Cover Design for Newbies - Make the Kids Do It

I settled on a title for my new novella yesterday.

Today I spent many frustrating hours designing the cover for: "Make Willing the Prey". I already had a concept in mind, and figured I could easily use public domain clip art and The Gimp. I quickly learned just how wrong I was.

Two of my teenagers were within hearing distance of my various rants, and each time I complained, they offered to design it for me. Finally, I offered them a dollar figure, and pit them against one another to see who could design the best image.

B. hand-sketched a brilliant image, a loose interpretation of my original concept, but one that captured the idea better than I could have myself.

With a good image file, the rest was easy. I'm confident enough with graphics software that I was able to crop and make adjustments, add a title and byline, and have a completed image within a few minutes.

What do you think?

You Can't Catch Me!

Childrens' memes don't die.

A playground borders our backyard, and in the cool Seattle summers we keep the windows open most of the time. As I got dressed this morning, a very familiar tune swept into the room:

Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah,You can't catch me!

Identical, unchanged since I first learned it circa 1979. Every note in the tune was the same, every word chanted a copy of my own voice 20 years ago.

No adult teaches this song to children. No Sunday School teacher, no math book, no parents on long drives, no TV shows. It's more than just a song. It is imbued with custom and rules. It is part of a dozen of games. There is a ritualized time to chant it and a time not to.

It is a taunt that clearly declares that child's dominance of speed, or strength, or cleverness. It says, "I can't be beaten, but I want you to try."

After 20 years - no, much, much longer - this meme survives. It lives among our kids -- the least educated of us, those with minimal life experience. It is, in fact, one of the earliest remembered lessons of a child in most western cultures.

It is as if it comes bound in a picture book entitled "My First Meme".

The haunting thing to reflect on is how it is spread. It is passed down through the age-ranks. The older children teach it to the younger children, who teach it to the younger children when they get old, like a multigenerational telephone game. Only in this telephone game, the message remains unchanged. Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah, you can't catch me.

And it's not the only meme that is passed down without mutation. I have heard another familiar chant from that playground: Red rover, red rover send X right over. The rules of this game, and games like Tag and Redlight-Greenlight, remain unchanged after all this time, even when my own kids are old enough to no longer play them.

What is it that makes childrens' culture so unchanging, especially absent a top-down enforcement through mass media and religion?

Sure, the culture of children is affected to some degree by outside influences. Especially mass media. Popular trends come and go. Slap bracelets. Smurfs. Power rangers. Jelly shoes. Wheelies. Pokemon. Harry Potter. These flashes, like the blinking lights on my son's pair of light-up shoes 10 years ago, effect a generation's games, stories, songs, and fashions. My parents played cops and robbers. I played Smurfs vs. Gargamel. And I assume my kids played Potter vs. Voldemort.

But the core, the core of their culture, their foundational memes, remain through the generation gaps. My son doesn't remember the commercial jingles we remember; he doesn't get references and in-jokes to songs and movies from the 80's and 90's. And he certainly doesn't get any religious jokes or references to biblical metaphors. But he does remember the rules to tag. And he remembers nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah. Because thousands of kids in my grade taught it to thousands of kids in the grade below mine. And they taught it to the grade below them, and so on, until the 7-8-9-and-10 year olds in the playground behind our house chant it to this day. Like a flu virus passing from nose to nose, it survives, forever, in all of our brains.

And it is universal. These memes are not divided by subculture and genre. We all learned them -- even though as adults we separate ourselves into geeks, jocks, stoners, burners, Jesus Freaks, football fans, feminists, democrats, republicans, hicks, yuppies, hipsters, hippies, gay, straight, Baptist, Methodist, atheist, ad nauseum.

You could make yourself immune to all memes right now by sequestering yourself in a cave, and you would still know the words and tune to this childhood taunt. I was homeschooled, and I know this chant perfectly.

What is it that makes childrens' memes so pervasive and successful?

Finished!

Yesterday I finished the second-to-last-draft on "you know what", aka the Untitled Horror Novella.

Although now it's actually more of a Dark Urban Fantasy novella.

I will work on giving it a title today. My plan is to do a controlled free-write describing the story. A free-write is where you set a timer and start writing. You can't stop for anything. No censorship is allowed. If you can't think of anything to say, then you must type "I can't think of anything to say". A "controlled" free-write (which is my word for it) is mostly a free-write, but I pick a topic, and will allow myself a few pauses now and then, as long as I'm not getting too hung up.

I'm hoping that not only will a title fall out of the free write, but perhaps I can use it to develop the copy I use to sell the book. Aka the description for Amazon sales.

How does a horror story turn into urban fantasy? First you become possessed by a music video circa 1997. Then you lose your job (an unrelated event), and spend the next 6 weeks writing the story, inspired by the music video, that demands to be released from your soul. Then you submit it to your writer's group, and they tell you the first 12000 words are great, but the last 20000 words are total crap. They remind you that a good story should have ups and downs, like a roller coaster. Don't just sent your characters into the grist mill without at least making the reader think they have some sort of chance.

Then set the story aside for 13 years. Let it ruminate. Have some life experiences. Start up the writing again, and begin development on a universe where faeries are real.

Then reread the story. Realize the true nature of the antagonist. Realize that of course, he's a faerie! The elements are already baked into the story and need only a few adjustments (thank you subconscious!). Do some character development on the antagonist, do some exposition, let your formerly-doomed protagonists in on the secret so they have various ways of fighting back, and success! The story has been transmogrified, unplanned, into dark urban fantasy.

I like the story very, very much. But then, if I'm my only audience, I could simply write to myself and make the most perfect stories, for myself. The true test will be when someone actually reads the thing.

I've passed out copies to various family members. They have a reputation for honesty and I've made it clear that I can take whatever they dish out. Based on their commentary, I shall do the final edits.

Meanwhile, I'm starting cover design, formatting and layout, and other elements of publishing.

I also had another bout of insomnia last night. I'm noticing a pattern: reach a specific type of creative milestone, and be too hyper to sleep that night.

This time I recognized it early, and didn't waste any time laying around in bed. I of course had already done my read-for-an-hour routine, and tried meditating, thinking about my past, forcing myself to not think about writing, and other tricks. So as soon as I realized none of that was going to work, I hopped up (remember, I was hyper), took a melatonin, drank a glass of milk, and started answering OKCupid questions.

That did it! After about an hour I was ready for sleep. Whew!

Writer's Insomnia

It's 5:49am.

Yesterday I started the final piece of revision for the as-yet-untitled-novella at around 2pm. I finished around 7 or 8, and spent a couple of hours marketing and researching. At around 10:30, I found myself staring at the computer screen, unable to leave my post, but also unable to do anymore work.

I still have more work to do. I need to go back through and drop a few important pieces of information in earlier text. Then I want to read the whole thing in one sitting and do any final edits before showing it to my family for review.

However, sans braincells, staring at my computer wasn't going to help. So I decided to go read and fall asleep. But I had a singleness of focus. Reading Frank Herbert? Boring! I had a newborn story downstairs, kicking and screaming. I read a chapter. Put it down. Stared at the wall. Read another chapter. I wasn't getting sleepy, and no other activity interested me.

Finally at 11:30, I turned out the light and tried to sleep. Stop thinking about this project.

What's the next project? A new story sprung to mind. At 12:30 I tried to sleep. I got a glass of milk. I suppressed the new project (but not after doing a little research on my Evo).

It's the most incessant kind of insomnia. The kind that lets you fall into a light sleep, and then wakes you up again a few minutes later. Each falling, or almost-falling, takes a little bit of sleepiness away, as if there's a fuel required to fall asleep, and you're running out.

At 1-something, or was it 2, Roland came home and crawled into bed with me. He excitedly told me about his night and I fully entered wakefulness. I had to start all over again.

That was what, four hours ago?

Fortunately, I don't get insomnia often. When I do, I always know that once I get emotional, once The Anger sets in, it's simply time to get up. Since the sun is out, and I have to be somewhere at 10am, I suppose I'm Up For The Day.

But I'm not very useful for writing. My contacts are sticking to my eyes and my brain is sluggish. I want to yell at my story: "You see? You've kept me up all night, but how am I supposed to finish you now? Huh? Is this what you wanted??"

There's a certain level of energy writing gives me, and finishing the final scene after a major rewrite is exhilarating. And draining. Exhilarating enough to keep me from sleeping, draining enough to make it seem pointless to continue.

Maybe now is the perfect time to work on the title?

Too busy to blog?

The life of a full time writer is apparently a very busy one. I've been so busy with editing and marketing that I haven't had time to blog. :)

I've been studying all the methods for self-publishing ebooks. I really want to avoid spamming, but also somehow need to build momentum. This is the quandary all indie authors face.

Today I'm going to a writer's group for self-publishers. I've also found a few possible workshop-style writer's groups, so I can critique and be critiqued. This will be especially important as I write entirely new pieces. For now, I've just been editing stories that have already been through a workshop in one way or another.

My horror novella is coming along quite well. I'm pleased with how I've revitalized the plot. It was a lot of work, but I think it was worth it. I should finish the finale scenes today (barring interruption) and then the second draft will be done! I'm sure it will need one more round of minor edits, a review from the family, and then another round of major edits, then to Amazon it goes!

Last week I posted about how I'd published one of my stories, but I don't think I included any links. Which is folly. This week I improved the description and lowered the price to $.99. Just 99 cents! Well, it's short, and it's my first story, so y'all get a discount:

Guardian at the Gate

Van (aka Zornon the Devastator) has helped to create a new world within a world. But his most recent code patch has caused a bit of havok, unlocking a puzzle that isn't just a game. Pretend fantasy becomes real, and Van's friends must strike a bargain with the Guardian at the Gate .

Guardian at the Gate is a lighthearted novelette available on Kindle books for only 99 cents.

Oh, and I almost forgot! I made my first sale this week too! I've sold two copies. That's a grand total of $.70 gross profit! I'm on my way now for sure. ;)

Work On A New Old Story

I love my new life as a writer. Every day I'm hyper and happy. Especially when I get a lot done.

It's not always easy, and it does require discipline. The routine is starting to form, which helps.

I finished reading and marking up the ghost/vampire novella and it's a piece of crap. That's not to say it can't be salvaged, but it's going to be a lot more work than it's worth right now. Ghost/Vampire will avoid the trash bin, but it will also avoid the light of day.

Instead, I've picked up a much bigger piece. It's my longest "finished" piece, at 27,000 words, still within the range of novella. For lack of a title, I will call it "SA" for a now, since that's the name of the villain.

SA is a supernatural thriller/horror story about Sandy and Jina, two college girls who are lured into a creepy old house. The summer I wrote it, I was 22, a single mom, unemployed, and had just gotten an associates degree. I had just had a near-nervous breakdown after months on intense stress that culminated in finals and being laid off all in the same day. My stress level was so high that I had experienced several hallucinations over a few weeks. I labeled it "psychic attack", since that's exactly what it felt like: Like some intelligence was deliberately attacking my life and my mind.

I was watching a lot of MTV back then, back when they still played music videos. One had completely taken over my psyche, and inspired by that, the story forced me to write it. The feeling of being watched didn't fully end until I finished writing the story, 6 weeks after starting it.

My writer's group gave me very good advice. Everyone loved the first half. Gripping. Well-written. Good character development.

The second half, not so much. They rightly criticized its downward spiral. All good stories should have ups and downs, but this reaches a point where it's nothing but down. Something good should happen to my poor characters from time to time to give a sense of struggle.

That was the summer of 1997. Re-reading it after 13 years has left me with the same impression.

Fixing the plot on 16,000 words of a 27,000 word story is no easy task. But that's what I've been doing for the past week.

I started by heavily marking up the manuscript. Then I searched for writers tools. My main criteria was something that would let me break my story into small sections so I could get a good idea of the pacing and plot points. After trying a number of free and shareware tools, I settled on yWriter by Spacejock Software. It's free (requested donation) and written by a writer. (It's not as good as Scrivener, but that's Mac-only and I don't have a Mac.) I like that it saves the document sections as .rtf files, and that it tracks Characters, Locations, and Items as well as Chapters and Scenes.

I put all the scenes and sub-scenes into yWriter, and added notes about where I can lift the plot. I've given the villain a few weaknesses and some rules he has to follow. Oh, and I've made him a fairy. That's right. An evil fairy. It fits well with the existing story, since I think my subconscious was hinting at that. I just have to spell it out.

It's interesting that I'm tackling this story given the emotional intensity surrounding its writing. I've always felt that each writer puts a piece of themselves in every story. The characters, settings, and plot, much like a dream, are reflecting something about the writer's mind -- even if that part lies in the deepest recesses of their mind.

My recent therapy this year has often had me thinking back to this story. There is a lot of repressed darkness in this tale, and I think it holds some clues for me.

Here's to you, Carl Jung!