2013 Summer Author Blitz: Interview With Hafsah of Icey Designs

Hi friends! I hope you're having a wonderful summer!

We're continuing the 2013 Summer Blitz hosted by Belle Whittington and Tabatha Perry, who've come up with all sorts of fun things for the entire July. If you missed some of the fun, don't worry, you can catch up if you check out the full schedule HERE.

For my spot on the blitz I got to interview a wonderfully talented designer *happy dance* whose works (blogs and websites, Twitter backgrounds, book covers etc.) you've surely noticed around the blogosphere. She answered a few questions about the creative process and her own pet peeves, and also offered some goodies for you.

Say hi to Hafsah!

• What is the first step when you agree to design a blog/ twitter background/ cover?

I usually consult with the client before agreeing to anything. I ask them for details pertaining to the overall look, colors, and in the case of book covers, emotions, characters, and settings. Then I read through the provided information and getting started. I love opening up a blank canvas on Photoshop or Illustrator - there are so many possibilities!

• Is there a design that you're particularly proud of? Or one that's been especially challenging?

When a design is challenging, I end up loving it even more. Heidi Sinnett wanted a design with a chalkboard feel to it, something I had been wanting to do for the longest time. It was most definitely a challenge - illustrating the banners and giving them that chalkboard look. But like I said, I had wanted to design a site like that for a long time, so it was fun, and in the end, very self-satisfying. 

• In your opinion, what makes a great design? What do you like to see in other designers' works?

For me, a great design is defined by easiness. No matter how beautiful a design may be, it needs to be easy to navigate and easy to look at. Even if your background is black and your text is white, there's a way to keep it clean and easy to look at. In designs other than my own, I love to see the same thing - clean, beautiful, and easy to navigate. 

• Do you have some design-pet-peeves (arrangement of elements, colors, fonts etc...)?

I have many pet-peeves. Being a designer, I look at everything a different way - magazine ads, online ads, websites, book covers. Subconsciously, my mind will move things around and switch fonts without me even realizing it. There are certain shades of colors that I'd never use, though I'd use one very close. There are several fonts I'd never use, and some that I've seen around that have made me cringe, but the worst font in the history of fonts would be Comic Sans. Another pet peeve: visiting a blog/website for the first time and not knowing where to look - this especially happens when the background is more catching than the content, it makes my eyes cross. You don't want that!

Thanks for having me, Ivana! It was fun :)

Check out Hafsah's website, and see for yourself how great her designs are :) 

Hafsah has offered to give away a Twitter background design worth $30 to one person. Follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter for your chance to win.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

But wait! That's not all!
Now we're sending you on a hunt for a clue hidden in one of my blog's pages. When you find it, got to Exit Ramps and enter the giveaway for a unique bookish necklace. Isn't it lovely?!

Q&A with Faith A. Rice-Mills, author of Identified: The Maya Price Story

It's my pleasure today to welcome Faith A. Rice Mills, author of Identified: The Maya Price Story. I reviewed Identified here. Go check it out, but first, say hi to Faith!

Goodreads | Facebook | blog | Twitter

Faith A. Rice-Mills is the author of Identified: The Maya Price Story and a handful of short stories. She moonlights as a Spanish teacher, but has wanted to be a writer since she wrote the poem “The Jackowhipp’s Wail” as an eight-year-old. Her writer’s spirit resides somewhere between Narnia and Mount Doom, but her physical body lives in Texas with her family. Besides writing, she loves reading (and will take recommendations!), yoga, coloring with her daughter, and watching Parks and Recreation with her husband. She dislikes snakes, the word “literally,” and teaching double object pronouns in Spanish. She is currently working on Burdened, the second book in The Maya Price Story series and is writing whatever short story she has to get out of her brain.

What or who inspired you to begin writing in first place?

I have always had stories, floating around in my brain. They come and go but, sometimes, I am able to get them down on paper. As a kid, I wrote a lot of stories and poems. I have a poem that I wrote as an eight-year-old on the way back from the doctor’s office. It’s called “The Jackowhipp’s Wail.”

I actually had the idea for Identified in 2004, but never really sat down to write it. Then, after I gave birth to my daughter in 2010, I told myself, “You better write this freaking book or you’ll never do it. I mean, you already have one kid, what’s going to happen after two? ” So, I guess you could say I’ve had always ideas for stories, but having a child (as well as the prospect of turning 30) inspired me to write Identified.

Of course, I have the most amazing family and friends in the world.  The have always believed I could write a book, have inspired me, and have been with me every step of the way. (How cheesy does that sound?  But it’s true).  

What is the most important thing that you learned on your way to publication?

I am a self-published writer, so my experience is a little different than those who are traditionally published. When you are a self-published writer, you kind of have to be a jack-of-all-trades. You have to know a little bit about not only writing, but editing, formatting books, cover art, distribution, copyright laws, public relations, marketing, etc. etc. But! The most important person for an indie author to know is a good editor. Here is an example of why you need a good editor:  my main characters,who are half-human and half-onyx, are called shifters.  If I happen to leave out the “f” in the word shifter, it sounds like the most superhuman ability they have is a talent for diarrhea. Sometimes I don’t catch stuff like that, but a good editor will.    

Who are your favorite writers/books?

Ok, so get ready for the craziest mash-up of favorite books you’ve ever seen. (I studied Spanish and Latin American literature for both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees, so some of the titles/authors may be unfamiliar. But, they are amazing! Everyone should read them!)

So here’s the list: San Manuel Bueno, Mártir (Saint Manuel the Martyr) by Miguel de Unamuno, Crónica de Muerte Anunciada(Chronicle of a Death Foretold) by Gabriel Garcia Márquez, Aura by Carlos Fuentes,  Pedro Páramo  by Juan Rulfo ,The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by  Judith Viorst, Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar, the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald,Holes by Louis Sachar, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, 1984 by George Orwell, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult, Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares The Handmaiden’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and, for a few non-fiction favorites, Freakonomics by Stephen Levitt, Gang Leader for a Day  by Genome by Matt Ridley, Sudir Alladi Venkatesh and Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenriech 

(I don’t even think that’s all of them.)

Can I also include Paul Simon (Simon and Garfunkel) as one of my favorite writers?   What about Wesley Shultz (The Lumineers) ? 

What are you currently working on?

I am working on the second book in The Maya Price Story series, Burdened: The Maya Price Story. I also will write short stories as they come to me. Sometimes, I write them for contests, sometimes I write them for funsies. Two of them, “Gus” and “Stay,” are on my blog writesofwoman.wordpress.org under “Short Stories.” 

If you could one of your characters' abilities, which one would it be and why? (I thought that collecting sounds was so cool!)

Oh  man, I don’t even know. I don’t think I would want the psychic powers that Selima has, or the ability to manipulate physical pain or feeling, like Paige. I could probably use the whole sense of smell thing. My husband accuses me of smelling odors that are nonexistent. I smell freaking everything. Seriously.  I wish I could make some of those odors disappear. Also, I’d really like to have Leonas’ power of speaking to animals. I really want to ask my dog Simon (named for Paul Simon) why he insists on pooping on the kitchen floor every time it rains outside.  

Spoiler alert!:  There will be other abilities revealed in Burdened: The Maya Price Story,    

Amazon | Goodreads 

Maya Price is a typical eighteen-year-old girl without many worries. Her biggest problems include getting ready to leave her hometown for college, figuring out how to avoid her ever-so-strange stepmother and trying to muddle though her feelings for her best friend, Pete. Yet, one of her last nights in her hometown, she and Pete are in a car accident. A stranger pulls Maya from the accident, leaving Pete behind, and takes her out of this world and into another dimension. Maya soon discovers that she has been taken to a dimension called Leets by a group of people that call themselves shifters. Shifters are of mixed human and onyx blood and have various abilities. These shifters are able to travel between dimensions, control the four elements (fire, earth, wind, water) and the five senses (sight, sound, smell, touch and taste). Their leader, Victoria, informs Maya that she, too, is a shifter and that she must choose to join them or risk being sought out by their greatest enemy, a shifter named Leonas. Maya joins Victoria and her ragtag group of rebel shifters at a training camp called Level One. he is teamed up with a group of seven other shifters, including a streetsmart girl named Luz, who is especially adept at controlling fire, her twin sister Espy, and a nervous boy named Lamar, who can manipulate sound better than any other shifter. Together, Maya’s team trains for the battles that will soon be inevitable. However, Maya soon learns that her purpose is not to just move the earth or send water flying into the air. There are rumors of a hidden prophecy and that the prophecy mentions Maya by name. Supposedly, the prophecy says that Maya will one day have to choose a side and will be essential in bringing her chosen ally to power...

Interview with Mindy Hayes, author of Kaleidoscope

Today we're adding one more name to the awesome list of authors who sacrificed some of their writing time to answer a few questions. Say hi to my guest, Mindy Hayes!

I grew up in San Diego, California exploring my interest for singing and playing the piano.  I first discovered my passion for reading when I had to make my first flight alone to South Carolina to visit my, then, fiancé.  My love for writing followed shortly after.  My husband and I have now been married for five and half years and live in Summerville, South Carolina. 

Facebook | blog | Goodreads

What or who inspired you to begin writing in first place?

It’s so cliché that I don’t even want to say it, but it was Twilight. I was never even much of a reader before I read Twilight. It sparked something inside of me. I pulled out my laptop nearly five years ago and haven’t gone a day without writing since.

Who are your favorite writers/books?

My favorite book of all time is On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. I love that book so much it makes me speechless. I’m always at a loss for words when I try to tell people why I love that book so much. That being said…I will read anything written by Melina Marchetta, Gayle Forman, Colleen Hoover, John Green, Cassandra Clare, Tammara Webber, Paullina Simons, and Tarryn Fisher. I’ve loved every book every one of them has written.

What are you currently working on?

I have two books that are in the works right now. The first being Ember, the sequel to Kaleidoscope. It’ll be released this fall. The second is a contemporary NA that is currently untitled, but will shortly follow the release of Ember. It actually keeps taking up Ember writing time because the story just won’t go away.

If you could live in one book world, which one would it be?

Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments or Infernal Devices. Jace and Will have secured the top two spots on my book boyfriend list. I’d go anywhere for them. Just don’t tell my husband.

Is there a theme song for Kaleidoscope?

I chuckled when I read this question because oh my gosh YES! Grandfather Said by The Ethnographers. This song actually inspired me to write Kaleidoscope. It was pretty much on repeat the entire time I wrote it.

“Was I still a human? Gosh, I still wanted to be human. Even just to keep a sliver of whom I thought I was. But as I thought about being human, standing in the shade of the forest, I felt less human than ever. The trees fought for my allegiance." 

It starts in her chest. The change Calliope doesn't see coming. It pulses like a second heartbeat, urging her to give in to the need to be in the depths of the forest. She's compelled to fight the pull, but the more she denies it the stronger it becomes until she finally surrenders and is pulled into a secret world of enchantment. Kai and Declan need her to accept what she is, but with everything left unsaid, acceptance may be the least of their worries. Knowing their fate lies in her hands, they’ll stop at nothing to protect and prepare her for what lies ahead.Will Calliope be able to accept what Kai and Declan reveal or will her desire to be normal keep her from acknowledging her true destiny?

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Smashwords

Cover Artist Interview: B Design

This feature is becoming more and more fun. I found many awesome cover designers lately and it's a pleasure to welcome such talented people on WTSL. My first two guests were Ravven and Once Upon A Time Covers, and my guest today is Allison from B Design!

When did you start designing book covers?
I've been a Graphic Designer for a few years now, but when I decided to self publish my debut novel, I wanted to try the cover myself. I showed it to a few writer friends who thought it was pretty good and I went on with my life. Then after a while I noticed I was getting asked to help out on covers a lot and realized I had a lot of fun doing it! So I began to build a portfolio and here I am!

 

Do authors usually have a clear vision of what they want the cover to look like? Is it sometimes difficult to meet a customer's expectation?
I'd say it's pretty split down the middle. Some know exactly what they want and others have no clue until I show them something and that usually sparks some creativity. It's always difficult to meet expectation for book covers because as an author myself, I am not sure how I would be handing over the thing I've poured my heart and soul into for the last however many months/years to a stranger just based on some pictures I saw. BUT I've yet to see a disappointed client.

Can you describe the process? What programs do you use, where do you start first, how long does it take in average...
I am very hands on with the author. I don't feel it's really about me or my style (there are things I can't do or am not comfortable doing, but mostly it's about the story). I use Photoshop to create all my covers. The first step is to have an in depth conversation with the author about the story, the feel and the expectations. Being upfront is always best. After that I usually take what they asked me to do and do something radical that probably makes them wonder why they chose me... but I like to push boundaries right off the bat just to see what my limitations will be. Sometimes a client will be closed in or conservative about their requests because they don't know what else to ask for. After that it's a lot of back and forth about image and font. Boring really, to anyone outside the process. I book a week and I take a very limited amount of clients because I like to be able to focus and do the best I can.

I know this is like asking a mother which one of her children she loves most, but is there a cover that you're particularly proud of? Or one that's been especially challenging to make?
There is a cover being revealed mid/end of February that is probably the best cover I've done all around. I love all the stories I get to work with but this particular cover is dark, edgy, beautiful, frightening... it really tested my skill as a designer and it's very different than what I'm used to doing. I just love it.

Do you think there are some "trends" for book covers? 

Yes, the trend now is abs and make out sessions... not that I'm complaining  Eyes will always be in for book covers, I'm fairly certain of that. I do remember the girls in ball gown phase and something I am noticing now is cover models that look directly at the reader. I mostly work with YA/NA authors so my interpretations come from there. I also don't follow trends, I will do whatever I think is necessary to best capture the story.

In your opinion, what makes a great and eye catching cover? What do you like to see on other designers' covers?
With the rise of self publishing, covers have to be eye-catching at thumbnail size so in my opinion contrast is the major seller. I think that could be why closeups are becoming more prevalent, too. It needs to be seen at a small size.

I like images that tell a story. I like background and striking visuals. My favourite cover designer by far is Sarah from Okay Creations. If I didn't do my own covers I would 100% go to her. I love how she edits images, how she can put emotion into it with just a little colour change or hazy filter or the right combination of fonts.

Blog Tour: Review of Mourning Cloak and Interview with Rabia Gale

I am so thrilled to be part of this tour because Rabia Gale's novellas rocked my world, Mourning Cloak in particular. Here's my review, and I'm also happy to welcome Rabia for an interview.

Also available from Smashwords

Summary: Kato Vorsok is a man deserted by his god. A failed hero living in exile, he wants nothing to do with his old life.Until the night he encounters a wounded mourning cloak—a demon that can walk through walls, dissolve into mist, and spear a man’s heart with a fingernail.She calls him by name. She knows his past. She needs his help.And she is his key to redemption.Mourning Cloak is a science fantasy novella of about 22,000 words.

"One broken being to another broken being. One sick heart to another sick heart. Flutter, I need you to live."

I'm quite sure the word "mind-blowing" was invented for stories like Mourning Cloak. Welcome to a review brimming over with superlatives, because in all honesty, just thinking of Mourning Cloak makes me want to shout praises from the rooftops.

This being my second novella by this author, I learned that Rabia's stories are a special category of unique, a marvelous combination of science fiction and fantasy. Mourning Cloak is a dark but full of hope story of redemption, betrayal and love, exploding with action and magic, but at the same time deeply emotional. Thanks to her immense writing talent and the ability to create outstanding settings and characters, Mourning Cloak reads fast, always on the edge of your seat and with a pang in your chest. 

Considering that this is a novella, it's incredible what a long way the story goes, and how rich it is. There is so much packed into these 22 000 words that it feels like a lifetime with Kato and Flutter.

Please say HI to Rabia Gale!

Who (or what) inspires and influences your writing most?

The more I write, the more I find inspiration everywhere. It’s an occupational hazard of being a writer. There’s always a part of me looking at life and thinking, “How can I put this in a book?” or “There’s a story in there somewhere.”

For the science fantasy fiction I’m writing these days, my inspirations are the cartoons of my childhood (Thunder Cats! Mazinger Z! Voltron!) and video games like Skies of Arcadia and Final Fantasy. All these happily mix genres (where else can you find swords alongside laser guns, and princesses flying battle robots?) and emboldened me to throw fantasy and science fiction ingredients together in my stories.

I also return to fairy tales over and over again, mostly to break them. And, because truth is stranger than fiction, I draw inspiration from colorful historical characters, weird scientific discoveries and other cultures.

The worlds and creatures that you describe in your novels are truly unique. What are some fantasy worlds or realms (by other writers) that you enjoy?

Any world with flying habitats is a win in my book. I adore the settings of Skies of Arcadia (video game), Castle in the Sky (Studio Ghibli film) and The Floating Islands, a young adult fantasy by Rachel Neumeier.

The Raksura trilogy by Martha Wells also hits many of my worldbuilding sweet spots. It includes non-human sentient races, especially the Raksura with their unique caste-system, physiology, and culture; giant trees; abandoned flying islands; and a city built upon the back of a magically-controlled sea-monster.

I loved Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan books for their awesome reimagining of World War I technology, including battle robots (oh, yeah!) and bio-weapons. A living airship formed out of a blue whale, with its own eco-system of fléchette attack bats and hydrogen-sniffing canines? How cool is that!

Your novellas have both extraordinary characters and settings. Do you have a favorite "type" of character to write? 

I’m a sucker for redemption stories, so many of my characters are burdened by their past. They’ve made terrible mistakes or done awful things, and need that second chance.

It’s often my female protagonists who have the dark past. I enjoy pairing them with thoroughly decent men, the ones who have faults of their own, but are just really good guys.

What comes to you first when you start a new story-a character, a mythical creature, the world? 

All my stories start with a lightning strike, a flash of inspiration. It could be a single image, a what-if, a phrase, or perhaps an opening line. Rainbird started out with an image of a girl in the cold, thin air, dancing under the stars. Mourning Cloak is the name of a real butterfly, a name that struck me with its poetry and dark beauty. Whatever the inspiration is, if sets my nerves tingling I know it’s worth pursuing.

Setting and character follow hard on the heels of that initial spark. Sometimes a character will come first, sometimes the setting will. The interaction between character and setting is often ripe with conflict, and I exploit that to create my plot.

Then I write, think, write some more, go off to do something else for a few weeks or months, return and write, finish, get comments, and revise until done.

About the Author 

I break fairy tales and fuse fantasy and science fiction. I love to write about flawed heroes who never give up, transformation and redemption, and things from outer space. In my spare time I read, doodle, eat chocolate, avoid housework, and homeschool my three children. A native of Pakistan, I grew up in hot, humid Karachi. I then spent almost a decade in Northern New England where I learned to love fall, tolerate snow, and be snobbish about maple syrup and sweet corn. I now live in Northern Virginia.

Find Rabia Gale online: 

website| Twitter 

Cover Artist Interview: Once Upon A Time Covers

I enjoyed having Ravven for an interview last week and I though it would be fun to invite some more cover artists to share their wisdom and experience. Today I'm welcoming Once Upon A Time Covers!

 

Interview with a cover artist-Ravven

I love doing author interviews, but today we have something different-an interview with a cover artist!

Admit it, if you're like me, sometimes the cover is the sole reason for putting a book on your wishlist. I knew I wanted to do this interview with Ravven as soon as I found out that she created the covers for two novellas that I read last month-Rainbird and Mourning Cloak by Rabia Gale (I actually have a girl crush on both Ravven and Rabia, both extremely talented and spoiling this fantasy fan rotten.)

Welcome to Willing to See Less, Ravven!

When did you start designing book covers?

I'd always wanted to design book covers, but my career had mainly been in web design/development  and project managing ecommerce and social media sites. It was challenging and rewarding in many ways, but not what I dreamed of doing - however, it was too well paid to just give it up! Several years ago I began doing book covers as a portfolio-building exercise, more for myself than anything else. I set a challenge to create one cover a day for thirty days, which was a lot of fun. After a parting of ways with the digital media company that I was working I decided to go freelance.

Taking the leap into freelancing is a very terrifying thing for anyone, even those with money saved up (which I hadn't, unfortunately). I sent out about a million emails to small publishers, tried to get my art out there, and in the end we managed to not lose the house - always a good thing! I worked with several smaller publishers, a lot of wonderful self-published authors and the business just grew. There were a lot of people who really helped me out, such as Tanya Anne Crosby, a wonderful author who allowed me to work with her on a number of covers for her backlist. I'll always be so grateful for all the help I received.

   

Do authors usually have a clear vision of what they want the cover to look like? Is it sometimes difficult to meet a customer's expectation?

Usually they do, and that forms your starting point. That vision may change and evolve as we work, but it helps to start out with a clear idea of what the book is about, who the characters are, and what
themes the cover needs to convey. I have a small questionnaire that I use to help me get the best idea possible of what the author wants in the final work. That said, if the original idea is too literal, it can
be a problem, and I prefer working from the position of "how the book feels" (theme) rather than illustrating a plot point.

The only time it may be difficult to meet a customer's expectation is when the medium isn't right - I work with stock photography as a base, and very specific images can be impossible. I usually recommend hiring an illustrator for these images. Hiring models and doing your own shoot would be the ideal way of handling very specific expectations, but that is generally too expensive an option for indie authors or small presses.

 

Can you describe the process? What programs do you use, where do you start first, how long does it take in average...

As above, I usually start with the images. Most of the books I do feature a character, so that means hours and hours of looking at stock. I work quite quickly, but the inital phase of finding the right
model is very time-consuming. Looking at hundreds of photos of beautiful men or women should be fun, right? No, no...looking at stock can be soul-destroying. :) You can spend most of a day looking through many hundreds of images and THEY WILL ALL BE WRONG.

Once I find the stock that I want to use, I begin creating the initial mockups. I usually work on the large-size file that I'll be using as a final image, so I can create backgrounds that I'll be using for the final image. Initial mockups are quite rough, with watermarked stock and very little painting. I usually tell people to try to think of them as sketches or storyboards rather than final images. I work in Photoshop, and once I begin the final image I'll be painting with a Wacom tablet. The image is comprised of tons of textures and photos all composited together and then painted to blend and add detail. When we have a final image that we're both happy with I'll do another round of mockups with different fonts and text treatments for the author to chose from. That's the basic process, and depending on what snags we hit a cover can take a few days to a week - it all depends.

I know this is like asking a mother which one of her children she loves most, but is there a cover that you're particularly proud of? Or one that's been especially challenging to make?

They're all my favourites! One of the recent ones was the cover for Daisy Madigan's Paradise by Suzy Turner. Sometimes when you submit early mockups to an author there is one that you are in love with. If the author is all "meh" about that one it hurts because that was your baby. So when Suzy chose the image that finally became the cover I was all "Yes! That's MY girl!" The romance covers for Tanya Anne Crosby are some of my other favourites, as well as the Born In Flames cover for Candace Knoebel, which has gotten a lot of attention.

 

Do you think there are some "trends" for book covers? (I remember seeing a lot of girls in ballroom dresses last year. Or eyes, lots of eyes...)

God, yes - girls in pretty dresses, drowning girls, Big Faces. All very over-used trends (although I do have some favourites that transcend those trends - just because it's a "girl in a pretty dress" cover doesn't mean that it can't be unique and stunning).

In your opinion, what makes a great and eye catching cover? What do you like to see on other designers' covers?

I think that good covers need certain basic things: type that stands out which is readable at a small size; a strong image with good use of shadow and light; good overall balance so that all of the individual
elements stand out without anything getting lost or fighting each other for dominance. I really admire designers who do unique things with type as that isn't one of my strong points: the cover for Broken
by A. E. Rought would be a good example of this, as is NOS 4R2 by Joe Hill.

 

 

Many, many thanks for being my guest today, Ravven!

To find out more about Ravven, visit her website, check out her deviantART site, like her Facebook page, or say hi on Twitter!