Those sharp eyed followers of my blog have already contacted me to say they noticed my change of title heading. Ruth Snell Creative Writing is now re-labelled as Ruth Snell Creative Arts. The simple reason being that painting has formed a large part of my life lately and I've found it easier to reach people through my painting than my writing. Not that my book has fallen into the mire. A lovely message came in only today to say how much someone enjoyed the story, so it is warming to know people out there are reading it.
When you create a painting and show it to a viewer, what you see is what you get. When you write a book, people are aware the creative process is more of a two way street. They have to acquire a copy of the book and then engage some of their spare time to read it. It may not be what they expect or it can give them a few surprises. Paintings aren't like that. A split second of viewing will either draw someone in or they will walk on by. Their appreciation is more instantaneous.
Perhaps then it is time to consider the importance of a book cover. What sort of judgements do you make on browsing in a book shop? Do you have expectations of how a book cover should look or does it not worry you? The official line from those who conduct studies into such observations say that the cover of a book will firstly make a browser pick it up. This can occupy some four to six seconds and if the 'blurb' on the back cover is attractively written, you have another hook in on a possible purchaser.
Is it all about hard sales? Well, the general idea in writing a book is that you want your 'message' to get out there. You have spent tremendous amounts of time writing the thing. Imagine if someone was paying you by the hour ...
For me the creative process must make me feel better about myself. That is why for me, designing - and painting - the cover of my books is important to me. The reader will hopefully have 'more of me' in what they take from the bookshelf. The package must be more rounded. I read several years ago that the singer/songwriter, Kate Bush, was very serious about record covers. Before she made it as a hit in the music world, as a young teenager, she would take a train into London on Saturday's to browse the shops. If she bought a record (LP to us oldies) she would sit on the train back to Kent pouring over the record sleeve, absorbing the design. At this point she didn't know what all the songs on the record sounded like, aside from the one perhaps she'd heard on the radio, but for her it was important to take in the cover design as it led her to understand more of what the music was portraying. Occasionally there were surprises but more often than not, the design emphasised the audio effect.
So if you are a writer and plan to publish, think carefully about your book cover. You may not be artistic but that doesn't matter. The point is that you know what you want your cover to be like. And, painting is a very therapeutic occupation. Writing can be extremely stressful. Even if you have the most perfect plot in the world and stunning characters, time for editing could be tight, your laptop may be playing up or even worse, crash losing your work. Painting (or drawing) may even help you understand what you are trying to say. Art, in all its forms is highly enjoyable but it can help the mind to cross over to another discipline. Think carefully about your book cover and make it intrinsic to the text. Make it ... you ...
Happy creativity!
http://www.devonartistnetwork.co.uk/artists/ruth-snell
Showing posts with label Plymouth mystery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Plymouth mystery. Show all posts
Saturday, 5 November 2016
Sunday, 2 October 2016
New Book Release: Galene by Ruth Snell (ISBN: 978-1-5376-6225-1)
Many of you won't be expecting this new book Galene by Ruth Snell (ISBN: 978-1-5376-6225-1).
"Dartmoor is a shadowy, mist-shrouded frontier largely unknown to Isabella Cole, a young woman who resides in Plymouth and is employed as a valuations clerk to a local auctioneer. It is 1898 and her occupation is uncommon for a woman. Her employer is invited to a working weekend at Hazelwood Grange, the moorland country house of Sir Sholto Lelawne, a reclusive scientist and world traveller, who extends the invitation to Isabella. Entering a world far different to the one she grew up in, Isabella encounters the elusive Galene, a beautiful young woman with spiritual powers who is introduced as Sir Sholto's sister. Isabella begins to uncover a complex web of lies and mysteries. Not all is as it seems.
Meanwhile in Plymouth, under the foundations of his valuations business near Charles church, her employer, Thomas Northcott, while renovating the building, uncovers an extensive chamber filled with antiquities from Roman times. Isabella finds herself wrapped up in an intrigue of both ancient and Victorian power struggles involving Freemasons and the churchmen, who will stop at nothing to claim the highest prize of all - and she is key to its discovery."
Why has this come out of the blue? Very few people knew I was writing it. Was there any deliberate secrecy? Only to the point I do freeze if people ask what I'm writing, when I'm struggling to get a plot organized in my head. It can be hard to explain 'what I am writing' when even I don't know where it's going. I gave up Writer's Group's a year ago when I became tangled in two necessary operations for breast cancer. The good news on that front, is the prognosis is favourable and the surgeon seemed to catch it on time. That does however, have a profound effect on your outlook to life. You withdraw (and I've never been a hugely outgoing person). Then you get your priorities in order. Health is paramount.
Aside from the very small family unit I have, my next priority is my job. Most people I know who write, either professionally or as a hobby, don't work full time. I do work full time. Forty-two hours a week and sometimes more. I'll repeat that. I work full time so my spare time is precious. I have to work, I have no choice. What spare time I do have often involves the vacuum cleaner, washing machine, garden or DIY. My weekends are valuable. I discovered through detriment to my health that through throwing so much time and energy into helping others with their writing activities, my health took a bad knock.
There is also an element of nastiness in the writing world in Plymouth (as the poet laureate Michael Sullivan discovered) and I don't want to be part of it. I will occasionally run a Writing Workshop if requested but aside from that .... I also paint. I am not a good artist but I find working with colour hugely relaxing. After two operations I re-aligned my scant spare time. Yoga has been hugely beneficial and painting largely therapeutic. I painted the front cover for Galene (in fact I painted several different scenes) and my daughter Rebecca had the final choice of my painting 'Peacock on Dartmoor' to finish the book cover. To create a work of art, inside and out, is the most rewarding thing.
Where did the idea from Galene come from? A mixture of elements viz: a picture I passed in 1981 and a discussion with my grandmother who came from a very old Plymouth family, a couple of years before she died in 1984. The outline of the book was written circa 2008, just before my father died but never left the computer due to the complexities of life at that time. When you think your life is running out of time, you take remedial action and now the final result is out there.
"Dartmoor is a shadowy, mist-shrouded frontier largely unknown to Isabella Cole, a young woman who resides in Plymouth and is employed as a valuations clerk to a local auctioneer. It is 1898 and her occupation is uncommon for a woman. Her employer is invited to a working weekend at Hazelwood Grange, the moorland country house of Sir Sholto Lelawne, a reclusive scientist and world traveller, who extends the invitation to Isabella. Entering a world far different to the one she grew up in, Isabella encounters the elusive Galene, a beautiful young woman with spiritual powers who is introduced as Sir Sholto's sister. Isabella begins to uncover a complex web of lies and mysteries. Not all is as it seems.
Meanwhile in Plymouth, under the foundations of his valuations business near Charles church, her employer, Thomas Northcott, while renovating the building, uncovers an extensive chamber filled with antiquities from Roman times. Isabella finds herself wrapped up in an intrigue of both ancient and Victorian power struggles involving Freemasons and the churchmen, who will stop at nothing to claim the highest prize of all - and she is key to its discovery."
Why has this come out of the blue? Very few people knew I was writing it. Was there any deliberate secrecy? Only to the point I do freeze if people ask what I'm writing, when I'm struggling to get a plot organized in my head. It can be hard to explain 'what I am writing' when even I don't know where it's going. I gave up Writer's Group's a year ago when I became tangled in two necessary operations for breast cancer. The good news on that front, is the prognosis is favourable and the surgeon seemed to catch it on time. That does however, have a profound effect on your outlook to life. You withdraw (and I've never been a hugely outgoing person). Then you get your priorities in order. Health is paramount.
Aside from the very small family unit I have, my next priority is my job. Most people I know who write, either professionally or as a hobby, don't work full time. I do work full time. Forty-two hours a week and sometimes more. I'll repeat that. I work full time so my spare time is precious. I have to work, I have no choice. What spare time I do have often involves the vacuum cleaner, washing machine, garden or DIY. My weekends are valuable. I discovered through detriment to my health that through throwing so much time and energy into helping others with their writing activities, my health took a bad knock.
There is also an element of nastiness in the writing world in Plymouth (as the poet laureate Michael Sullivan discovered) and I don't want to be part of it. I will occasionally run a Writing Workshop if requested but aside from that .... I also paint. I am not a good artist but I find working with colour hugely relaxing. After two operations I re-aligned my scant spare time. Yoga has been hugely beneficial and painting largely therapeutic. I painted the front cover for Galene (in fact I painted several different scenes) and my daughter Rebecca had the final choice of my painting 'Peacock on Dartmoor' to finish the book cover. To create a work of art, inside and out, is the most rewarding thing.
Where did the idea from Galene come from? A mixture of elements viz: a picture I passed in 1981 and a discussion with my grandmother who came from a very old Plymouth family, a couple of years before she died in 1984. The outline of the book was written circa 2008, just before my father died but never left the computer due to the complexities of life at that time. When you think your life is running out of time, you take remedial action and now the final result is out there.
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