Sign of the Green Dragon Tour - guest post by C. Lee McKenzie

I'm happy to welcome the wonderful C. Lee McKenzie to my blog and celebrating her upcoming release, Sign of the Green Dragon. Here's Lee talking about the Chinese zodiac sign of the Dragon.

What’s It Like To Be A Dragon?

Darned hard work is my answer to that question.

If you’re a Dragon, you go out of your way to help others, but seldom ask for help yourself. You like the swash and the buckle way of doing things, and you take a lot of risks because you’re one passionate and enthusiastic creature. Sometimes these risks pay off big. Sometimes not. This is why I say it’s hard work; you’re often exhausted, yet many times unfulfilled.

You must find a tough partner to put up with your independent streak and sometimes bad temper. Your best choices in partners will be Monkey and Rat, and that partner is sure to appreciate how lucky you are. The Dragon is the luckiest animal in the zodiac.

You need a job that gives you a chance to be creative. Maybe an actor or a revolutionary or a political leader would suit your personality.

Here are some noted Dragon Children:

Bruce Lee was Dragon Child.

Joan of Arc—but look what happened there!

Vladimir Putin—Wowzer! You’ve got some spunky company.

Find out if you’re a Dragon. Here are some of the years:

1940

1952

1964

1976

1988

2000

Blurb: A crumbling map from 1859, found clutched in the bony grip of the long dead, sends three young boys on a dangerous adventure where an unsolved murder, a modern crime, some lost ancestors and ancient Chinese dragons reveal the true meaning of treasure.

Buy links:

Amazon * B&N * Kobo * Smashwords

Author bio: I love to write for young readers. Sign of the Green Dragon is my third Middle Grade novel. Alligators Overhead and the sequel, The Great Time Lock Disaster were my first two. I’m proud to be a hybrid author with three Indie books out along with four traditionally published young adult novels: Sliding on the Edge, The Princess of Las Pulgas, Double Negative and Sudden Secrets. It’s fun to know both sides of this writing business. 

When I’m not writing I’m thinking about it or scratching my head over how all of this started. 

Media Links:

Website: http://cleemckenziebooks.com

Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2809083.C_Lee_McKenzie

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/signofgreendragon/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cleemckenzie/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/cleemckenzie/movie-cast-for-sign-of-the-green-dragon/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cleemckenzie

Word Witch Wednesday - the mad science of book covers (part 4)

It takes a lot of science and a bit of madness to create great book covers. You can catch up to where we are with part 1, part 2, and part 3. And where are we? Oh yes, image shopping.

We have our backgrounds. Now onto the unsmiling protagonist, because it's against the law to smile on urban fantasy covers.

I spent several hours looking at images of models for the heroines of my Totem series. I'm going to guess over twenty hours, maybe closer to thirty. Crazy, I know, but that's the perfectionist in me.

Did I find images of women that I thought looked exactly as the characters do in my head? No. And that's okay. Readers are going to imagine the characters differently too.

Note: some books have the protagonist with her back to the audience or her head chopped off at the top of the cover. The reason for this is not to give readers a preconceived notion of what the character looks like. If this is your strategy, go for it. (It'll make image shopping much easier!) I know people who prefer that. For me, I like to see faces.

My requirements when shopping for images of models:
- it must be a full body picture or three-fourths. (You can chop it down later if need be.)
- the model must be standing against a plain background or one you can easily extract her from. (My Photoshop skills are average. When I'm cutting a model from her image to place on the cover's background, I want as little interference from other objects in the picture as possible.)
- it must be in color with good lighting. (You can do all the special effects later.)

My requirement specifically for my Totem heroines:
- they must be clothed. And the clothes must be appropriate for that character.
- they must be pale blonde and have little to no makeup. (Very difficult to find. Tip: type "natural" in the image search bar to find models with no makeup.)
- they must be strong without looking mean. Without smiling, of course.

Easy, right? Yeah, I know. It's like trying to find lost pirate treasure.

Totem #1 - Ametta Dorn
Ametta is the youngest sister and the one who gives me the most grief when I'm writing her. She's young, hip, artistic, and opinionated. She loves women's fashion and has impeccable taste while I do not.

Her general physical characteristics: short in height, short blonde hair, tasteful makeup, modern fashion, about twenty-five years old. (Tip: it's fairly easy to change a model's eye color in Photoshop.)
Her main personality characteristics: determination, confidence, a little sass.

What do you think? Can you see Ametta as a famous interior designer?

Totem #2 - Kinley Dorn
Kinley is my favorite. Yes, she's a geek! But an image of her was the most difficult to find. I could not find any picture of a blonde with glasses that suited me. And I really wanted glasses on her. Sure, she only needs them for reading, but how often do we see women with glasses on urban fantasy covers? I can't name one. I had to give it up, though, and focus on other aspects of her.

Her general physical characteristics: tall, willowy, long pale blonde hair, no makeup, mid to late twenties.
Her main personality characteristics: compassion, strength, a bit of timidity.

If I could photoshop glasses on Kinley and make it look good, I totally would. (I'm also covering her midriff to make her wearing a tank top.)

Totem #3 - Saskia Dorn

Saskia is the eldest sister and she kicks butt. She's what you might imagine a stereotypical urban fantasy heroine to be but with a twist.

Her general physical characteristics: tall, lean muscles, long pale blonde hair, no makeup, early thirties.

Her main personality characteristics: ferocity, grit, willfulness.

I wish she was wearing black, but the expression is perfect.

Next time: the rest of the cover elements!

Word Witch Wednesday - the mad science of book covers (part 3)

Welcome back! I'm happy my rambling hasn't scared you off yet. It's been a few weeks since my last book covers post. Click on part one and part two if you need to remind yourself where we are.

Today we're talking about image shopping. You should have your notes on the basic elements you need for your book cover. You're not forming images of finished covers in your mind yet, are you? Don't do it. Not at this point.

I posted five image shopping tips in May. Before you decide where you're going to get your images from, do your research. Make sure the price is the best and the images can be used for commercial use. Usually they're unlimited for electronic use and limited to 100,000 copies for print books. (The latter I don't worry about. If I ever get to the point where I'm selling over 100,000 print copies, I will be able to afford to buy the rights to the print images!)

When purchasing the images, buy the biggest size with the highest resolution. Make certain the images are clear and in color. If you want blurry effects, black & white, or color washes, you can do those yourself later. They are simple to do in most programs.

Backgrounds: There are tons of cityscapes, castles, mansions, forests, and galaxies to choose from. If you have a real location, find an image that has a well known landmark so the reader will be able to pick it out. Otherwise, don't go searching for an image that is exactly what you're imagining in your head. Remember, we want to create a mood and portray the general characteristics of the setting. Is it mysterious you want? Or foreboding? Dynamic? Serene? Magical?

I was searching for a bit of mystery and larger than life awe. (If that makes sense!) I had a subscription to a stock image site, so I bought a few possibilities for each cover. If you can only afford to download one image for your background, you can get a sample of it and try it out with the other cover pieces before you purchase it. I highly recommend that you do.

For the background, you're walking along the edge of needing a scene that fades into the backdrop and yet very clearly captures the atmosphere. An experienced cover artist will know what they're looking for, but if you're like me, it will be a lot of trial and error.

A reminder of my basic elements for my backgrounds: late summer forest, base of a mountain, and tiny Native village.

Here are the backgrounds of the first three Totem books:

Oh yes. I'm taking you step by step with me! You get to see all my bare elements... and wow, that just sounded dirty.

Anyway, dark with a bit of mystery and awe. Book #1 was the first image I came across and I loved it. For book #2, that image is the tenth candidate. I settled on the fourth image I tried for Book #3.

Tip: you might find an image with something you like in it, but you don't like all of it. You can use part of an image. I've done that with almost every element I used for my covers. This is why you download the largest image. So when you chop it up, the pieces are still a good size.

Since these posts are turning out much longer than I expected, I'm going to continue on with image shopping next time. It will be about the most difficult part: the unsmiling protagonist.

What do those background images make you feel?

#IWSG for July 2016

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is the brilliant idea of Alex J. Cavanaugh. The purpose of the group is to share doubts and insecurities and to encourage one another. Please visit the other participants and share your support. A kind word goes a long way.

This month's awesome co-hosts are: Yolanda Renee, Tyrean Martinson, Madeline Mora-Summonte , LK Hill, Rachna Chhabria, and JA Scott!

The IWSG has a new fun feature. Every month, they'll have a question for people to answer. Here is the first one: What's the best thing someone has ever said about your writing?

My answer: Must I pick one? Every positive word someone has said about my writing is priceless. If I'm to pick one, a person once told me one of my stories made her cry. Knowing that I could hook a reader and make her feel that much is awesome.

My IWSG post:
Whether you're on summer break or having a long weekend, I hope you find time to go on vacation this year. Writing is hard work. The muse loves to relax, and she'll come back eager and refreshed.

You don't even need to go anywhere to have a vacation. Just take a break from writing and relax. Go on a hike, read, garden, paint, surf. Whatever you love to do but don't usually get the time to do it.

It will make you a better writer because you'll be rested, happy, and excited to get back into your stories.

But...

Yeah, I know. Mine doesn't either. But getting away from the computer/office/notebook does work wonders for inspiration.

Have you been or are you going on vacation this year? 

You. I. Us. Tour - guest post by Annalisa Crawford

You. I. Us. is a collection of vignettes, small scenes which hint at the story beneath.

Annalisa has taken that idea to another level, because she asked 15 bloggers to ask her one question each, creating small insights into her life and writing.

What is one element that every good short story needs and why? 

Hi Christine, great question, and one that I’ve re-answered several times—I’ve gone through strong central character, hook, killer first line… But actually I think that a good short needs a story. I’ve read a few—not many, thankfully—which are anecdotes or over-long jokes with punchlines. A short story should be crafted with the same care as a novel, because the reader deserves the same satisfaction that a novel provides.

Sometimes, writers think short stories are an easy option, or a stepping stone to novel writing. It can be a stepping-stone, but it’s definitely not easy.

The short length means that every word counts, there’s no room for deviation or tangents, and the ending has to make perfect sense—especially if it’s a twist ending that you’re attempting, all the elements should be in place so you’re not tricking the reader (similar to Chekhov’s gun, if it’s used in the third act, you need to show it in the first—I always think of it in the reverse to how he’s quoted). 

Because it’s so short, the reader only started reading the story a few minutes ago—they haven’t had time to forget that plot point you fudged and hoped no one would notice.

In You. I. Us., Annalisa Crawford captures everyday people during  poignant defining moments in their lives: An artist puts his heart into his latest sketch, an elderly couple endures scrutiny by a fellow diner, an ex-student attempts to make amends with a girl she bullied at school, a teenager holds vigil at his friend’s hospital bedside, long distance lovers promise complete devotion, a broken-hearted widow stares into the sea from the edge of a cliff where her husband died, a grieving son contacts the only person he can rely on in a moment of crisis, a group of middle-aged friends inspire each other to live remarkable lives.

Day after day, we make the same choices. But after reading You. I. Us., you’ll ask yourself, “What if we didn’t?”

Buy the book:

Amazon // Barnes & Noble // Book Depository // Kobo // iBooks // Nook

About the author

Annalisa Crawford lives in Cornwall UK, with a good supply of moorland and beaches to keep her inspired. She lives with her husband, two sons, a dog and a cat. Annalisa writes dark contemporary, character-driven stories. She has been winning competitions and publishing short stories in small press journals for many years, and is the author of Cat & The Dreamer and Our Beautiful Child.

www.annalisacrawford.com