Posts Tagged ‘ literature ’
It’s been a busy week in Kenny’s world. Today, you can read the guest post I wrote (“Where The Pen Drops”) on Penelope Reece’s blog (she’s the author of the YA paranormal novel Phantasma). She’s also written a review of Aversion. Click here for the link.
We’ve all done it before – browsing the aisles of a bookstore as you wait for your flight to be announced, scrolling through pages on Amazon looking for the perfect book to upload to your Kindle before your train commute, or (shock of all shocks) walking into Foyles to explore the wonders that publishers have deemed worthy to provide for our perusal. Most people will tell you that an author’s name or a blurb drive their purchase of books but let’s be honest, put a pretty picture on any old crap and you might be able to sell it to a king. When dropped in a sea of literary works, most of us usually walk towards (or hover over) a book because the cover attracts our attention. Then we notice the title and the author’s name (whichever is in larger font) before we even check what the book is about.
Why am I going on about this? I recently completed the first draft of my YA novella, Aversion, and was faced with the task of creating a cover for it. When it comes to marketing related tasks, I prefer this exercise to synopsis or blurb writing so I tend to spend more time on this than I should (although I’ve heard this doesn’t necessarily translate to the end product). I like book covers with block colours and few images on, like those I’ve included above. No pretty lasses in frocks floating about on my covers, thank you very much. Yes, those types of covers are eye catching and most people think that’s what young adult novel covers should look like but they don’t really have anything to do with my stories. It’s bad enough that people mistake some of my work for romance just because of the young adult genre (okay, this only happens with The Other Slipper but people, why can’t YA adventure exist without romance?).
Anyway, in my lengthy research on book covers, I came across this blog post which restored my hope in simple covers. It shows some iconic but simple book covers from the 20th century which support my notion that over glossed, fluffy covers are not necessarily the only way to go. Unfortunately I don’t think any of the titles are in the YA range (unless we class Lord of the Flies as YA) so maybe I still need to rethink my strategy. And maybe I need to step into the 21st century. Maybe…
I’ve previously uploaded my attempts at being a cover designer on here so I decided to put up the current fruits of my labour. Do people have any opinions? The covers are pretty much the same concept with slight variations (the three I’ve narrowed my efforts down to are at the top of this post). I’ve included the current blurb to give a feel of the story but all of these are subject to change before the end of year release of the novella. Let me know what you think.
Aversion – Book One of “The Mentalist Series”
For Gemma Green’s first time, things should have been straightforward. Find your subject, hold their gaze and push a thought into their head to save them from future disaster – Aversion complete. A pretty simple process given that the subject was to have no recollection of the experience. But Russ doesn’t seem to want to forget. In fact the more she tries to avoid him, the more he pushes to get to know her. Gemma knows she has a problem but is she facing the side effects of a failed Aversion or has the school’s tennis champ really fallen for her?
Ah, it’s that time of year again, WBN has opened its book list for readers to nominate their top 100 books. World Book Night 2013 Interactive Top 100 List
It’s an interactive (changing) list so will probably look quite different by the end of August when it gets frozen for the judges to decide the books that will be distributed in 2013. Exciting stuff! Last year when I did my “read” count, the list was fixed and I had read 26 out of a 100 books. I’m currently on 22 (31 if you count movie adaptations) but will check again at the end of the month to see if any of the books I’ve read have fallen off the 100 (or if new ones have been added).
I have to say though that I was quite shocked to see Fifty Shades of Grey on the list. I know everyone is raving about it and it’s now the most sold book in the UK ever (or something like that) but I have mixed feelings about this one being on the list. Although I’ve heard the story is compelling, I’ve also heard from numerous sources that the writing is basic/bad and that contrary to what a lot of women have said about it being liberating, the subject matter is pretty sexist and crude (this reader’s review says all there is to say really). I know what people might say, I shouldn’t really judge it till I’ve read it Continue reading
No, not you. I’m talking to the voices in my head. And no, you don’t need to call a medic (at least not yet). I do need help though. I’m trying to master the art of disassociation in relation to a host of things in my life. The rule is simple – the more I know about something, the less I can enjoy it without being critical. The common culprits tend to be things I’m supposedly proficient at. The premise sounds pretty obvious but lately it’s been bugging me a lot as it is interrupting the enjoyment of one of my favourite hobbies, reading – GASP! (yes, caps were necessary)
Not surprisingly, the first place I noticed this annoying trait was in my day job. Over the years I’ve developed a habit of walking into a room and noticing all the mundane things no one else cares about – door handles, air vents, toilet cubicle partitions, skirtings, balustrade fixing brackets, stair nosings. Why? Because as an Architect I spend far too many hours in a day reviewing ironmongery schedules or matching paint colours or carrying out other mind numbing tasks like that. The mundane elements then stick in my head and take away the overall beauty of the space.
Similarly, as a writer I am finding it more difficult to read a book without judging it as a writer. What are the books strengths and weaknesses? Head hopping? Character formation? POV switching? Over use of adjectives? I find myself looking for elements of a story that don’t work, even as I open up the first page. Or I spend ages trying to figure out why I didn’t enjoy a book instead of just accepting that I didn’t enjoy it and moving on to the next one as I would have done a few years ago. Continue reading
Okay, so I’ll admit it – I write drama. Not fast paced action filled fantasy novels like I wish I could, but fairly drawn out dramatization of ideas that my brain cells breed. Why do I feel the need to make this declaration? Well, I’m about a two-thirds of the way through writing my paranormal novella, Aversion (did I mention it’s going to be part of a series), and I’ve been trying to bear in mind some of the comments readers have made when reviewing my other works. Most of the reviews have been positive and have enlightened me on readers’ expectations and even some aspects of the craft of writing, however there are some things I know I can’t or won’t change about my style of writing because they are what makes my work original/mine (enough said about that). Anyway, one recurring point that I thought I could try to tackle was “pace”. Apparently I could do with speeding things up a bit, throw in a few more disasters for the protagonist to struggle through, provide more conflict, that kind of thing. Fairly easy to attempt, right?
Wrong! The more I type and the more I think of ways to incorporate these elements into the novella, the more I realise that this is a false expectation for me. I write slow paced stuff, simple. And maybe I should accept that there is nothing wrong with that. I write about how people feel, how they react to things that happen to them. How these things slowly (or rapidly) change their perspective of life. Yadidadida. And oh yes, my characters internalize things and brood a lot. Continue reading
I’ve finally finished the seven Potter books! It took four months (shame on me) but as most of the books were over seven hundred pages long, I think I did alright in the end. I initially tried to stick to reading them only at bedtime but the last book was too good to confine to my bedside. It probably helped that I was on holiday so I could read it round the clock (much to the annoyance of my companions). But I’m not writing this post to analyse my reading speed. I am also not writing it to say which book I liked best of the lot (Deathly Hallows, if you were wondering) – you can find my individual ratings and reviews on my Goodreads page review. I am also not writing this to harp on about how Harry annoyed me all the way to the end of the series (I think I already mentioned this in my initial post). What I’d like to discuss is what bugged me after I had read the last book.
I had a conversation with my brother about how the theme of The Hunger Games was a disturbing one (kids set loose in an artificial environment to fight to the death) and my argument was that the Harry Potter series was equally disturbing. Although touted as a series for children, I felt that the books quickly went from Middle Grade focus to Young Adult focus as it seemed that Rowling sought to match the age of her initial audience and let the dark theme of the stories evolve with them. If you approach the later books as Middle Grade stories, I imagine you would be equally shocked by the amount of dark thoughts, bouts of depression, death and maiming that was introduced. There was always the idea of death from the first book – Harry’s parents dying, the notion that Harry or Voldermot had to die for the other to live Continue reading
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