Bells and whistles

 The edits are done, for the moment. There will be some tidying up next week, I think, but it's almost there. 

One of the last things to be added are the Dedication and Acknowledgements - alright, yes, that's two things. When I am writing them I often wonder how many people actually read them. 

As a reader I find them fascinating - a little glimpse into the writer's life. The Dedication is often very personal, a thank you or a memorial to someone who is or was  significant to the writer. Friends and family usually figure heavily.  Loved ones who have passed on are often commemorated as influences. Family can also feature in the Acknowledgements often with thanks for patient tolerance of author distraction and increased absence as deadlines loom, or apologies, ditto. Dogs and cats also appear, often credited for their vital assistance. 

Acknowledgements are also the place to thank your experts - the people you have consulted for specialist information.  I find those particularly interesting- it's often surprising who has helped and with what. I've had help with forensics, Italian, and for the new one, matters Egyptian. It is scary approaching people, although I have to say it gets easier when you have a few books published, even if you are not a household name. And everyone I have approached has always been willing and gracious in sharing their expertise. It's traditional to point out that any mistakes are down to the author - if you are using facts to write fiction it can happen. Not many of us have the chutzpah of best selling crime writer Harlan Coben who often blames his experts! But if you are a writer of that stature, you can get away with it! 

Agents, publishers and editors often get a mention - if you are an aspiring writer it can be a good source of information on who represents or publishes who - although of course that's no guarantee that they will be interested in your manuscript - but they might.  

The newest addition to the extras is the thank you letter. It is good to be able to thank your readers. You are why we do it, but it is also a plea for those all important reviews. That's not the author looking for flattery - reviews can apparently open up all sorts of opportunities with those mysterious algorithms. Don't ask me how, I have no idea, but if you do have a moment to spare and you enjoyed the book, or even if you didn't, your review counts.  

Whether Weather?

 

Spring is one the way. 

I'm a bit late today. Spent most of yesterday with my tribe - the Cariad chapter of the Romantic Novelists' Association - tea/coffee and cake, then lunch and a very instructive workshop on newsletters from Imogen. Do I need a newsletter? A question to ponder. 

I've been doing chores this morning and time got away from me - wanted to get the washing out while it was still sunny!!! That's what got me thinking, because on two mornings running, when opening the curtains to greet the day and my two visiting magpies, I was greeted by heavy mist. Very atmospheric. The eclectic brain of the writer, which is always running a background programme in any situation of 'Can I use this?'  made me wonder. I'd love to use it - not sure how. Anyway the sun is shining now and the washing is out and here I am, thinking about weather. And whether it makes a difference? 

How far does it impinge on enjoyment of a book? As you know, my thing is sunshine, Both as a reader and a writer and generally as a human, I respond to light and warmth.  My mood is definitely cheering up as spring approaches.  I have written a Xmas book and appreciated that for that one, snow was essential, but it is not my special thing. If you have any pretensions to writing about situations with glamour and fun, which I do in the Riviera series, then sunny days and places seem essential. Other writers have made use of the weather in special situations. Think of Sherlock Holmes and you inevitably think of heavy fog. I'm trying to remember of books where storms and rains are essential - I'm sure there are obvious examples, but my mind is blank on that one at the moment. Wuthering Heights might not be a book at all without the moor. Gothics certainly need to plug into light and dark and weather extremes. I know reading about cold or heat affects my mood. It's an essential but unobtrusive part of the location and setting. I remember making it rain in my debut published book because the hero was depressed and I wanted to help convey the mood. I can do bad weather.

Despite the love of sunshine, that urge to produce a Gothic novel is still rumbling around in my head. I have an idea. Maybe it will grow - we will have to wait and see. 

Cover Story

 Well the big news today, apart from the fact that I have finished the second edits, bar the shouting, is last Thursday's cover reveal. 

Here it is, and isn't it lovely. 

Authors tend to get quite excited about cover reveals - with justification. That, and the blurb for the back of the book, or the e-book introduction, is its shop window display. Getting it right is important. It is a bit ironical that unless you are an indie author that part is done by other people. The potential reader doesn't see anything produced by the author until they open the book itself. The process varies from publisher to publisher but of course it is governed by professional acumen - what the publisher thinks will best portray the title in accordance with the market, the genre and the publisher' s view of where the book sits in its list. The cover also has to be eye-catching and understandable as the small 'thumbnail' that appears on internet sites. All that is a tall order.

My calling card for the 'Riviera' series is glamourous escapism - and my covers reflect that. My publisher is very good about making sure the authors are involved in the process, (I have heard that some are not) although of course they have the deciding voice. We are also lucky that the house designer is very good at interpreting the books. She's done my covers for over ten years now, and they are all brilliant. In the case of this book I had the usual three possibilities - they were gorgeous - literally - very bright colours and all featuring enigmatic masks. I would have been delighted with any of them and said so. Then this one turned up - very different, but much more in line with the others in the series. I could see what the publisher had in mind. The masks, while very striking, were just that little bit outside the arc of the series. I had to agree that although I loved the others, this was the one to chose. The only problem was that the girl on the cover had short dark hair. I mailed back that heroine Maisie has curly auburn hair and it was quickly changed. The result was perfect. When I opened the e-mail it was if Maisie was walking off the page towards me. 

I hope readers will love it as much as I do,  

The Welsh St Valentine

 

St Dwynwen is the Welsh equivalent of St Valentine. The patron saint of lovers, and today is her day. 

Happy St Dwynwen's Day 

Dydd Santes Dwynwen Happus. 

(Excuse the short post - knee deep in edits for Masquerade on the Riviera  - cover reveal tomorrow! )

A Week in the Life ...

11th to 17th January. 

I had three books on my mind in the week that's just gone - Masquerade on the Riviera, the new release scheduled for March, Summer in San Remo, the first of the Riviera Series, which was on a daily deal on Friday and the one I am planning to write next. I decided it might be interesting to make a diary:-

Wednesday 11th

Spent a couple of hours writing the obituary of someone who does not exist. Writers are weird. I keep telling you that. 

Popped down a few rabbit holes AKA research. Bought a book on Arts and Crafts house gardens and ordered a few on architecture of said houses from library. Went hunting for information on the WW2 war artists, particularly artists who drew the official pictures of the Nuremburg trials and found myself looking at various portraits and busts of the artists themselves in the archives of the National Portrait Gallery, then had a pleasant ramble around the website of the Imperial War Museum. Found a lot of useful stuff. Downloaded a banner from my publisher for the deal on Friday. The edits will be back next week. Now looking for a corner to hide in. Tomorrow I have a long delayed trip with a friend to look at the Egyptian exhibits in the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. Maybe I won't come back. (See edits, above.) 

Thursday 12th

Very good day with Mary in Bristol, even if we did get drenched! The museum/gallery has an attractive, intimate Egyptian exhibit which was the object of the visit - atmosphere for the forthcoming launch of Masquerade on the Riviera.  We also got a very nice lunch in the cafe - toasted sandwich and decadent hot chocolate - and a scamper around the display of PreRaphaelite paintings, which you know is my catnip. 

Inside and outside of sarcophagi from the museum. These were quite small - I have three huge ones in a very creepy scene in the book - at least, I hope it is creepy! 

Friday 13th!

Tired after my day out, still not used to being out/out. Mostly just vegetating and doing promo for the Kindle daily deal for Summer in San Remo. Thrilled that by lunchtime it had a best seller banner. 

Saturday 14th. 

 Not much going on - I'm sorting my books for a trip to the charity shop. Hung on to the best seller flag though. 

Sunday 15th

Today I got the art work for three proposed covers for Masquerade - all gorgeous. Masks, but no sarcophagi. Happy with any of them. Next week is going to be exciting - except that by then I'll have the edits back!

Monday 16th

Blue Monday. Still clearing books and cupboards.  Wrote some more pages for the new one. I don't usually write out of sequence, but the scene was growling at me to be written down. Another possible cover arrived - also a good one. 

Tuesday 17th 

Cover reveal will be next week - I'll keep you posted. The final choice will be down to the publishers' 'Stars' panel. Really looking forward to seeing which one they pick 

Robespierre's Nose

 I remembered that I was going to do a short post on a lecture from Cardiff University on Physionotrace portraits. 

It's a technique developed in France in the 1780s for drawing a silhouette created by a machine in a frame, which could then be used to produce multiple copies. Robespierre comes into it as there is a portrait of him using this method, which reveals his characteristic tip tilted nose. Apart from enabling greater availability of likenesses before photography, portraits done this way were closer to a true portrayal of the subject and can be used to test the accuracy of subsequent art work, some produced well after the death of the original subject.  Famous people could circulate copies for publicity purposes and they were also used for medical records. 

Apparently Robespierre was considered very good looking and had fan girls - just like a contemporary pop star - who packed the public gallery when he was speaking. Certainly many of the portraits were very dashing. The lecturer  - unfortunately I can't find a note of her name, but I think it was Dr MM Gilchrist - showed how an original could be manipulated to produce other portraits - reversed, given different style clothes and/or tinted with pastels for numerous variations. The further they got from the original  the less distinct the likeness became. 

It was an interesting evening. I always like to learn things about art. You never know what might be fuel for a new idea. Will I ever use this in a book? At the moment I don't think so, but who knows what the subconscious might throw up in the future. 

The power of a name

 This week I have taken the first steps on a new book. This is scary, exciting, satisfying. At present there are some words on paper and a lot of assembling ducks in rows. Bit like jigsaw puzzles. I'm not particularly good at those, but I do like to puzzle out a new plot. Besides that, and a cast list and a genealogy - it's going to be one of those books again that have family history going back to the war, so I need to get births and deaths and age at key dates sorted out - there is the business of names. 

Names operate in mysterious ways. Sometimes the characters arrive with them already in place. Sometimes they have a name, but it doesn't feel right and the book doesn't jell until they get a new one. Sometimes naming a character means resorting to baby name books and lists on the internet. 

The characters in this book seem to have been rather shy over divulging names. A few have to be Welsh, so that involved the list option, but I have them now. Naming the hero seemed to be especially difficult this time. As I said, I have done a bit of writing and it was time for him to make his entrance - except he couldn't do that until he had a name! I've been mentally throwing options around - he almost seemed as if he was going to be Rafe, but that didn't quite fit. Yesterday morning though, he settled - his name is Nathan. I think now that is right.

So - Eleri and Nathan are ready for their journey. It's a complicated one - when are they not, when I get my hands on them - three interlocking mysteries. Hope I can cope with that. I also have an ancient solicitor for whom I have unexpectedly fallen rather hard who seems to have set himself up as a kind of narrator, plus a story line that goes back to the War and the 1950s. The quotation that opens Romeo and Juliet keeps running through my mind,  

Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;

The book isn't set in Verona - although I think Lake Como may be making a guest appearance, but it does have two families and star crossed lovers. 

At the moment I'm figuring out the connection between my hero and a local serial killer - as you do. It will putter along for a bit, as the edits for Masquerade on the Riviera will be back soon, but at the moment I am having fun.