Today I need to get a few things done to focus on the book cover for Losing Dani Strumm.
I have some ideas of how I want it to look, but not sure if I can pull it off. I want it to look a certain way, and I do not want it to be cheesy or poorly edited. I hate it when I see a book cover, and you can see the blurred lines and edited parts on the book cover, especially if it’s my book!
My hope is a view of Dani on the cover standing on Tau Ceti e, with an alien sky in the background, maybe a planet in the sky. On the back, because the story has dream sequences, perhaps an image of Dani, her eyes closed, and a dreamscape background behind her.
I saw an image once of a woman with a butterfly on her face covering her eyes. I loved this because it reminded me of my favorite quote of mine, by Zhuangzi.
“Once upon a time, I dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was myself. Soon I awaked, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.”
― Zhuangzi, The Butterfly as Companion: Meditations on the First Three Chapters of the Chuang-Tzu.
I may try to implement this imagery on the back if I can do so tastefully.
I believe this combination would make a great book cover for Losing Dani Strumm.
I may even put that quote in the book!
He was one of my favorite Chinese philosophers who lived in the 4th century B.C. I also appreciated Sun Tzu and my all-time favorite, Miyamoto Musashi.
In high school, I painted a mural on my bedroom wall of Musashi, on the wall opposite my mural of the Prince record sleeve from the Purple Rain album.
It may take some time to get the book cover finished enough to show it off. There’s always a chance the publisher will ask for changes as well. That does happen sometimes. However, I will at least have something soon to show everyone.
Today I'll start laying out the cover. I'll have to ignore the binding. For now, you can't set that up until you have an exact page count, which I won't have until you finish the book.
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