Pippa’s fascinating post about the evolution
of her new cover for Bones of the Sea
had me fantasizing about the day when I would have to talk to artists about a
cover for my own novel(s).
For months, sometimes for years, we
authors are constrained to put our concepts into words, describing vast
galaxies, gleaming starships, slavering aliens (or maybe mouth-watering aliens)
and exotic landscapes with nothing but lively verbs and bright adjectives. How exciting to have an artist put those
concepts into actual pictures on the page (or better yet, images on a screen—squeeee!).
For all authors, the choice of a cover is
fraught with angst and seems a matter of commercial life and death. Does it convey the right points about the
plot and characters? Does it project
just the right emotional tone? Will it
attract the audience we want? Will it
stand out from others on a shelf—either actual or virtual?
But for science fiction romance authors, the
choice of a cover is even more difficult.
Do we opt more heavily for planets and spaceships, hoping to scoop up
the SF crowd? Or do we boldly go for the
romance audience, with a couple on the cover?
Should the woman be in front, or the man? Should they be fully clothed or partially
undressed, naked torsos or filmy ecstatic expressions? Stars or weapons? Landscapes or closeups? So many decisions—and so much that could go
wrong!
But, okay, let’s say for the sake of argument
that this is my book we're talking about and I and my publisher/editor/cover artist/second cousin
twice removed and his best friend all decide that I want to attract a primarily
romance audience and secondarily an SF audience for UNCHAINED MEMORY. We agree, after much discussion, that a couple should appear on the cover. (That’s as far as I’m willing to speculate
right now, folks. I have another point
to make.)
Great!
Now, what do Asia and Ethan, the heroine and hero of my novel, look
like? Here, I think, is where it all
breaks down. I can describe my people in
the book with passages like this:
“Ethan Roberts was the deluxe edition—his dark
blond hair a little too long to be fashionable, his deep-set gray-blue eyes
examining me with what seemed like X-ray vision, his strong jaw skimmed by the
barest shading of beard, highlighting the cleft in his chin.”
Or:
“He looked up to see a woman charge into the
waiting room, her high cheekbones flaming with color, her amber eyes snapping
with fire. She was so furious she seemed
on the verge of tears. She was so
beautiful he forgot to breathe.”
I can even say I wrote the characters with
certain physical models in mind. In
Ethan’s case, it was Viggo Mortensen.
For Asia, I wavered back and forth between Shania Twain and Ashley
Judd. I started with those models, but
eventually, as I wrote, the characters became themselves, someone unique and
never before seen in the world.
The problem is, everyone who reads the book
will visualize those characters differently.
So when the cover artist gives me her version of Ethan and Asia, based
on what I’ve told her, or maybe even on what she’s read, it can’t possibly be
what I’ve envisioned. Her Ethan and Asia
may be better; they may be worse. But
they will most certainly be different.
I don’t mind.
I find the envisioning of characters a fascinating process. The “rule” in romance writing has
traditionally been that your hero and heroine must be clearly described—eye color,
hair color, height, weight, etc. Some
contest judges get a little OCD about this.
They want to know what these people look like. But beyond a few particulars, I can’t tell
you that. You will come up with that
picture on your own, no matter what I
say. I can tell you that Ethan has broad
shoulders and narrow hips, but if you like guys big and beefy, and I’ve written
him as a sexy character, you’ll fit him into your mold, and so will your
girlfriend, who likes ’em lean and long.
Each writer has her own process for
discovering the attributes of their characters.
Some are very visual and plaster photos of their physical models around
their desks while they work. Some work
up complete background files on each character, with bios and backstories. Some have music or other things associated
with them. I just sketch out a backstory
(which I can change or add to as I go along) before I start the book, and I usually look for a physical model.
In my current WIP, Sam, the pirate captain who
becomes a faithful agent of Rescue, friend of tracker Gabriel (from Trouble in Mind) and lover of
Rayna/Dozen from the first two books, is based on David Boreanaz, of BONES and
ANGEL fame. Rayna herself is based on an
African-American woman I saw in a picture once on a wall in the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service training center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. She was a rock climber—young, vibrant, tiny
and very beautiful. I have no idea who
she is, but I can still see her smile. I
took one look at the picture and knew it was Dozen.
But then, I’m the writer, and I created Dozen. Perhaps it’s no wonder that so many romance
covers feature headless torsos or couples turned so you can’t really see their
faces. Those leave room for the reader to impose her own vision of the
characters on the story as she reads. Let's just call them “interactive” covers—and not feel so bad about them.
Cheers, Donna
