Saturday, November 14, 2009

Book Covers

I wrote a few weeks ago that I had finished the first draft of Book 5 in the crochet mysteries. Now I'm rewriting and the days are flipping by in an alarmingly fast rate. I more or less figured how many pages a day I would have to rewrite to finish it by my December 1 deadline, but that was supposing nothing else interferred. Does that ever happen?

So, last week I got an email from my editor. She knew the manuscript wasn't due yet, but she'd just gotten word they wanted to have a cover meeting for it. Did I have any ideas for a cover and could I send fifty to seventy-fives pages of the manuscript so they could see the flow of the story.

I have loved all of my covers and the art people have really been able to create what I had pictured when I was writing, but they have always had the whole manuscript. I wanted to do whatever I could to help them with the cover for Book 5 which might be Hooked on the Holidays or A Holiday Yarn. In the past I have sent them pictures from books or magazines to give them an idea what some of the crocheted items in the books look like. This time the afghan that is a major clue only existed in my head. There was no time to make the whole thing, so I made up one square of it and sent them a photo.

Crocheted snowflakes are mentioned a lot, too. I am still in the process of creating the pattern for a snowflake that will be included in the book, but had the snowflake I put in my blog a while back. I sent a photo of it.

The other pattern in the book is going to be for a vampire scarf. The bookstore where Molly Pink works is hosting the midnight launch of the new book in a super popular series about a vampire who crochets (it's helped him deal with his lust for blood). One of the Tarzana Hookers comes up with the idea for the scarf. As she says, everything about it says vampire. It's black and white. The black is for the vampire's favorite color of clothes, the white for his pale skin. The half double crochet stitches look like fangs and the edging has a fang like look, too. And the scarlet tassel -- well, that's pretty obvious. A scarf winds around the neck and what body area is more appealing to a vampire? I sent a photo of it, too.

Even though it's doubtful, the vampire scarf will be on the cover of the book, my editor said she really likes it. I do, too.

AS my blog sisters have been mentioning, next week we're all writing on craft. Just to give a heads up, I'm going to be writing on setting.

5 comments:

Terri Thayer said...

Love, love, love the vampire scarf!

Isn't it amazing how many things can come up when writing a book that have nothing to do with writing? Nobody's complaining, but it is surprising to me.

Good luck with the rewrites.

Mason Canyon said...

I love the scarf too. I can't seem to learn how to change colors without leaving large knots when knitting or crocheting so I have to go with solid colors. You'll complete the rewrites in time.

Betty Hechtman said...

Thanks for the votes of confidence, ladies. And Mason, I know what you mean about changing colors. I made it simple with this scarf, you keep carrying along the yarn and the border covers it up.

Linda O. Johnston said...

Wow, Betty, I've always had the manuscript turned in before they work on the cover, so the artist is able to incorporate a lot of detail. I love my covers! Good thing you had some ideas. I really like that vampire scarf, too.

Betty Hechtman said...

Linda, I think the holidays probably have something to do why they are having the cover meeting so early. Also, they changed the release date to next November.