Writers in the Storm

by Melinda VanLone

Whether you’re designing your own covers or hiring someone to do it for you, it’s easy to fall prey to some common traps along the way. Here are five pitfalls to avoid as you navigate the wild world of cover design.

Genre Misfire

A great-looking piece of art that doesn’t represent your genre won’t help you in the long run. If it tricks the wrong reader into thinking they’ve just picked up the romance of the century, only to find it’s a thriller inside, they won’t be happy no matter how pretty you make the cover. And it will lead to bad reviews. If you’re hiring someone to design your cover, make sure they understand your story’s genre.  

DON’T DO THIS: Can you tell what genre this cover is trying to convey? This one is actually an example of both genre misfire and our next pitfall - Image Overload. The book is actually a horror novel, but the image has a romance vibe if you don’t look close enough. And if you do look close enough you’ll see six different images, making it a muddy mess. 

Image Overload

A picture is worth a thousand words, but it shouldn’t try to represent all the plot points of your novel. In fact, it shouldn’t represent any actual plot points at all. An overload of different images on a cover lets the reader know that the story will be just as convoluted. Less is more. Keep it simple. One main focal point will grab the reader and pull them into the story far better than a cover with five people, two dogs, and a fish.

DON’T DO THIS: This cover is clearly filled with every major plot point from the story, a problem because the reader has no idea what the plot is and these items don’t look related, much less inviting. 

Shy Author Syndrome

They say you should dress for the job you want, not the job you have. The same applies to your cover. First time authors tend to place their names in small letters huddled at the top or bottom of the page, almost as if they’re embarrassed. If the book is ready for a cover, you are about to be a Published Author. The reader can’t tell if you’re a Big Name or a Small Name unless you show them that by hiding. Be brave. Be bold. Put your name big enough to read in icon size. You are branding you, not the book. You want the reader to remember your name.

DON’T DO THIS: Notice how I’ve hidden my name in the lower right hand corner? It’s almost like it’s trying to crawl off the page. Nobody will ever find me again if I keep it that way. I’m not saying the name has to be so big it obliterates everything else, but don’t be afraid to let it shine. 

Special Snowflake Disorder

Your cover does not have to be a unique one of a kind piece of art. Instead, it should look very, very similar to the other covers in your genre.

Embrace the cliches. Those tropes you see over and over again on covers are the reason readers sigh with happy pleasure when they find your book. Ah, they say, pastel beach scene…here’s the sweet romance I’ve been looking for! If you wander too far outside the genre tropes, they not only won’t say that, they won’t buy your book. Your story is unique. Your name is unique. Your artwork should play nice with the other covers in the schoolyard.

DO THIS: You tell me…do you know what genre this story belongs to? Did you even have to think about it? Probably not. Neither will the reader. That’s a good thing.

Suspicious Source Sickness

Make sure the images used on your cover are purchased from legitimate stock photography sites. Whether you design your cover or you hire it done, it's your name is on the final product and you can be held liable for copyright infringement (even if you had no idea the image was stolen). Professional designers will produce a proof of purchase and/or license agreement on request.

DON’T DO THIS: While I won’t give you a live example here because that would violate copyright (irony, right?), I will simply reiterate the point: Do not use an image that has a watermark on it, a clear sign it’s been stolen. Do not use any great image you find on Google. Just because it’s on the internet doesn’t mean you have the right to steal it. 

Final Thoughts

Now that you know what to look out for it should be easier to navigate the cover infested waters. Know your genre tropes and use them to your advantage. Keep the image simple and your name bold. Use ethically sourced images. Do these things and you’ll be well on your way to a great cover.

What are your image pet peeves, or must-buys? Also, if you have questions or suggestions for a future article, please let me know in the comments!

About Melinda

Melinda VanLone writes urban fantasy, freelances as a graphic designer, and dabbles in photography. She currently lives in Florida with her husband and furbabies.

When she's not playing with her imaginary friends, you can find Melinda playing World of Warcraft, wandering aimlessly through the streets taking photos, or hovered over coffee in Starbucks.

Her elementary fantasy series, House of Xannon, begins with Stronger Than Magic. For more information on covers, visit BookCoverCorner.com.

by Jenny Hansen

Over the last few years, I've shared "Top 10" lists from several amazing people on the topics of writing and success but I haven't branched out into musicians. In my humble opinion, there's no one better to talk about creative success than Prince. (Yes, that Prince. aka Prince Rogers Nelson.)

This massively talented genius, who died in 2016 at age 57, left behind millions of devastated fans. He also left behind a locked vault reputed to hold 1,000+ unpublished or unfinished works. The contents of the vault are unknown as no one can get into it.

Prince wrote scores of hits under his own name, and others you might not have known were his songs, like:

• The Bangles’ “Manic Monday”
• Chaka Khan’s “I Feel for You”
• Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U”
• Shiela E.’s “The Glamorous Life”

Rather than examine boring things like his estate plan (which was so non-existent, they're still duking things out in court almost five years later), I'd like to focus on Prince's own inspiring words about how he built his phenomenal success.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from Prince on what success looks like for creatives:

1. Create from the heart.

Prince believed music should be inspirational. To him this meant: "Music that falls from the heart..[by] people who really feel what they're doing." He thought our creative gifts should be guided by something something beyond ourselves.

This brings to mind writing teachers like Julia Cameron or Elizabeth Gilbert who encourage writers to "show up and let the words move through you."

To me, this sort of trust is an act of faith. To show up to the page and bang out our words, good or bad, trusting that the words will come if we just show up to receive them. I said in my last post that this simple decision can move mountains (and get books finished) if you do it often enough.

2. Keep growing.

He said in an interview: "I don't know how any of us grow if we just tread water."

Challenge yourself. Grow. Don't do the same thing you always did. Surprise yourself. Showing up is always the first step. If you're showing up and challenging yourself to try new things, I am proud of you.

3. Don't criticize.

"I don't look at myself through other people's eyes," said Prince. He believed "if you're a true artist, you're using a gift you were given from God..to criticize your gift is to criticize God."

Whether you share that belief in the divine or not, I hope you can be kind to yourself and your beautiful gift. You have the power to lift up others through story, which is nothing to sneeze at.

And yet...most writers speak to themselves in a way they would never speak to a friend or fellow writer. Why do we do that?

4. Learn from the best.

Part of why we started WITS was so we could keep learning from all the smart writers, editors and teachers who post here. We are enlightened every month by the contributors here are Writers in the Storm.

Prince loved to watch band leaders like Bruce Springsteen and James Brown. Like them, he would switch things up once he got on the stage. He was known to have a 300 song playlist whereas other musicians I've spoken to might have thirty. Talk about a very fluid performer!

5. Love

His life and career was focused around faith. Larry King asked him what he did when bad things happen. He answered, "I learn from it, and I don't wallow in it.. I let myself move on."

Prince's original label (Warner Bros) had the rights to his music tied up for years in what was widely considered to be an unfair contract. He says he was able to let go of the anger, see their side of things and move on. He wrote a letter filled with love to them, while they still owned the rights.

Personally, I think what he did next was genius - he completely rebranded himself until the contract expired, and the rights reverted to him. The symbol was all about, these songs are mine and I own them.

6. Uplift others.

Like every great romance writer I've ever met, Prince believed his work should uplift. He believed in happily ever after. "There's enough things to bring you down, we don't need to jack our music up that way too. There's still a way to get anger and even hate across in [your work] but you still have to resolve [these emotions]."

Since he died, stories of how much good Prince did in the world have come out. He was a secret philanthropist. Whether if the secrecy was because he was a Jehovah's Witness, or because he was very private, but he gave millions to charities, particularly those that benefitted children.

7. Don't care what others say.

Prince didn't want to be like everyone else. For example, he stopped cursing in his songs once everyone else started. "Sexiness was in the mind, it was in your imagination. When you lose that, then it's just old skin."

8. Have role models.

Stevie Wonder was a major role model for him. He is why Prince learned to play all the instruments. He looked up to Stevie for "the way he crafted music and his connection to the spirit."

Basically, Stevie Wonder inspired Prince to dig deep and learn his craft. Once he did that, opportunities began to come to him, rather than him having to chase them down. While some of that was luck, a lot of it was just him expanding the boundaries of his talent and abilities.

9. Create true art.

Prince felt that "the record industry tends to promote things that are more salacious and hit-driven..It's a reality show." Many authors feel this way about the publishing industry, that the publishing professionals aren't taking chances on anyone new or anything different.

My opinion: we will never feel like we've "arrived" as authors if we don't push ourselves to write the stories that only we can write.

Sure, sometimes we'll write things purely for the money, but as Neil Gaiman recommended, "Don’t chase money. Just do your ideas when they come. If you do work that you’re proud of, even if you don’t get the money, you still have the work." There's a lot of satisfaction in doing work that you're proud of.

10. Be yourself.

One of my blogging friends, Natalie Hartford, had the best motto: "Be yourself. Everyone else is taken." I love that! Dr. Seuss said it a different way: "There is no one alive who is Youer than You."

Being himself certainly worked for Prince. Rolling Stone ranked him #27 on the list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. At every stage of his career, there was no one else like him. And we liked it like that.

Did you see as many parallels as I did between the music and publishing industries? Which of his Top 10 tips was your favorite? What Top 10 tip of your own do wish you'd learned earlier? Please share it down in the comments!

Sources:

https://youtu.be/BKr5NlwgYdw

• 21 Strange Facts You Didn't Know About Prince
• 11 Surprising Facts About Prince
• Prince Keeps His Fans Guessing
• Prince's countless charitable activities come to light after his death
• Prince: The Philanthropist

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About Jenny

By day, Jenny provides corporate communications and LinkedIn advice for professional services firms. By night she writes humor, memoir, women’s fiction, and short stories. After 20 years as a corporate trainer, she’s delighted to sit down while she works.

When she’s not at her personal blog, More Cowbell, Jenny can be found on Facebook at JennyHansenAuthor or at Writers In The Storm.

By Ellen Buikema

Secondary characters add depth and interest to the world your main character inhabits, helping to make the tale more memorable. They play a significant role in your story, but aren’t necessarily integral to the plot. These characters may be protagonists or antagonists of their own subplots.

Strong secondary characters reveal more about your primary character by, motivating, creating stumbling blocks, or helping define the setting by use of cultural clues. He or she may goad the protagonist into doing something out of character to the benefit or detriment of either of them.

These ancillary characters may become more popular than your protagonists. This happened to me in my children’s chapter books as Frankie, Charlie Chameleon’s obnoxious pet fish, became the favorite of many readers, adults as well as children. There is something about Frankie, maybe his naughtiness, that makes him relatable.

5 Tips for Secondary Characters

Help advance the plot

The subplots develop these characters’ relationships and contribute texture to the story. They need to be well rounded without extraneous details so the story doesn’t become mired and confusing.

Make them multi-dimensional

Supporting characters don’t need as much detail as you’d give to primary characters. Consider using the same character building blocks you use for the protagonist: personality, backstory, mindset, relationships . . .

Not everything you create about the secondary characters will end up in the story. But it’s better to have more than you need than not enough.

The best characters are flawed

These characters are not all good or all bad, but a combination of both. Characters that live within the shades of gray are more interesting. Consider allowing them to be self-serving to a degree. Secondary characters have needs, too.

Sometimes they're too much of a good thing

Secondary characters are a lot of fun to write. But sometimes they are so interesting that they might become overdeveloped and overtake the main character. If this happens, you can always set aside some of the story highlighting this particular character as notes for another tale. This secondary character may become a future protagonist.

If you find that you’ve created too many secondary characters, you can always combine the essences of a few of them and create a stronger, unique character with multiple dimensions.

Make them location or vocation specific

Remember when you were very young and thought the grocer lived at the grocery store or the teacher lived at school?

Connect your secondary character to one locale when possible. This will make it easier for your reader to keep track of who is who and what their relationship is to the main character. It’s no fun having to page through the book to remember who a character is. The tie between location and character helps firm that piece of information in the memory of the reader.

Other Useful Secondary Character Tips

Supporting Characters vs Minor Characters

Secondary characters can make a short appearance, sometimes only in one chapter. This individual still moves the story forward, but makes a minor impact.

Supporting characters exist to illuminate your protagonist, and through their subplots, affect the main character’s decisions. Without supporting characters, the main characters can’t achieve their goals.

Exercise to evaluate secondary characters

Choose some of your favorite novels.

Choose two or three secondary characters and analyze their roles in each novel.

• Are the characters autonomous? How?
• Are their names unique?
• Do they add tension in the story? How?
• Are they relatable? In what way?
• Do they help move the story forward? How?

5 Secondary character types

Mentor

Mentors instructs, offers words of wisdom, encourages and supports the main character. They are often the impetus for the protagonist’s internal growth. In Carlos Casteneda’s Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan, the Yaqui sorcerer and shaman, don Juan Matus, teaches Carlos how to perceive reality in a unique way.

Adversary

The adversary creates conflict. They stand in the protagonist’s way and interfere with their goals. They create an opportunity for the reader to see the protagonist under pressure as they deal with conflict. Most of the Lannisters in A Song of Ice And Fire by George R. R. Martin are adversaries. They provide plenty of interference. 

Comic relief

Oscar Wilde said, “If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you.”

The bringers of comic relief compare or contrast the protagonist’s lighter side. They add a dash of brightness and humor, highlighting how the protagonist handles funny situations, for good or ill. Bob “the skull” is a wickedly funny spirit of intellect who advises Harry, the protagonist, in Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files. Bob has multiple roles of instructor, lab assistant, and provider of comic relief.

Love interest

The love interest helps the main character to grow romantically. They can also create as well as provide openings for humor. They show how the protagonist deals with love, intimacy, sexuality and conflict in both negative and positive ways. Edward Cullen is the love interest of Bella Swan in Stephanie Meyers’ Twilight. What to do when in love with the undead?

Best friend

The best friend brings out the main character’s feelings that might otherwise remain hidden. They show the protagonist in a close but not necessarily sexual relationship. Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are Harry’s two best friends in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Each provides a close friendship of a different type.

As you can see, secondary characters are anything but minor.

What type of secondary characters do you enjoy most? What do you feel is the most important role of supporting characters?

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About Ellen

Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written non-fiction for parents and a series of chapter books for children with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Works In Progress are, The Hobo Code, YA historical fiction and Crystal Memories, YA fantasy.

Find her at http://ellenbuikema.com or on Amazon.

Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay