Raven O'Fiernan

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Risk-Taking in Writing #IWSG 04-07-2021

April 7, 2021 By ravenofiernan 4 Comments

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Find out more at The Insecure Writer’s Support Group

Weekly Update

So, another long, tiring week at work, and not much done to show for it. But I will share the current covers anyway — these were made last year. Since this is an #IWSG post, it’s possible other people will see — these are just my very first attempts at this sort of thing, so feel free to offer any feedback and/or tell me which one(s) you like most.

The story is about a woman who is a funeral director whose husband has just died. She is preparing his body when something exceptional occurs. It’s not romance and there is a paranormal element. It’s connected to my Hazel Kanetzki series of cozy paranormal mysteries, but it is not a mystery itself.

Optional Monthly Question

April 7th’s question, if you’d like to answer it, is:  Are you a risk-taker when writing? Do you try something radically different in style/POV/etc. or add controversial topics to your work?

Oh boy. This is a can of worms, isn’t it? Absolutely. I don’t deliberately add controversial topics, but they end up sneaking in because I mainly want to write what doesn’t exist yet. I love reading, but when I write, I want to write what I want to read but can’t find. And so that leads into what I personally and uniquely find missing, which, by definition means it’s not the usual.

And I have the problem where I like to read, and therefore write, in many different genres. At least, I have heard that is a problem. People searching on my name might run into drastically different stuff, so my Also Boughts are going to be a mess… Assuming I even get something finished.

My riskiest novel is one that has been set aside. It is a retelling of Snow White. The step-mother is only a few years older than Snow White, and the prince is her former lover who curses her, and unleashes insanity (basically the archetypal world warping everyone into archetypes — so it forces the step-mother into the evil stepmother role, for example). So all three of them are slowly going insane. It’s written in alternating first person from these three unreliable narrators. I want to get back to it at some point, but not sure when I will. Oh, and then there’s the idea (not even a first draft yet) of the sister of an abused girl who frames the abuser of serial killers and goes insane as she begins to become addicted to killing… Um, yeah. That one might never get written.

Even when I am in more mainstream genres, like the aforementioned cozy mysteries, I find myself wanting to play with the tropes and avoid the most common things (on the other hand, as far as tropes go, I love vampires, just not vampire romances, or at least not the typical brooding/protective male vampire with human female romances).

I think I am starting to ramble here, though, so I will leave you with these oh-so-amateur book covers!

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Thanks to our awesome co-hosts for the April 7 posting of the IWSG! PK Hrezo, Pat Garcia, SE White, Lisa Buie Collard, and Diane Burton!

Filed Under: #IWSG, Covers, Reflection, Writing

Four Covers for Grief’s Thorn

March 24, 2021 By ravenofiernan Leave a Comment

Weekly Update

So this week has been all about the covers. Last week-end, during my stream, I finished XIX – The Sun and realized, wow, that means I only have two left before the Majors are done. And since I’d already been adjusting the covers I made previously, I decided to go ahead and start making covers for the Major collection. Obviously, I will also need to revise them and format them, and in other ways make the stories themselves good enough for publication, but since March is covers month, well, there you go.

But I am still getting feedback on the covers for the Hazel Kanetzki short story, so here are the four I made for the title Grief’s Thorn. To be honest, these are definitely not my favorites, but hopefully will show my process of learning.

Covers

So, there you go. Next week, I will have the next Tarot flash fiction piece up! Have a great week, everyone!

Filed Under: Covers, Hazel's Series, Reflection, Writing

The Next 3 Covers: Last Friday’s Rose

March 17, 2021 By ravenofiernan Leave a Comment

Weekly Update:

This week was another difficult week. My routines are slipping a bit and it’s been harder to get up, so that kind of affects the whole day, even if I am feeling more compfortable with the new job.  Writing focus has still been revision, which is going, but slowly.  I am  on page 61 of 339 at this time.  I did however post the next three covers on the Holly Lisle forums, so here they are for you as well.

Tell me what you think, and I’ll get the next ones up next week.  Happy writing, all!

Filed Under: Covers, Hazel's Series, Polls and Surveys

The First 4 Covers – Three Roses

March 10, 2021 By ravenofiernan Leave a Comment

Weekly Update:

This week was a difficult week, to be sure. I got a promotion (yay!) and this was the first week of the new job, so lots of anxiety, new-job uncertainty, feeling “stupid”, etc. And in the middle of it, I finally finished the final touches for my covers for the prequel (but more of a side story, rather than lead-in) to the Hazel series. It’s an introduction to the main character, her reasons for not being interested in romance, and to her ability to get a picture out of a trance after being around dead bodies. But, unlike the other stories in this series, it is NOT a mystery, so might not bring in readers to the series and could possibly appeal to the WRONG readers, and not appeal to the RIGHT ones. Anyway, it’s a story that can stand on its own, so I am going to publish it soon-ish (hopefully within the year) after getting more feedback on the covers and then working on the copy, and then all the administrative tasks involved in putting a book up, which are still slow-going for me since I haven’t done it much.

But that all brings me to the main point of this post:

I’d like to share these covers with you and get your thoughts. I realize they are not my best, but they will improve, and it will give you an inside look at what I’ve been working on.

Three Roses Covers

So there you have them! Please let me know your thoughts on these covers. And until next week, happy reading!

Filed Under: Covers, Hazel's Series, Polls and Surveys, Reflection, Writing

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