Who
would have thought writing could be so complicated? I mean of course there is the obvious – the
writing itself and getting it finished but there is so much more. Each further step both eats away at
confidence and builds excitement. Your
head literally spins with it all.
My
book is currently with my editor (Don’t get too excited at this). So far she
likes it but I suspect a bias somewhere in there because she is also my eldest
daughter. You might at this stage ask if
she is a professional and I would have trouble answering that. Yes she is but is she an editor? No she is not
but there is no one I would rather trust with this. When she was younger and
when she was doing tertiary studies she would bring me her work. I always knew just what to do with it without
altering her style, her words and most of all her voice and I feel strongly she
will do the same for me. It’s like we each have this unique ability to know
where the other’s work should be. It
will take a while because she is busy but it will get done. I am confident though and so proud that I
have her to ask because truthfully writing is also an expensive business. There are proof-readers, agents to consider, so
many other things unless you somehow magically snare a traditional publisher
who then saves your sanity from worrying about these other things.
I am hyperventilating as I write.
The
manuscript must fit a certain criteria of size and font and sequence. You have to ensure you have started a new
page for every chapter. You have to
consider the reader being able to get to a selected chapter. And then, is it enough to just end the book
on a simple use of the words The End? What about giving the reader something else
to look forward to (I am aware that a lot depends on them wanting to know you
further but I live in hope, a lot of hope)?
There are dedications to think about, what about a blurb, and let’s not
forget the cover? The cover? We need a cover? But wait a minute my novel is an eBook? So
why would I need a cover?
So?
So indeed? The cover like the blurb is
an insight into what a reader will find and it can make or break the reader’s
interest. My Unexpected series is a
contemporary romance series where love often struggles but the feelings reign
supreme and are expressed with lots of hot sex because my characters are
passionate about each other once they recognise they belong together (and
sometimes even before that moment). I
want the cover to reflect this but I don’t want it to necessarily reflect or
harp on the sex alone. My series is a
romantic one where sex is explosive because of the emotions driving my
characters.
Thus
begins the endless search through photos and I mean endless. You have to find the right thing that suits
your description of your characters down to the hair length and eye colour. The right male figure needs to be clean
shaven, or not? Does he work better if
we focus on him looking at her? Should
she be looking away from him? Their
romance is quite torrid and the expressions need to express this, or do they? Are you getting the idea of just how
difficult one thing can be to decide on?
Surprisingly
after hours and hours and hours and hours you still have nothing but yet find
you are a little closer to the goal.
Does that sound contradictory?
What I mean is that you discover what doesn’t work and that is a start,
a real start towards achieving your aim and has to count for confidence,
gaining it I mean.
Write
to me with your ideas please as it would help me to know what your preferences
are, after all it is about you and what you like. I am just the medium or will be as soon as I
get the first book out there.