enough of a framework to keep me going in the “right” direction, but enough for me to discover as I go that I stay interested! I’ll let you know if it works out.

Tell us about your latest book

My latest story was “The Visitor”, published exclusively in the “Wyrd Worlds 2″ anthology, but it will also be in my “Annual 2014″ (hopefully in December 2014).

“The Visitor” is a mysterious stranger who loiters outside an average looking house on a cold, wet, and windy night. The house contains a visitor who must depart before the stranger can make his approach.

It’s a story about time, and family, and aspects of it are highly personal, but I still really enjoy reading it – and that is how I judge my own stories!

Indie publishing or traditional publishing – and why?

To be honest, I’ve never tried traditional publishing, and I’m not sure if that is a strength or a weakness on my part. I’ve also never tried a “Small Press” indie publisher. I’ve chosen to self-publish on the internet in order to retain control over my own work, but I wonder if a set schedule and an advance might spur me on?

The hardest thing about self-publishing is finding people whose opinions you trust, who can be proofreaders, beta-readers, editors, and artists. I’ve tried to be all of these things for myself, but, if my sales are anything to go by, I haven’t been very successful.

I think that is where the future of self-publishing lies: in the building of communities of authors who can help each other become better, and providing a framework for author-related services that, in a traditional publisher, would simply be done for you.

Any other projects in the pipeline?

Always! My third instalment of “The Causality Sequence” is called “Gravity”, and is still plotted out scene by scene, but remains half-written.

In a similar state is a new story called “The Edge”, which is about a pair of scientists running an astronomical array in the outer reaches of the Solar System.

And another new story that is probably near the top of the pile is not yet written, but buzzing around in my mind every day recently, is “The Linguist”. It’s about a translator called to a hospital to deal with a mysterious patient who speaks no English, and no recognisable language, but speaks something.

The story “The Kinnon Gate” is the beginning of a story called “The Last Bastion”, where a bunch of otherworldly heroes unite to defend the last human city in a world ravaged by war and destruction. I’m hoping against hope that this will be released some time in 2015!

There’s more, of course (there always is!), but these are the things you are most likely to be able to read any time soon.

What is your goal as a writer and what are you doing to achieve it?

My goal is to write, to find time, every single day, to write something, while at the same time juggling my family and my life. Ideally I’d like to be fabulously wealthy, a man of leisure, and able to write as much as I wanted, but in the meantime, I do what I can (most of the time).

I’m trying to keep one eye on the things that distract me, that take me away from writing. Some can’t be ignored, like work, or sleep, but others can be shuffled, or moved around on the list of priorities. I have to figure out how to not feel guilty about sitting by myself while there are people who want to spend time with me. I suppose it’s all about finding the right balance!

Connect with Neil Shooter online

Facebook

Goodreads

Smashwords

Also by Neil Shooter:

The Causality Sequence:

1. Causality (Causality appears in the anthology Wyrd Worlds)

2. Probability

3. Gravity (coming soon)

Homeless (Homeless also appears in the anthology Wyrd Worlds II)

The Visitor (Available exclusively in the anthology Wyrd Worlds II)

The Kinnon Gate appears in the anthology: The Battle of Ebulon