Tell Me About Your WIP!

[Gracie J.]

@r-m-archer I know! Every time I hear “don’t judge a book by its cover,” I just shake my head. That’s what I do. That’s what all readers and authors do. By George, when you’re researching cover design, that’s what experts tell you to do–prepare to be judged, and yeah, a lot of times, the cover defines the book. (Not always, admittedly, but sometimes.)

Oh, I’m definitely judgmental about characters! I can’t tell you how many times I have thrown a book down and called half of the characters idiots! (Usually, it’s a term of endearment, though. 😋)

Ooo…watercolor would be so gorgeous! (What do I have that would look good in watercolor…?) I’d check out her work–she’s done some nice fantasy covers. Plus, she’s a Christian, so you won’t have to be scrolling through covers of naked people. (That’s a common problem, you know.)

I’ve been having a hard time deciding on my defining element (or even the color scheme) for Bound and Determined. There’s just SO much that I could put on that cover! Ugh…

Here–have a key, er, piece. It’s frosted with a smooth chocolate buttercream and boasts and raspberry filling. (You do like raspberries, don’t you? I can give you the piece with the cherry filling, if you’d prefer that.)

Well, most of my readers are older friends/family members, so they’re automatically more liable to click onto Amazon, since they have accounts, than they are to create an account on Goodreads–and I’m also able to bug them to death about it. 😉 I’ve read several books where the author specifically asks for reviews on Amazon and Goodreads both–in the eBooks, they’ll include the links to make it easier. It’s never too presumptuous, I would think, since most readers who enjoy books don’t mind gushing about them. Plus, you can also offer a free short story in exchange. Like, “Let me know if you’ve written a review, so that I can thank you with a free eBook” or something. (There’s seriously an author who does that…she’s awesome.)

I would definitely love more reviews myself–the most I have on a book is 9. 😪 I’ve taken to bugging people about it. (No, not really…yes, really.)

I’m so looking forward to having betas. I’ve had my family (two members of which edited my novels) and a couple friends read it, but that’s different. They’re not as liable to edit or give feedback or even say “hey, I didn’t really like that part,” because of the connection. I’d really like a reader’s-eye view–especially on BAD, but I’ll just have to make do.

the resident romance ghost; last seen within the pages of a gothic novel

[R.M. Archer]

@gracie-j

Exactly. A cover has to do so much: convey the genre and tone, hint at the plot, be high enough quality for people to assume the book inside is also high quality… (Of course… then there are those books that have beautiful covers and then the book inside is lousy. Those are always a bummer.)

I knowwww. So many characters are idiots. XD (Lovable idiots, but… their lives would be so much easier if they’d just listen to us, right? ;D)

Oh! I’ve seen her books before! (I imagine she designed her own covers, too?) They’re really nice. She seems to do historical fiction better than anything else, though. Her other designs are good, but they’re a bit less eye-catching and seem a tiny bit less put-together, in my opinion. Her historical fiction covers are beautiful, though!

Yeah, some books are a lot harder to envision covers for. XP It took me a while to finally figure out what might work for Calligraphy Guild, and I don’t even want to think about a cover for The Half-Elves because I so have no idea… (Fortunately, I won’t have to for a while yet, lol.) I hope you’re able to figure out Bound and Determined! 🙂

Oooh, it sounds delicious! Thank you! *pops the delicacy into my mouth*

Ah, I suppose that makes sense. (I have a bunch of reader readers… if that makes sense… so they’re all over Goodreads and don’t think as much about Amazon.) I don’t actually remember what’s in my back matter. That’s terrible, lol. I was thinking I mentioned both, but I may have forgotten because of my own reviewing tendencies. 😛 *checks the back* Nope, I mentioned both. Offering a freebie is a good idea; I hadn’t thought about doing that for reviews. I’ll have to give that some thought. 🙂

I’ve only got 11 ratings/8 reviews on my most well-read book, so you’re not too far behind. But I hope you’re able to get more! ^-^ (Where can I find your published books?)

Yeah. For me, the two groups overlap to an uncommon degree, lol, but my “real life” friends are a lot less likely to rip into my work. My best friend does do a good job of asking questions about how things work, which can be super helpful, but she’s also very much a “cheerleader” reader. Which is also super helpful! But it needs to be balanced out with more criticism, lol.

I’m curious, based on your signature, do you speak French or do you just know the “bluestocking” translation?

Speculative fiction author. Mythology nerd. Singer. Worldbuilding enthusiast.

[Gracie J.]

@r-m-archer

I’m going to go backwards, so…non, je ne parle pas français. Eh, a little bit. As in, enough to keep from insulting someone, you know? I’m working on learning–very slowly–and I can read more than I can speak. And, yeah, it’s more that I know the bluestocking translation.

That’s how my mom is–she actually hates reading, so it’s more of a “let me make sure you didn’t write anything evil” and a she’s-my-mom-so-she-has-to-read-it-deal. And then I had to bribe my sister…yeah. It’s bad.

Thank you! You can find them on Amazon–but I suggest searching for “Prisoner at Heart” because my name and Held Captive don’t really turn up anything (apparently half of the population of the world is name Grace A. Johnson or some variation and they’ve all written a book called Held Captive).

Roseanna White designed five of her own–two separate covers each for A Stray Drop of Blood and A Soft Breath of Wind and then a cover for Giver of Wonders. Her historical ones are definitely the best–which is great for me!

Something that helped me was actually finding a picture that I liked that kind of fit either my MC or a setting, then basing a scene off of it. The cover photo for HC actually inspired a scene in which my heroine wears a red dress (a rarity for a pirate captain) and the cover of PAH was inspired by a picture of a girl that matched my heroine, so, in a roundabout way, everything worked. I just don’t have that kind of inspiration for BAD–although having a girl in a yellow dress standing somewhere will fit with the rest of the series.

I hope you can figure something out for yours as well!

So true! Especially about the quality–and even the content. Most covers with half-clad people on them are Harlequin or otherwise evil, and then sometimes you can even tell the publisher by the styles of fonts and stuff used on the cover. I’m for real. Especially when it comes to those Mass Market Paperbacks/dollar store books.

the resident romance ghost; last seen within the pages of a gothic novel

[R.M. Archer]

@gracie-j

Ah. Well, learning is fun! I’m currently studying French, so I was curious. 🙂

Oh dear. 😛

LOL. Cool! I’ll check it out. ^-^

That’s cool! The covers for The Codebreakers series and the Ladies of the Manor series are my personal favorite, but I guess those weren’t her designs.

Ooh, interesting! I hadn’t thought to do it the other way around like that. 🙂

You can identify the publisher by fonts? Interesting. I wonder if each house has a specific pool they can pull from, or if they just have designers with particular favorites…

Speculative fiction author. Mythology nerd. Singer. Worldbuilding enthusiast.

[Gracie J.]

@r-m-archer Those covers are definitely beautiful, but since her other novels are traditionally published (her biblical ones were published by her husband, who owns a publishing company), they have their own–amazing–designers.

Strangely, doing it like that works. Then you have an actual basis for your cover and can say, “Hey, my cover was based on this particular scene,” and quietly leave out the fact that said scene was based on another picture.

I’m not sure–but those big, flourishing fonts that cover most of the book are usually a sign of “dollar store books,” and of course publishing houses like Harlequin have a specific layout for their book covers.

I’d share the link to my books, but for some odd reason, I can never get my replies to post when I share links. It’s depressing. I like links.

Back to the lovable idiot thing–what was the most lovable idiot you’ve ever read about and the most lovable idiot you’ve ever written about?

the resident romance ghost; last seen within the pages of a gothic novel

[R.M. Archer]

@gracie-j

Ah, gotcha.

Yeah, it seems like it would work well.

That’s a bummer. Links are nice. 😛

Ooh… Most lovable idiot to read about… probably either Tink from The Wingfeather Saga or Pippin from LOTR. But those are just off the top of my head, because otherwise we could be here a while. XD

Most lovable to write about… Definitely Leafman, the MC of The Half-Elves. He’s such an angsty, sassy boi who is completely wrapped up in his own head and completely ignores what other people are actually communicating, LOL, but I love him. He’s adorable, in that super-annoying-little-brother-that-you-still-love-to-death sort of way. XD How about you?

Speculative fiction author. Mythology nerd. Singer. Worldbuilding enthusiast.

[Gracie J.]

@r-m-archer My favorite lovable idiot to read? Oh, Lord. I can’t even begin the list them–there’s Mitch and Chase and Luke and…yeah, I read romances like all. the. time., so pretty much every hero is a lovable idiot to me. 😆😍

But my favorite loveable idiot to write? Uh…well, I have two different “kinds” of lovable idiots. The classic lovable idiot who is, yeah, and idiot but is still so cool about it, and then the idiot who’s actually not cool about it, but I love them to pieces anyway because they’re just a great character. Kind #1–probably Rhys. He’s a POV (one of three) character in Tell Me No Lies, and he was originally based on Rhett Butler–so, he’s an idiot. And he does some really stupid stuff. And says some stupid stuff. He’s not the typical throw-the-book-down kind of idiot, but he still counts.

Kind #2–Scarlette. Oh. my. lord. Everyone hates Scarlette. Readers, characters in the book, my family. I, in a roundabout way, hate Scarlette. She’s an actual nonlovable idiot–an antihero. She’s the element of conflict in pretty much every books in my Daughter of the Seven Seas series (except for the first), even one in which she’s absent. She constantly hurts people with her words and ruins other people’s lives (in horrible ways, but no spoiler). She’s an amazing liar and oh, so deceptive, having everyone fooled before she breaks their hearts.

Except…she’s such a good character. She makes me laugh so hard sometimes. She is so multifaceted. So broken. So hurting. And, because of that, all of the little good things she hides from the rest of the world (and my readers), I really do love her.

Leafman sounds like fun. (I mean, I know all about lil’ bros, so…) Question: how  in the world did you come up with the name Leafman?

the resident romance ghost; last seen within the pages of a gothic novel

[R.M. Archer]

@gracie-j Yeah, romance can have a lot of those. XD

LOLLLL. Scarlette sounds amazing and terrible all at the same time. She seems like she’d be similar (as far as likability and whatnot) to my character Nissa. She drives me nuts and she’s kind of awful, but somehow still manages to be a… consistent enough character, I suppose? that I want her to finally find her way even though I kind of want to knock her upside the head first, lol. Those characters are really cool to right, even if they’re sometimes (often) frustrating. ;P

Well… I was seven… XD It’s an oldddd story, so some of the names are… less than ideal. But I’m loath to change them now because they’ve endured for so many years and calling the characters something else would just feel wrong, lol. I don’t actually know where “Leafman” initially came from, though. (His brother’s name is Elk, so… there was evidently a nature theme of some sort, even if I don’t recall where it originated.) I just made up a bunch of names back then and it didn’t matter if they made sense. XD (At least I didn’t call them Coupon and Time Clock… Apparently those were the names of a couple of my dolls when I was little. XD)

I’ll probably need to change at least one of the names in The Half-Elves before I look to publish it (Leafman being #1, unfortunately), but I’m putting it off as long as I possibly can because… they’re so connected to their names now, y’know?

Speculative fiction author. Mythology nerd. Singer. Worldbuilding enthusiast.

[Gracie J.]

@r-m-archer I completely understand about Leafman–although my should-have-been-changed names were not quite so…original! But, really, Coupon? No doubt about it, you have some kind of imagination! 😆

That’s exactly the thing with Scarlette–she’s consistent. While all of my other, less awful characters have all grown and changed and don’t fit their general description or my first ideas for them anymore, Scarlette is still the same. (Not that that’s something she should be proud of, I suppose.) Writing her is so easy, for me, because she’s constant and transparent (although not to other characters). I know exactly what she’s about and what she deals with and how she deals with it.

Good news is that Scarlette does “turn to the light side,” in the end, although it takes a LOT to get her there. Bless your heart if your Nissa is even half as bad as my Scarlette! (Dude, it sounds like we’re comparing kids…weird.)

the resident romance ghost; last seen within the pages of a gothic novel

[R.M. Archer]

@gracie-j I like to think that my more recent names are much more… name-like. XD

Yeah, consistency definitely helps. It makes things a lot easier to write. Nissa isn’t so consistent in that way–in fact, I didn’t even expect her to go nearly this dark–but once I understood why she was going off in a random direction and how she actually worked, I began to see her fear and her need and her ignorance of the battle between the two throughout all of her behavior, and now I’m able to carry that through everything I write of her moving forward as well. So… behavior-wise and even character-wise she can actually be quite erratic, and she doesn’t always tell me what she’s doing before she does it XD, but it still always makes sense.

Ooh, cool! Those can be some of the most satisfying arcs. 🙂

LOL. I feel like there are some similarities between characters and children. XD

Speculative fiction author. Mythology nerd. Singer. Worldbuilding enthusiast.

[Gracie J.]

@r-m-archer I call my characters my babies, and it freaks my family out. 😆

I mean, originally (as in, way back originally), Scarlette was just a spoiled (and flirtatious) brat, so she’s definitely grown more “evil” over time, and I didn’t expect her to say some of things she says and do some of the things she does, but like you, I’ve come to see the horrible character she is and “appreciate” that–you know?

I really like the sound of Nissa at this point. Why do these terrible characters have to be so enjoyable??? It’s just weird.

the resident romance ghost; last seen within the pages of a gothic novel

[R.M. Archer]

@gracie-j Ooh! I looked it up and apparently Indie Author Day is an actual thing on November 7th! 😀 (Or October 14th? Or 17th? Or… apparently it’s not actually consistent. :P) There’s a whole website and everything, and apparently libraries and bookstores are a big part of it. (I still want to organize some big online thing for next year and see if I can somehow coordinate it with the date of the “official” stuff.)

LOL. I lovingly refer to them as “child” sometimes, in the 2nd person, even when they’re older than me. XD

That sounds a lot like Nissa! (Although I’m not sure “spoiled” fits given that she was living in an abandoned temple and lived as a thief, lol. But she certainly acted it.) She was actually quite fun at the beginning of the book, with a lot of witty banter with the second MC, and then the inciting incident happened and her character started to shift considerably. It was super frustrating in the moment, lol, but looking back I can see it was a rather interesting shift.

Right?? My most awful characters can be some of my favorite to write, and it’s a little disturbing sometimes. Like… should I be worried about myself?? 😛

Speculative fiction author. Mythology nerd. Singer. Worldbuilding enthusiast.

[Gracie J.]

@r-m-archer Wait! What? For real?! Yay!!! Wahoo! Happy Early Indie Author Day! Have some more cake! And ice cream! And a glass of sweet tea!

Seriously, I know! I have to watch calling myself their “mother,” or else I’ll get all these odd looks from my siblings.

Well, if you have a problem, then I have a problem, too–so either we can take therapy together or it’s not anything to worry about! 😆

the resident romance ghost; last seen within the pages of a gothic novel

[R.M. Archer]

@gracie-j Yep! Almost everything is virtual this year or I’d see if there was anything local to me. 😛

LOL. My oldest sister has mostly gotten used to me being weird with writing stuff, but if I ever made comments like that around my parents I think I’d get very weird looks. XD XD

Sounds good. XD

Speculative fiction author. Mythology nerd. Singer. Worldbuilding enthusiast.

[Gracie J.]

@-r-m-archer I keep waiting for my family to get used to it, but after three years they still look at me like I’m crazy. 🤨😶🤪 *shrugs* I don’t think they’ll ever become accustomed to my…eh, writer’s charm. LOL!

the resident romance ghost; last seen within the pages of a gothic novel

[Author]

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