Konn Lavery's Blog: Posts from konnlavery.com, page 25

The Wishing Shelf Book Awards 2019 Finalists/Winners

Early this year Finalists and Winners were announced for The Wishing Shelf Book Awards 2019. I am pleased to say that The White Hand, a Rutherford Manor Novel was a finalist!

Below is a link to the list of the 2019 FINALISTS and WINNERS in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. The children’s books were read and judged by children in 8 UK primary and secondary schools, the adult books by 2 Reading Groups, 1 in London and 1 in Stockholm. The books were marked according to EDITING, THEME, STYLE, COVER and, in the case of many of the children’s books, ILLUSTRATIONS. Every book that was awarded over 30/40 was a finalist.

If you happen to be looking for a good read, the readers at The Wishing Shelf Awards thoroughly recommend the following:

www.thewsa.co.uk/finalists2019
www.thewsa.co.uk/winners2019

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Fire, Pain, & Ruin Launches

I am pleased to announce that Fire, Pain, & Ruin: A Rutherford Manor Novel has launched in ebook! Currently it is available on Amazon Kindle. The preorders taken through the Rutherford Manor website will be processed once printing shipments can be made through the US boarders and into Canada. Thank you for your understanding due to the virus lock down.

Thank you all for the support. I hope you enjoy this new expansion into the Rutherford Manor universe. We dive into the world of black magic, family drama, the vile, and the unforgivable.

If you haven’t ordered the book, be sure to do so to discover the new and disturbing drama that occurs to the Savidges and Fleshers!

Synopsis

Rutherford Manor has entered a new era. Spalding Savidge and his wife Penny Savidge raise their twin daughters, Lisa and Louise, in hopes of a normal life. All while the Fleshers further their dark interest through secretive new contracts involving the government, ultimately funding Spalding’s wishful dreams of a simple life for his family. The past fails to stay behind as Spalding is haunted by a ghost long since forgotten. This leads him to lustful temptations, disregarding everything he stands for and challenging his morals to the core.

Lisa and Louise try to make sense of the abnormalities of their home – Uncle Nox’s secret laboratory, Uncle Billy’s large body-shaped bags, their mother’s headaches, and their father’s late work nights. They face adulthood traumas, trying to find their own feet against their violent heritage. Lisa struggles with the hardships of first love. Louise faces a tipping point due to the involvement of a new family in the town of Rowley, the Connors. Mr. Connors is the first to treat Louise with a kindship that she is unfamiliar with from men.

The twins discover otherworldly secrets from the midwives of Rowley. The Savidge girls join them in their ritualistic practices, unaware of the lurking evil that they are about to unleash. Nothing could prepare the midwives or the Savidge twins of the horrors that waited beyond the worldly. Some doors should be kept shut. The Savidge twins learn that despite their growing differences, they must come together for their family, or they risk losing each other forever.

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Six Weeks into A New Routine

In Alberta, we are six weeks into a new routine, thanks to the pandemic lockdown. For a lot of people, this has been a difficult adjustment period. On a personal level, the changes haven’t been too out of the ordinary for me. I was homeschooled up to the end of junior high, and I have been freelancing for six years. The past has almost tuned me to being at home all the time. Now that it has been a month and a half. People are beginning to adjust here in Alberta and across Canada. New routines and finances are being taken care of – sort of – and a whole lot of video calls are happening. As writers, the isolation is not an uncommon thing.

Welcome to Another Edition of Unprocessed Thoughts

Usually, the Calgary Comic Expo would have happened over the past weekend. Not attending this year has created a strange sense of confusion. Normally, I’d be able to go and see all of the expo friends, fans, and familiar faces. There would be the regular routines that I have had during this period, like the ordinary morning diner I eat at to load up on carbs for another 10 hour day. I would have also launched a new book in the spring, and the book would become the primary focus at book signings and conventions. Fire, Pain, & Ruin is still launching, just digitally. Most of the world is moving to a digital realm. I read an interesting article on BookBub that expanded on readers’ buying habits during the pandemic. E-books have gone up in popularity, and so have free books.

More Time Being Six Weeks into A New Routine

All the time that I spend preparing for conventions, driving, attending, and the follow-ups afterward, are no longer relevant. Six weeks into a new routine has allowed me to write, read, and enjoy some leisurely time. From writing perspective, I am still going forward with a number of projects that are on the backburner. Aiming for Mortal: Mental Damnation IV to launch in the summer. Most of these releases, unfortunately, will have to be digital until all of this is over. Short stories happening on the blog, where the two-year mark since launch occurred this April. There are some anthologies I am submitting to, and new novels in the works. Maybe I can partake in NaNoWriMo this year!

Hobbies & Routines

In addition to the writing, I am beginning to explore music again. All the chaos and hustling from last year prevented me from composing anything new. That bugged me. By no means do I expect to make a career from it, but that is not the point. Some things you must do just for you. They feed the soul. Doesn’t that sound like hippie-dippy nonsense? It is true though. Anyone who has a hobby knows this. Hobbies are healthy. They allow you to break away from your regular thought patterns and to explore yourself.

Around this time is also when the contract work starts to slow down. April is always busy, this year was no different. May is a different story. After six years, you can begin to see patterns happening, yet no one saw a pandemic happening. We will see what May has to bring. If I am busy with contract work, then I will keep us with the routine. If it is quiet, that just means I get more time to write and share exciting stories with you all. Also dive deeper into the audio realm of music.

For now, we should keep ourselves occupied with staying in contact with our friends and family, hobbies, and building new routines. Having a purpose really helps us get up in the morning, otherwise he will just lay bed, frustrated, sad, and unhappy. Now that we have had time to adjust, six weeks into a routine six weeks into a routine, it’s essential to keep our heads up. Trust me, the days off that I have, I don’t want to get up either.

Beer Note: Alleycat Chili Lager

The chilli lager is an exclusive beer from Alleycat only available at DaDeo restaurant. I’ve had this beer plenty of times and LOVE it. Usually you can only have it at the restaurant. Considering the pandemic, they are offering curbside pickup with growler-sized drinks to go. So, of course I got it. If you’re in Edmonton, give this one a go. It’s not too spicy but offers enough of a kick to add some flavour. Easy to drink and makes you want a second.

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Option Three

Questioning mortality can be a slippery slope. Thoughts can betray you. Your mind can become quicksand, pulling you into dark depths of the consciousness that you cannot escape from. How far into the self is one willing to satisfy curiosity?

Option Three is April’s short story that brings you into a fictional struggle of the self, our own mortality, and issues of the bigger picture.

Option Three

Being alive is not a concrete concept. Sure, you can feel with your senses and experience joy or sadness, and that might be considered alive, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Maybe I am coming from a philosophical standpoint. What does it mean to be alive? What are we? I do not know. Some days I find myself questioning my mortality. Like, my mind lives inside of my brain – according to science – and that is where my thoughts are. The brain is where I am. With that logic, my mind is just a series of electrical neurons buzzing around some organic tissue. Take the mind away, and the body is not me – according to science. Or if the brain stops shooting neurons, I’m dead – according to science.

It’s a bit crazy to go on these tangents of the self. I go mad, going through these answerless questions daily. There isn’t much else to do when you live in a butt-hole of a town with less than a thousand people. Your options for activity are limited. The other kids smoke up, drink, fight, and vandalize. I do too. They’re my friends, some of them, so I join along and get high or drink to excess. Then the grizzled after-work-drunk men yell at us from their porch, seeing us walking inebriated. They threaten that they’ll call the cops, but they don’t. We don’t have any weed or drinks on us when we’re walking down the road. We’re not stupid.

Don’t get me wrong; I like getting wasted like anyone else and then getting yelled at by the townsfolk to take off the spiked collar and makeup and focus on school. It’s a real good “fuck you” attitude to the prudes while we stay up until the sun rises. It’s fun, and the only activity you can do here. Still, at some point in the day, you are done all of that. You can only drink and do drugs so much at any given time. Even for only a few minutes, you’ll find yourself at your most vulnerable. You might be waking up in the morning or walking to school, that is the most frightening experience of all.

Thoughts run through my mind. I wonder if I will ever get out of this small town. No one likes to talk to me. I mean, talk to me. The adults are either rambling about the government being a bunch of lib-tards taking oil money away or telling me to stop dying my hair and help my folks. My friends want to get drunk, break shit, and poke fun at the nerds. No one wants to talk. When I say talk, I mean getting into the nitty-gritty of ourselves. Introspective if you will.

My gramps had a lot of books he left us before he blew his brains out. I read through them, not understanding everything. He had a wide range of books, like some on religions, philosophy, social sciences – all the good stuff. My parents do not read them. They watch the tube, drink, smoke, and then fight over the dishes or over that waitress my dad banged over a decade ago. They don’t have time to learn or let alone pay attention to their kid. The books just stay in gramps’s old room, left untouched since the day he died. They’ve become my teacher.

Maybe these books are what separates me from everyone else. I’ve asked my teachers if they’ve heard about them. Some have, others haven’t. In short, they tell me to focus on my grades that are slipping. Whatever. If an academic facility is not the place to talk about ideas, where is it then? I don’t know. Thus, I find myself wandering inside of my mind, puffing on a cigarette alone, watching the sun go down from the rooftop of that old abandoned butcher shop. I do enjoy the sun. The warmth and light really brings a sense of stillness. It doesn’t judge my outfit or my thoughts. The giant fireball only watches before it vanishes behind the horizon. Then, I am left in the beautiful blackness of the night where the world is at peace.

I get stuck on the question of who we are. If science is right, then we are just a series of neuron links accumulated together to create consciousness. Take a single neuron out of the equation and examine it, and that is not you. With that reasoning, how many neurons does it take to make up you?

I know these are questions with no answers. The more I read, the more I wonder. Religion offers different solutions, also with no conclusion other than we are the abstract concept known as a soul. Dig into any of those books and you’ll find they can’t answer some of the real difficult questions other than saying that’s the way it is. I have discovered one thing, though. The more questions you ask, the more it alienates you. My friends have started to talk to me less. Whatever. They were boring to me anyways. We still chat at school and stuff, but I don’t have much else to say beyond that. My mind is too troubled by my mortality. My interests have made me an outcast amongst the rejects. No number of spikes or layers of black nail polish will have them see me in any other light – or darkness if you will.

Now that I am not off getting high or drunk every moment I can, it has given me more time with the self. I am wondering what defines me. Where do I go when I die? The body and the brain stay here. The neurons die. Then is that it? Does the consciousness fizzle out? If so, then why does any of this matter if we eventually end up in the nothingness? The joy in life is so short-lived only to be met by misery, as we wait for another wave of happiness, then the cycle repeats itself. I wonder if experiencing life with others makes living have value. Then it is your memory that lives on through others is what matters. I chuck the idea aside. That has no place for me, not in this small town.

I wonder if I will ever get out of here either. I’ll graduate high school in a year, and I don’t have a lot of money to skip town and head for the big city. It’s not like I have any aspirations. I just read and get myself tied up in a theoretical knot inside my head. Skipping town to be homeless in a big city doesn’t sound appealing either: escape the suffering here for new pain. It’s all pointless. Whatever.

Did I mention my gramps blew his head off? Yeah, he was a bit of a gun freak. My folks cleaned out all his guns from the house after that. They didn’t check his bookshelves – because they don’t read – and I found an old revolver tucked inside a dummy-book. Man, did that ever shock me. There is so much power in something so small. One bullet can end all of the thoughts inside of someone’s head. Sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste all go away. The emotional sensations cease to be with one pull of the pistol’s trigger.

Back to the mortality and life-after-death stuff, if this is all we have, and our consciousness dies inside of our mind, then we return to some state of neutrality when we die. We can’t experience loss, sadness, or misery because our neurons are toast. It’s kind of the closest thing to isness, or monks try to do. Death is the answer. The eternal peace.

We all end up there at some point. It’s up to you how long you want to gamble in this game called life. Roll another dice each morning, hoping something will get better. The years go by, you keep trucking along, and eventually, you turn into my parents – drunk and fighting. As you get older, you could end up like gramps and finally call it quits anyways and take your own life.

Now I sit here on that same old abandoned butcher shop rooftop, puffing on a smoke, and watching the sunset. I think about my quality of life. I have a choice to make. I can be isolated from everyone with my intellect. I could swoop back down to drinking, smoking, and vandalizing with a real punk-rock attitude. The third option is I could end it. The revolver in my sweaty hand is loaded. I suppose it does not matter what choice I make. At some point, I will eat the dirt. It’s really up to me if I want to try and gamble with living on or just take the shortcut. No one will miss me, anyways. Over half the time I am alone. I don’t talk to anyone anymore. I have no one to touch. Death sure would make for some talk of the town. Option three is one I’ve been considering heavily today. That’s why I brought the revolver to my mouth as I stare out into the sun, which is looking back at me, not judging, only watching. The neutrality of the fireball was the one thing I would miss, and now I second guess my gramps and myself. Maybe the sunset each day is all I need. Hey, there’s something worth living for or whatever. It’s probably a good idea to take the gun out of my mouth then. Maybe I’ll give life a go for one more day, enjoy this setting sun, and embrace the peace of the night.

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Fire, Pain, & Ruin Pre-order Special Offer

The second installment of the Rutherford Manor series is now available for preorder! Visit www.rutherford-manor.com/book-preorder to learn more. Join the Savidges and Fleshers as their bloodlines further intertwine with violence, black magic, lust, and the supernatural.

Pre-order up a hardcopy of Fire, Pain, & Ruin for your supernatural thriller library and receive:

A signed copy of the novelTwo Limited Edition Trading Cards (Random)One Limited Edition Muunat Button Pin

All pre-order hard copies will be signed by Konn Lavery, author of the book, and Preston Ewasiuk, the creator of Rutherford Manor.

Pre-order Fire, Pain, & Ruin

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Author Kathrin Hutson Returns with Sleepwater Static, the Novel in the Blue Helix Sci-Fi series

Last July we had international bestselling author Kathrin Hutson join us to discuss her LGBTQ Dystopian sci-fi series, Blue Helix with book 1, Sleepwater Beat. Now, she returns with the next novel, Sleepwater Static, coming out May 26th, 2020. Let’s welcome Kathrin Hutson to the blog!

Thanks for joining us again Kathrin Hutson. We’re excited to learn about the follow up novel, Sleepwater Static. Can you give us an introduction to what the second novel is about? No spoilers!

Of course! (Nobody likes spoilers…) In a nutshell, Sleepwater Static is definitely the continuation of the storyline as it pertains to the organization called Sleepwater and the people like Leo in Book 1 with the ability to “spin a beat”. Only Book 2 focuses on a different main character, Bernadette Manney, who was a supporting character in Book 1. This was always the plan—to write each book in the Blue Helix series using a supporting character from previous books as the main character in the next. There’s so much to explore within this Dystopian world, and I wanted to tap into different personalities and experiences within the overarching story, because they feel important to highlight.

So we get to see Bernadette—a seventy-one-year-old white woman from the South with a complicated past—up close and personal. After Leo and this Sleepwater chapter parted ways at the end of Sleepwater Beat, we now get to follow what happens to the small group of people as they flee across the country and go into hiding. Bernadette takes them to Hollywood, South Carolina to lay low so a woman in their group can have her baby in secret, and Bernadette’s past finally catches up to her while she’s struggling to ensure a safer future for the people she’s come to love as her chosen family.

Previously you mentioned you put a lot of yourself into the protagonist Leo Tieffler for Sleepwater Beat. She sounds like a complicated character. Does Leo continue to reflect you as she develops in Sleepwater Static?

This is an excellent question, and while Leo definitely makes a very important appearance in Sleepwater Static, this story isn’t exactly hers. However (and much to my surprise), writing Bernadette reflected quite a bit more of my own experiences as well than I originally expected. I did set out with the intention of writing Book 2—beyond being another fantastic story—to specifically highlight more marginalized communities of people I never touched on in Book 1. Sleepwater Static explores discrimination on the level of race, racism, interracial relationships and transracial families, mental illness, mental and emotional abuse, and the struggles of raising a child in a world that just keeps “getting worse”.

How does this apply to me? I belong to several marginalized communities myself, and while I haven’t been discriminated against because of race, I spent many years living in South Carolina with my husband (that’s where he’s from) and have experienced and/or witnessed this discrimination as a friend, family member, and POC ally. I also what it’s like to feel so much shame that I end up running away from it instead of facing it head on and what it’s like to be a mother and struggle with personal identity throughout parenthood (both of which are things Bernadette and I have in common). Bernadette most definitely holds parts of myself and my past, and she also serves as a look into the future I see is possible but that I really do hope never comes to pass.

There are 3 books planned in the Blue Helix series (Sleepwater Static being the second), is this still the case?

I will say there are at least three books planned. I’ve already chosen the next main character for Book 3, and I have a feeling readers who love the Blue Helix series are really going to get excited when they hear who that is (again, no spoilers even for the series plans!). Of course, it’s impossible to know whether the story is truly finished with a third book until I actually get to the end of it. There may be more, there may not be. Not really knowing is definitely part of the excitement for me as well.

You’ve discussed ‘writing by the seat of my pants’ and some of your world building before.
How do you keep track of the world building?

Luckily, for the most part, this world is about 85% true to our real world. The present timeline (because both books do dive into the past, as will Book 3) is set in 2031, just far enough into the future to make this undoubtedly Dystopian and still eerily close to home with what we’re currently experiencing in modern society. So the only real world-building I’ve had to keep track of is this organization of Sleepwater and the historical elements I’ve added of people with this “beat” ability. In Sleepwater Beat, I used chapter interludes of news clips and radio shows to build the world. In Sleepwater Static, I use letters written from Bernadette’s childhood pen pal, who eventually becomes a very close friend (and then some) and follows Bernadette from the past timeline into the present.

This is also “by the seat of my pants”. But I can say that while I’m writing these books, I’ve somehow developed an ability to remember what I’ve previously written and keep the working parts of the dystopian world in line with where the story’s headed as I’m writing. I might chalk this up to having spent so many years editing fiction manuscripts for other authors. Or maybe it’s just the way my mind works. But I never really had to build maps or lay out blueprints for the world t keep myself on track. As far as I’ve heard from advanced readers and my editor, there aren’t any discrepancies

Mental Damnation IV Title and Synopsis Reveal

Behind the curtains of consciousness…
Reality is masked through a Dream.
In a false sense of Purity.

COVER AND SYNOPSIS REVEAL
Mortal is the concluding novel of the Mental Damnation tetralogy.

SYNOPSIS
—
Krista’s hope to escape Dreadweave Pass lessens after a fateful attack from the fallen angel Sporathun. Her purpose in the afterlife is put into question as the Weaver’s army shift their strategy to hasten the fallen god’s freedom once and for all.
In reality, the humans keep Krista under tight watch as her symptoms worsen. Dr. Alsroc enforces further usage of drugs to counter her Mental Damnation. Paladin attempts to keep Krista out of the brewing politics of his kingdom and find a peaceful resolution for the humans and vazeleads.
Darkwing longs to hold his dear Krista again, as he and his allies discover the hidden path to the surface world. Yet, only Krista can escape from the land of the damned. To obtain freedom, she must learn to fend for herself as her father and allies had taught her – the path of a warrior, one painted with blood and carved with death.
—

This summer, damnation ends.

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Formatting a Novel for Print

As an indie author, or as a small press, you may find yourself needing to learn about formatting a novel for print. There are lots of applications out there, and detailed tutorials that can show you how. In the end, layout and formatting is a skill that a graphic designer would know. That doesn’t mean that you can learn the basics to save some time or money. If you can afford to hire a designer, I would recommend going this route. A graphic designer adds an extra level of polishing when it comes to formatting a novel for print.

This blog post is a complimentary piece to the previous series that I had written called DIY Graphic Design for Authors. In there, we talk about a lot of design theory, tools, technicalities, and why you might have to do graphic design on your own.

Author DIY Graphic Design Series







The Basics of DesignColour TheoryTypefaceLayoutTools & Technicalities



Print Terminology

Formatting a novel for print requires knowledge of terminology found within the print industry. These terms are in the Author DIY Graphic Design Tools and Technicalities post, where we discussed print specs. I highly recommend reviewing the terminology so you can understand some of the following resources.

Choosing A Print Shop

We will briefly cover selecting a print shop option. There are different ways you can go about printing your novel, such as finding a local printer in your area. Your choice will depend on the area that you are living in, and you will have to talk to your printshop individually.

Online, you can find distributors such as:

Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing ProgramBlurbIngramSparkLulu

Each of the websites mentioned above offers print-on-demand services. For the sake of this article, we will say that you are going with Amazon’s KDP. There, they have a list of resources describing what you canon cannot do and what is required for you to print with them.

Knowing Your Genre When Formatting a Novel for Print

Okay, you have your printshop picked, now you need to know what type of book you want. Amazon has a particular page on the resource that outlines your different print options. You can pick various options based on what you’d like. However, it is also crucial for you to know what readers would expect.

For example, non-fiction softcover books are generally larger than fiction, sitting at 6”x9”. Fiction books are often smaller when it comes to softcover books. Note that Amazon will only do softcovers. Websites like blurb offer a hardcover option.

Ask yourself, what type of book are you formatting? If it is fiction, what kind of genre? You will see on Amazon’s print options that you can print on white paper or cream paper. You can also change the cover paper type from either gloss or matte. These options will let you add your personal touch. For example, a cream paper might work well for fantasy. White Paper could work well for a thriller.

Take your time in picking your printshop and knowing your print options. The website or printshop that you use may depend on what you are looking for in your print options.

Software for Formatting a Novel for Print

There are plenty of software options out there. The industry standard is Adobe InDesign. You can subscribe to their Creative Cloud to obtain the software. Keep in mind, it can be pricey. There are other options out there as well, such as:

QuarkAffinity PublisherMicrosoft WordPages (for Mac)

There are more out there as well, but these are some of the most common formatting software. All the ones mentioned do cost money. If you know of some freeware, please mention it in the comments and I’ll add it into the list. Chances are you are writing your book in Microsoft Word. It is not the best tool for formatting, but it is possible.

You will need to do self-learning. The level of learning will depend on your existing skill-base and the software that you are using. The interfaces do vary. Thankfully, a lot of them do follow the same terminology because there are specific rules to follow when it comes to print.

Using Amazon as an example, they have a walk-through guide on building your book in Microsoft Word or Pages. Note: You can use these articles to help format your book for any print shop. They have some helpful advice.

Getting the Right Specs for Formatting a Novel for Print

Remember, we discussed knowing what type of book you want to format? Your choice becomes essential because you need to know the dimensions to set the file. For example, if you’re working with a book size of 5” x 8”, you’ll want to make sure that the document layout size is set accordingly.

This option comes up automatically when you’re working with software such as Adobe InDesign, or Affinity Publisher. With Microsoft Word, this is under the menu “layout.” Here you’re also able to control the page margins and choose if you need bleeds or not. Chances are, you do not need bleeds unless you have pictures within the book that takes up the full page.

Paragraph Styles

One consistent tool throughout the different software is known as paragraph styles. When you’re formatting a novel for print, you want to be sure to use this tool. In Microsoft Word, it is right on the home tab under styles.

In Adobe InDesign, there is a panel called paragraph styles. The same goes for Affinity Publisher. You want to use paragraph styles for your chapter titles, and the body content of the chapters. In short, you want the following paragraph styles:

Chapter Title StyleContent StyleFirst Paragraph StyleEver notice that the first paragraph in books isn’t indented like the rest of the sections? That is by using a new paragraph style.



Editing a Paragraph Style in Word



Why Paragraph Styles Are Important

When formatting a novel for print, paragraph styles will ensure that the entire book follows the same typography throughout. If you ever need to adjust, you edit the style, and it updates throughout the whole document. Sometimes as you are formatting a novel, you find that you might not like font size, or the particular typeface you are using. If you stick to using styles for that say, the chapter title, then updating all chapter titles, will be easy.

Another benefit of using paragraph styles is you can automatically create a table of contents if you need it. The feature is beneficial if you are working with non-fiction, where a table of contents is typical.

Setting Up Paragraph Styles in Affinity Publisher



Choosing the Right Typeface

There’s a whole article in the author DIY graphic design series that covers typography. In short, more often than not, you want to use a serif font for your content style. For chapter styles, you can use a sans serif. For the content style, be sure to use justified text.

Left Justifying text alignment ensures that the paragraphs take up the whole page. This makes it easier for readers to read pages quicker.



Covers

The cover design is a whole other topic. We’ll briefly go over it by explaining that you need the cover, the back design, and the spine design when you’re working with print. The back of the book often contains the synopsis of the novel, the ISBN code, and the author’s website.

The spine is trickier because the total page count defines its width. So technically, you cannot create the spine until we know the total page count of your book. The spine’s width is why formatting the interior of the novel before the cover, back design, and the spine is essential.

Using Amazon as an example again, they have a paperback cover template that you can use once you know your total page count. There, it will provide a template for you to use that has margins, bleeds, and the full-size of the cover. It is a convenient tool because the interior also changes size based on the paper type such as cream or white.

Choosing the Right Design for Your Formatting

Another struggle that you can run into is knowing what type of layout you want. Here, we go back to knowing what kind of book you’re formatting. Knowing your genre and audience will define what kind of typeface to use, the font size, margins, and all other details. You can also look at other novels for inspiration. Look at your bookshelf, or go to the bookstore, and flip some pages inside a book to see how they are formatted.

Proofs

If you have a printer at home, it is quite helpful to print one page of the interior to see what it looks like hands-on. Sometimes when you are looking at a screen, you can get a distorted view of what the page will look like in its final form.

Most online services, and even print shops, will give you a proof copy. The proof will let you confirm correct sizing, formatting, and all other nitpicky details. I highly recommend ordering a proof copy when you are formatting a novel for print.

Summary

We’ve covered a lot in a short amount of words. Truthfully, formatting a book is a lot of work. Chances are you will make mistakes on your first go. Be patient, remember that you are learning something new, and be sure to search for tuotrials that can help you with the software that you are using. For more insight into graphic design, be sure to check out the previously written articles.

The post Formatting a Novel for Print appeared first on Konn Lavery.

Self-Isolation Adventures

Wow, the world sure has been thrown upside down. The whole COVID-19 has shaken up every country on the planet. Now we all are having our self-isolation adventures. Some places in the world have had it far worse than others, and the media is covering it all. News changes by the hour. Cases and death rates rise drastically. Yikes. Scary times.

Welcome to another edition of Unprocessed Thoughts

We all know what state the world is in, and my fellow Canadians know how our country is. So, I won’t get into the same stuff as everyone else except…. STAY HOME. Okay, I’m done now. In regard to this whole pandemic and writing, not too bad. We are writers are used to being stuck in our own minds, typing away at the next book. This comes naturally for us. What will be interesting to see is how stamina upholds for staying at home. If you’re typically an introvert, then that won’t be a problem.

I already work from home, as of April 1st, for 6 years as a graphic designer and web developer. Between the writing and contract work, the work-from-home-life is straightforward. It doesn’t get strange until the evening, where I usually find myself at the pub or socializing. Not anymore.

Self-Isolation Adventures

Due to the current events, my girlfriend now works from home
too. The cat sure didn’t like her napping spot being taken and has retaliated
through disobedience. Outside adventures are limited to the balcony. We wipe
down new items before they enter the unit as if they’re covered in toxic sludge
– better safe than sorry.

The self-isolation adventures have been tame for now. March and April are busy periods with the contract work. All my clients are working from home, too, meaning they also have time to focus on our projects. The sped-up feedback ultimately means work is moving very quickly. In the end, that means payday comes sooner and another slick, and or beautiful, and or elegant, design is birthed.

Lots of Writing

Work has me glued to the chair for many hours of the day. In
the early mornings and evenings, I can either a: stare at the wall and wonder
how life got to this point, or b: write more. I chose the second option. Mental
Damnation IV is coming along quite nicely. It is the longest book I’ve written
to date. The last of the revisions have been done and it will be off to the
editor shortly. If it weren’t for all this time at home, it most likely wouldn’t
be edit-ready until June.

There you have it – lots of work. I’m sure the
self-isolation adventures will get more interesting as the weeks – if not
months – go by. Tomorrow is wine-bottling day, so there will be plenty of
shenanigans in this household.

Beer Note: Parallel 49 Trash Panda

For this month, I tried the Parallel 49 Trash Panda. I’ve
had some friends talk about it before and thought I would give it a go. It’s a
hoppy drink that calls itself a Hazy IPA, sitting at 5.5% alcohol. It comes in
a can, as most of the small breweries are doing these days. Last month I said I
may swing back into lagers. I didn’t. Maybe the bitterness of IPAs is fitting
for the type of year we’re having.

The post Self-Isolation Adventures appeared first on Konn Lavery.

The White Hand novel for Free

In these uncertain times caused by the outbreak of COVID-19, Myself and the Rutherford Manor team felt a need to help people pass the time. We decided that we would offer the award winning novel, THE WHITE HAND, for a limited time to the world for FREE. All we ask is for you to join the Rutherford Manor Clan mailing list with your e-mail address.

Download Form

This includes both The White Hand and the supplemental narrative, Goodbye Irene. 

After you have finished reading the book, please be so kind as to leave a review of the book here on our Facebook Page and on Amazon.

I sincerely hope you enjoy this thrilling book of mystery & murder. I hope that it helps you pass the time and provides a distraction in the uncertain weeks and months to come.

Please stay safe and healthy.

The post The White Hand novel for Free appeared first on Konn Lavery.