IWSG: (Re)Working It

This first Wednesday of the month is The Insecure Writer's Support Group day, the day when writer's post about their insecurities--we all have them--and offer support, advice and share experiences of this writing life we have taken on.

Thank you to Alex Cavanaugh and his co-hosts this month,  Tamara Narayan, Patsy Collins, M.J. Fifield, and Nicohle Christopherson, for all their hard work in bringing this endeavor together.

This month's question is: Have you ever pulled out a really old story and reworked it? Did it work out?

The short answer is: No.

What I am in the process of doing, however, is taking a Young Adult series that never made it for various reasons, mostly inexperience, to Adult. So in a way, it's a bit of reworking in the sense that it's the same characters, different stories.

I've branched out and tried my hand at writing different things over the last couple of years. I was going to write more grown up stuff, and not be so "vanilla", if that's the right term. But either I'm not ready or it's just not me. I enjoy writing cozy mysteries and I don't want bad things to happen to my characters and I want there to always be a happy ending. It's quite the quandary, and quite the balance, to introduce conflict and maintain tension.

But--I enjoyed writing my YA series and now I'm enjoying writing these characters as Adults. I hope I've grown enough as a writer to pull it off. In any case, I'm working it--to the extent that I've had a new header made based on the series.

So...check out my new blog header! It's based on the world I created. My series takes place in Sabrina Shores, England, a modern day medieval village that's incredibly haunted. The ghostly residents seem to want to stay, so of course it creates lots of havoc for Indigo Eady (pictured in the forefront), ghost whisperer, and my main character.

Here's a shout out to Corona Zschusschen, my illustrator, on creating it for me! It's such a visual motivator, bringing to life the village and characters that I pour my heart into through my writing.

What about you?

Have you ever taken your characters from one age group to another? Did it work out?

Do you use visual motivators?

The Partners in ParanormYA Are Baack!

 

Remember those two crazy gals who write paranormal but are too scared to read or watch it themselves? Yeah, those two - Angela Brown and Gwen Gardner. We're back with our sequels and can't wait to share them with you!

 

But for now, it is with great pleasure and a thrill in our hearts that the Partners in ParanormYA reveal the covers for our follow-up stories to our currently available novels: Givin' Up the Ghost (Gwen) and Neverlove (Angela).

*cue drumroll*

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THEY ALL FALL DOWN by Angela Brown (Add to Goodreads)

 

Cover design by Heather McCorkle

 

 

Abby and Basil: New love reaches new heights as they finally give in to their lust and desire for each other.

Q: Consumed by the Devourer within and his base need to claim Abby as his own.

The crave: What it all boils down to. A crave for souls. A crave to keep love intact beyond betrayals. A crave for a second chance. A crave for power and The Fall of mankind.

“Love can conquer all” is put to the test and salvation may be impossible when it’s “ashes, ashes…they all fall down.”

~

A GUILTY GHOST SURPRISED by Gwen Gardner (Add to Goodreads)

Cover illustration by Corona Zschusschen

 

An Angel Among Us

 

Paranormal happenings at the Eady household are the norm. Recently, things have become downright peculiar. Childish giggles at odd hours of the night lead Indigo Eady to her little cousin, Bryan, a guileless cherub spirit, complete with Spider Man pajamas and a set of faux angel wings. The problem is that Bryan died nearly three years ago in a hit and run that killed him and his mum. The driver was never found.  Now the gang must solve the mystery of his death in order to send him back to heaven.  But where to start when the trail is three years cold?

Indigo Eady

Indigo Eady is not clumsy. At least, that’s what she keeps telling everyone. Can she help that the overactive spirit community of Sabrina Shores causes her psychic abilities to short-circuit? It’s unfortunate that her cute friend Badger is often on the receiving end of her mishaps. At times, she is positively hazardous to his health. Even so, sparks fly in more than one direction.

 

About Gwen

Gwen Gardner is a native Californian living in sunny San Diego, where her love of reading and writing led to a BA in English literature. Life is now complete with her husband, two dogs and a daily call from her daughter.

Since ghosts feature prominently in her young adult Indigo Eady Paranormal “Cozy” Mystery series, she has a secret desire to meet one face to face - but will run screaming for the hills if she ever does. Gwen adores travel and experiencing the cultures and foods of different countries. She is always up for an adventure and anything involving chocolate - not necessarily in that order.

Haunt at the following: Blog | Twitter | Facebook

 About Angela

 

Angela is a lover of Wild Cherry Pepsi and chocolate/chocolate covered delicious-ness. Steampunk, fantasy and paranormal to contemporary - mostly young adult - fill her growing library of books.

 
Mother to a rambunctious darling girl aptly nicknamed Chipmunk, life stays busy. Her favorite quote keeps her moving: "You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Haunt at the following: Blog | Twitter | Facebook

Illustrator Spotlight: Corona Zschusschen

I don’t have to tell you all that I have some major Cover-Lovin’ going on for my book, Givin’ Up The Ghost. I finally got to show the front cover off last week during my cover reveal.

You know what else is awesome?

The back cover!

Check it out.

Of course, it’s all attributed to my very talented illustrator, Corona Zschusschen, who I am thrilled to be spotlighting and interviewing today.

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Illustrator Spotlight

Name: Corona Zschusschen
Nationality: Dutch
Occupation: Illustrator and graphic designer
Lover of: Nature, stars, books-books-books, sci-fi and cats

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Welcome Corona! Tell me something about yourself.

I'm Corona, 30 years young and I'm from the Netherlands. I live in a medium sized town called Enschede, with 2 cats and a great guy. Especially great, because without him I wouldn't be able to chase my dream of being an illustrator.

How long have you been illustrating?

I think I've been drawing all my life. As a child I moved around a lot. Drawing was one of the steady, constant things in my life. Something I could do anywhere at any time. Even though I've been drawing all my life, I've only started being serious about it the past few years. Now I feel confident enough to call myself an illustrator (Explaining you're an illustrator works better at parties than telling you draw things). At the same time I'm never done learning, you have to keep practicing to get better.

How do you start a new illustration?

I also do research and search for inspiration. Mostly online, but sometimes I go somewhere, take a walk after sundown, take pictures of things I see that may be relevant. Often I ask a friend to pose, so I see what gesture or angle works best. But sometimes, when I'm really lucky, it just happens. I sit behind my computer and I start drawing. It's rare when I use paper and pencils, I've become quite dependent on using my drawing tablet to sketch out ideas.

A drawing tablet? How does that work? I’m envisioning etch-a-sketch on a computer, but I imagine it’s a little more complicated than that. (Do they have etch-a-sketch in the Netherlands? Or is it something like Paintbrush in Microsoft?

I'm not sure if they have Etch a Sketch here, they do have this toy that has a white board with iron particles, and you use a magnetic pen to bring the particles up to the surface. Much easier than turning two knobs I think ;) A drawing tablet is a device that you can connect to the computer (see the picture attached, this is my current desk setup :).



It has a pressure (and angle) sensitive pen. The tablet can mimic brush and paint-like strokes. I use it in combination with Photoshop. The only thing you have to get used to when using a tablet like this, is that you have to look up at your computer screen instead of down at your paper.

That is amazing. And how do you color it in?

The same way I've drawn it. Also digital. The program I use (Photoshop) has a digital equivalent of a colour palette. So I can choose colours and paint those in. For me the process is similar to painting traditionally, except that the computer offers the (awesome) 'Ctrl+z' option. This means that when you make a mistake you can simply return to a previous non-mistake version. I once spilled a pot of black ink all over a drawing on paper, oh how I missed 'Ctrl+z' buttons.

How did you come up with the idea for my book cover?

I have to let things sink in and settle before I have any ideas. The best ideas happen in those few minutes before you fall asleep. After you mailed me I printed out the chapter and scenes you had on your website. I read them several times before I went to bed and underlined passages that described atmosphere, mood and appearance. I wanted your cover to tell a story, convey a sense of excitement and mystery, not to be just a static image. I hope I succeeded in bringing that message to the reader.
What also helped is that you clearly knew what you want and didn't want in a cover. This made it easier for me to think up a concept.
For example, the design of Indigo Eady was very important. Not just looks-wise, but also her facial expression and placement on the cover. Do we want her to look at us (the reader) or back at the mysterious people who are chasing her? Is she scared or confident? I went through several designs until Gwen gave the thumbs-up.

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And there you have it folks, the very talented illustrator, Corona Zschusschen!

How did I find this whole process?

Fascinating!

How did I choose my illustrator?

For my part, I knew I wanted something different than the usual young adult cover. I write what I consider Young Adult Paranormal Cozy Mysteries. The emphasis is on “cozy,” which I haven’t really seen in young adult fiction.

Lovely as they are, I knew I didn’t want the edgier, realistic photographic cover. I wanted something softer, cozier. I wanted middle-grade for young adult.

I found Corona's artwork as a heading/banner on another blog months and months before I even started thinking about a cover. I added the page to my favorites, and when it was time, I approached her for an estimte.

I couldn’t have imagined a better cover than what Corona created for me. It was exactly what I wanted!

Thank you for being here today, Corona. And thank you so much for creating my awesome cover and being part of my exciting journey.

You can find Corona at:


Her websites:

http://www.sjusjun.com/


http://www.afterhorizon.com/


Email:  sjusjun@gmail.com


Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/corona.zschusschen

Twitter: @sjusjun