Two Firsts on One Day!

We all know this is the first #IWSG Wednesday and now this is the first time I’m going to show off the cover of my new book, Shattered: A Story of Betrayal and Courage. I’m giggling, so it’s good there’s no audio accompanying this post.

Coming Soon!

I fell in love with this artwork. If you notice in the upper left, there’s a hidden image and it’s just subtle enough to be foreboding, but not eerie. Something’s going to happen in this book, and it has to do with that image and the girl in profile.

Since I’m fascinated with book covers, I’ve read some articles about what makes a good book cover. Here’s a quick list of what I found.

A book cover should

grab people’s interest on a first lookmake people curiousrelay information about the book so that potential readers will open it and see what’s inside focus on one main idea and not put in every little detailappeal to the readers the book’s intended forbe unique AND OF COURSEencourage potential readers to buy the book

I think this one meets the criteria, but I’m really close to this project, so give me your opinion.

And now for the monthly #IWSG post Join Us Now

October 6 question – In your writing, where do you draw the line, with either topics or language?

The awesome co-hosts for the October 6 posting of the IWSG are Jemima Pitt, J Lenni Dorner, Cathrina Constantine, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, and Mary Aalgaard!

This is an interesting question, and I think it’s a tricky one to answer. My first thought when I read it was “I won’t write about anything that I’d be ashamed to put my name on.” But maybe that’s too vague. That doesn’t mean I’d avoid edgy topics–in fact, I’ve done the opposite; it just means that if I do tackle a topic that’s controversial or taboo, it has to be for a very good reason–perhaps to open that topic for discussion and expose it for what it is. Sometimes exploring the darker side of things in our world can help to weaken or even eliminate it. 

Since I write a lot for teens, I’ve chosen to write about things that they’re experiencing and having to deal with: loss of a parent, abuse, cutting, injustice, homophobia. If they see a character navigating these treacherous waters, perhaps they’ll recognize that others are going through similar difficulties, and that will give them hope of managing to do so as well.

As to language, anything that legitimately tells a story so that it sticks with the reader is okay with me; however, that definitely doesn’t mean I’m up for gratuitous swearing. That turns me off in any storytelling medium. Again, because of the category of fiction that I write, I choose to stick with cleaner language and find better ways to develop “skanky” characters. Their behavior is often the most vivid way to show the reader their true nature.

I’ve answered this question on the IWSG Blog Post today, but with a different angle. Hope you’ll stop by and check it out. This question should produce some interesting answers for October, so visit the blogs and read what our members think.

Quote of the Month: “Some people say, ‘Do not judge the book by its cover!’ People can say anything they want to say, but for me, the cover does matter.”
― Toba Beta, syfy writer from Indonesia