Shaman 2 Book Cover Idea

I’ve been playing around with a book cover idea for Shaman 2. What do you think?

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AEVA Paperback Came In

Look what came in!

Book Cover Software

If you’re looking for something less expensive than Photoshop CC to create your artwork for your books, Affinity is currently having a 50% off sale on all three products (Photo, Designer, and Publisher). Last year, I purchased all three for the same deal. I’m a Photoshop user and have been using the software for a couple of decades now but I wanted to try out Affinity. I’ve tried it out a couple of times since purchasing but only dabbled for a few minutes. This time, I thought I’d give it a little more time. The reason I bought Affinity was mainly because of the price, but also because I had heard it was similar to Photoshop. To be honest, I don’t think it’s very similar at all. I had to Google what I needed for the simple photo composite below. I’d love to someday switch from Photoshop CC to Affinity, but we’ll see.

Here’s the composite using Affinity:

Here it is using Photoshop CC.

You could see that I was able to add more shadows around the eyes. It’s because I didn’t know how to do it in Affinity and I was done with Googling. I also used the warp tool, layers, and other tools in Photoshop. Whereas, on the Affinity image, it would take some time to learn those tools. If you know of a good Youtube tutorial I could learn from, let me know.

The statue photo is by Mika Y. The eye photo is by Molly M.

NaNoWriMo 2018

Last November, I didn’t do National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) because I was finishing up my master’s degree. I had wanted to but knew it couldn’t be possible. I’m excited to say, I am able to do it this year.

The first time I did NaNo (2016), I didn’t make a cover and didn’t include a synopsis. I rushed into it. I didn’t outline but did have a pretty good idea on what the story was about. I finished my 50K words, but it was tight. I felt like I just threw whatever I could into the story to hit my numbers per day. In the end, I felt I lost track of the plot and the main reason for the story. This time, I’m outlining to avoid all that. I’m sure there will be moments of the aforementioned, but my hope is to have less of it.

If you are not a member and want to give 50K words a try, go to: https://nanowrimo.org/.

If you are a member and want to be buddies, my member name is, waltzoftheflowers.

My story is a sci-fi dystopian speculative with some cyberpunk. It’s called, “Marlowe.”

The rough synopsis (will likely change):

After the great war, in what was once the United States, a new government emerged. They hired a clean-up company to remove debris and junk to clear out land for homes and farming. This company used machines and robots to assist in the cleaning. The robots are cyborgs: half human, half robotic parts. Cyborgs could only be created by using dead human parts but there are secrets the government doesn’t intend for anyone to learn. A girl named Marlowe will unearth the truth.

The temporary cover:

I have a playlist I’m putting together for my story. Here’s one that I’ve imagined to go along with a scene. The scene is when Marlowe learns that her friend was converted into a cyborg without his consent. He finds a way to talk to her and asks her to turn his switch off (to kill him). She refuses.