The Making of a Book Trailer

When we released my allegorical Vampire novella, Vampire Rising, in July, I quickly realized I wanted to create a book trailer for it. To make a book trailer I knew I had to meet a new challenge—I’d already told the story—but for the video I needed to retell it. Visually. This was the challenge. I am a story teller: in my day job I tell stories; if you’ve ever met me in person and spoken to me you will, no doubt, remember I am prone to telling stories; as a writer, I tell stories. But for my writing life, I focus on the words—the words for me are as important as the story itself. I want to use the right words, to define a mood, to capture the rhythms I hear it in my head.

Having written four books, I’m fairly confident in my voice but I knew I’d have to rely on images and actions, rather than words, to tell the story. The story’s main premises are simple enough: “history repeats itself,” and “people are people.” The story is told in certain colors: purple and gray and silver and black and white are the predominate colors. The main elements are an elaborate wrought iron gate and mockingbirds. We managed to capture these for the book’s cover. But how could I replicate that on video?

Continue reading this post here.