Danielle English – The Princelings Books: Jemima Pett

27 May, 201926 May, 2019

Progress on Chronicles of Marsh

It’s a month since I finished writing the last two books in the series. So far I’ve done a first and second edit of Chronicles of Marsh, book 9.

I’ve also been in touch with my editors and my cover illustrator, to see how their schedules run, and get Chronicles logged in with them.

My editor, Dani English, has been very busy this spring, with commissions and also a couple of conventions on the south coast of England. Her stand was very impressive! It’s easy to forget that my journey through writing the Princelings books has coincided with Dani’s graduation from college and attempts to gain employment in the illustration field. Now, no longer a ‘recent’ graduate, she’s decided that freelance work will enable her to be creative while still holding down a job that gives her enough time to do both.

Kanizo stand Dani English — You can buy many of these items at her Redbubble and Etsy shops.

When you look at her work now, I wonder what would happen if I commissioned a whole new suite of Princelings covers! I’m not going to though. I’ve given her my idea of what might be on the covers of the last two books, but I’ve also sent her the chapter outlines for both books and the draft text in case she wants to delve for the detail. She did such a wonderful job on book 8 that I know I can leave it to her brilliant imagination.

I’m so lucky to have an amazing illustrator in the family!

I’m now working on the third draft of Chronicles of Marsh. I have one piece that needs changing as there is a danger of referring to something that hasn’t yet been disclosed. Not referring to it will be easier than changing the sequence of disclosure. What I wonder is, whether the format of the book will appeal to readers. I suspect it is really only for existing fans, since it fills in a lot of gaps between the previous books and the last one. There is a story pulling it all together, but it may be more interesting to me than the general reader!

The third draft (or whichever version I’m on at the end of June) should take it to beta-reader and editor stage. If you’re interested in being a beta-reader, just let me know in the comments below.

30 September, 201629 September, 2016

Inktober is coming – and so are Willoughby’s chapter illustrations

Inktober is one of those challenges that people take up or not with no pressure from anyone – but you may find lovely sketches floating around your favourite social media with the hashtag #inktober all through the month of October.

I’ve been enjoying the sketches my cover illustrator, Danielle English, who shows off her talent every year, put on her twitterfeed each Inktober. This year she’s also showing them on her new Facebook page Kanizo Art. So please support her and comment on them.

And as Dani showed some more of her work the other day, I realised that Inktober was the perfect prompt for me to do the illustrations for Willoughby the Narrator. Inktober should be one sketch a day, making 31, and Willoughby needs no more than 19, so I could either aim for the half marathon and post every other day, or go for broke and do the remaining ones from chapters for The Princelings of the North.

I’ll be posting them first onto my Pinterest page, where they will link to the Princelings of the East Facebook page and my Twitterfeed. Search for #inktober if you’re interested!

26 May, 20141 July, 2014

Ideas for new covers

During the blog tour last year for The Princelings of the East, one comment made by a reviewer suggested I should rethink the covers for the trilogy, or at least for the first book. Joshua, at Published Bestsellers said “Overall outwardly the book title and cover is very deceiving however the plot is absolutely brilliant.”

Asking around, I think the problem is the covers don’t imply action, although they might be slightly mysterious. Danielle English (my illustrator) and I have been working on this off and on, and Dani has come up with these concept sketches. I suggested we should be thinking about electrical sparks from Castle Marsh in the first one, and more action at sea for the second. I’m still not sure about the third, since I love the original Lost City cover. We’ve just gone more 3D with it, and Dani suggested trying it central.

I also like the titling. In many ways I love the freshness of the drawing, but then as you know from the illustrations, I tend to be a bit scribbly myself! They will of course be tidied up and in colour for the final versions.

What do you think?