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Tim Arnot - Flick Carter #1: FREED!
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Tim
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Feb 10, 2013 05:49AM
Splash of colour might help (i.e. don't desaturate all of it...)
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Andrew wrote: "Oi, I like brick walls ;)"But your brick walls are a backdrop for other stuff going on. That's... just a brick wall, albeit a bit busted up.
Just finished editing the second draft. Hurrah!!!!Back to "proper" work tomorrow. :(
Booo for proper work. Stops so many good people from writing!
I hear ya!I guess now is a good time to put the call out - anyone who wants to be a beta reader, please sen me a PM :)
I should add that you need to be able to read a MS Word .docx file, and if you include your email address, I'll know where to send it :)
Woot Woot! Well done Tim!!!
*pompom dance*
Thanks DD. :) You still up to beta read it?
Sure thing, Tim.Just tell me what you need: an opinion on the book as a whole or something deeper and more technical???
some more cover styles and ideas...
Just ordered 100 stone arrowheads from a flint knapper in Germany (where's Phil Harding when you need him...). Will certainly make some of them up into arrows! Or at least try!Doing some planning for book 2 now :)
Tim wrote: "Just ordered 100 stone arrowheads from a flint knapper in Germany (where's Phil Harding when you need him...). Will certainly make some of them up into arrows! Or at least try!Doing some planning..."
Arrows... should I be worried Tim???
Depends where you're standing, I suppose (the safest place is probably directly in front, since I'm a lousy shot...)
Get worried if he starts making bows as well, DD!
I like no. 1 and no. 4 best unless you outline the white ones. They just bleed off. Actually I prefer the writing horizontal. I expect that's no help at all! ;)
The one(s) with the wall really don't look good in WoB, but ther'e enough edge for the white to work IMHO. I like the noose on black, but it's a bit too generic thriller, I think. I do quite like the vertical writing though...
Hey Tim, of the four I prefer the noose on black, but for me it doesn't relate to the atmosphere I get from the writing. The cover is to attract people who don't know the story, but I thinkit should give a suggestion of what you'llfind inside. WhenI look at this I think thriller as you suggest yourself. I think this comes from the choice of font and the bold mix of black, white and red too as it puts me in mind of a graphic detective novel.
I wonder, having read some of the book, if a close up of a tree trunk with an arrow shot into the bark. If the text gets lost you could alter the contrast or overlay a 50% tint of black. Just a suggestion, but for me I would then be opening the book and finding a taste of what the cover suggested.
I'd also considered a flexwing, which features quite heavily in chapter 1 and also makes a couple of other appearances, but that's probably more appropriate for book 2.
Yep. That's a good 'un. Who's that beggar Stock Photo though? ;)
Here, Tim, just a thought, but if you want a pic of really atmospheric tree, I have just the thing. I'll mail it to you, mate.
Thought I'd post a few location photos...
This is the town hall, which also serves as a jail. It is tiny, but there is room to fit a staircase and a barred cell in the downstairs section. At the far left you can see the edge of The Bell hotel, and the road that leads off to the South Gate. Folly Hill is off to the left, and the school, library etc off to the right. Picture taken from The Crown Inn.
Another view of the square, showing The Crown on the right and The Bell on the left. The road immediately in front of the camera goes up a short hill to the church, vicarage and mayor's mansion.
The Crown frontage.
Folly Hill and the folly. The 100ft tower is actually registered as a lighthouse, believe it or not. It's used as a lookout post, and the Choosing takes place here.
The entrance hall of Exam House, and the home of the Kingsmen. (mostly from the Socko short story)
I don't have any pictures, but here's the wiki page for white horse hill: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uffingto... and the nearby hill fort http://www.berkshirehistory.com/castl...
That's great Tim! It's wonderful to see the places you had in mind as you wrote it.
I prefer the earlier ones. You know what they say, "Never give a toddler a choice."
I'm with Nighty Night on this one, Tim.
I dunno, tweak the font and the photo a bit... I quite like this one!
It is better and I do like it... but is it too dark to see when you shrink it down???
Also it makes it look a bit like an adult spy/thriller rather than a YA adventure/distopian novel. (It just doesn't seem to 'fit' with the book like the arrow and noose did.)Just my opinion and I might be COMPLETELY wrong: wouldn't be the first time!!! ;-P
I can lighten it up a bit easily enough, or put the title text in white with a red border...
Definitely readable in the Finder thumbnail ;)
I'd go tree with Arrow Tim. What about the runner in the background of the tree. Really like the new title font though.Created the cover of my to be third book today. I'm going to avoid the torment you're putting yourself through; just going to go with what I've got.
Arrow does it for me Tim.
Problem with the arrow is finding a convincing stock photo that doesn't then look like a really cheesy collage - I'd hate to pay a lot of money for something that looks cheap and tacky - I could commission an artist for less than the price of the two items in the mockup! (spent two days combing the countryside - and have the mud encrusted clothes to prove it - and have come to the conclusion that there are no straight, or even nearly straight, trees in England!)Been out & about for much of the day, but I have managed to read the first couple of chapters of your new book :)
Okay, the final cover design is decided on, along with another design for the Socko short. Both of which are on my blog for the viewing. And there's a hint as to when it might be available... (shock horror!)
Tim wrote: "Okay, the final cover design is decided on, along with another design for the Socko short. Both of which are on my blog for the viewing. And there's a hint as to when it might be available... (shoc..."Woot Woot!!!
New blurb:23rd Century Britain is tough. There's few people, no oil and no electricity (by order). Kingsmen rule the country with a rod of iron, and exact the severest of penalties for the smallest of crimes.
When a mysterious boy falls from the sky, sixteen year old Flick Carter must save him. That is her first crime. Falling in love is her second. But someone even worse than the Kingsmen wants him - and now her - dead. In a town of just 150 people, you can't hide. So you run. Or you die.
And I've just created a Goodreads entry for it :)
Well done Tim. Like the cover you settled on.
Love the blurb. Love the cover.Rock on, Tim.
Hi Tim!Just to tell you that I finished 'Hunted'today!!! Having issues with my computer so it'll be a week or so before I can send my red-lined copy back!!! ;-P
Actually I found very few mistakes. I always read the story through first to get a 'proper' sense of it,and then read it again to look for typos.
I just wanted you to know that I hadn't forgotten!
By the way I loved the plot, but I'm wondering why I was only a Corporal?!?!? ;-P
You mean, you'd rather be a Rupert? Everyone knows that corporals and sergeants are really in charge...
Tim wrote: "You mean, you'd rather be a Rupert? Everyone knows that corporals and sergeants are really in charge..."Smooth... Okay Corporal it is!!! ;-P
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