Night Wild Cover
Here's the cover to my erotic
romance Night Wild, scheduled for release December 1 by eXtasy Books:
When a new story is submitted to
eXtasy, the editors ask the writer to suggest ideas for the cover, including
descriptions of the hero and heroine, a short summary of the story, key symbols
or ideas, and a general idea for the cover. This is all the designer has to go
on.
Here is what I suggested to cover
designer Carmen Waters:
Description
of Heroine:
Laurie Deloit is DARK HAIRED, tall, and hot. As Raven, a star
whore, her FACE IS MASKED IN PAINTED-ON DARK SWIRLS LIKE FEATHERS, and her
dress is black, filmy, very low cut, very low backed, very high slit.
Short
Summary of Story:
Seattle lawyer Laurie Deloit has a chance to live out her fantasy—sex
with strangers—when she's offered night work at Seattle Young, an exclusive
brothel. She's lived on her fantasy following her abandonment by the man to
whom she gave all her love. She throws herself into wild sex in the glass rooms--whorehouse
bedrooms with transparent walls.
Key
symbols or objects:
Laurie as she is made up for a night as Raven, star
of the brothel—black hair, face painted in
feather-like black swirls, wearing a gauzy low-cut, low-backed, high
slit black gown. (I don't know how hard it might be to do the feather-painted
face, but it's a really big part of the story.)
Author
Ideas - What you would like to see on the cover:
The two sides of Laurie Deliot:
Laurie as a lawyer in the dark business suit, and Laurie as Raven the
lady of wild nights with her black-feather-painted face and slinky black gown.
The distinctive Seattle skyline with the Space Needle would make a great
background.
I put the key physical descriptions in all caps to be sure Carmen
didn't overlook them. If my raven haired-beauty turned into a blonde on the
cover, it would be my fault for not having made sure that the cover designer
was aware of the right coloring.
Carmen used many of my suggestions. The black hair, black dress, the heavy face
makeup, a bit of the Seattle skyline, and even a suggestion of glass walls are
all there. In working with cover designers, I bear in mind that the designer
has other covers to design and can't spend a month working on mine. I also try
to remember that writers express things in words, while designers think in
terms of colors and figures. As always, Carmen's cover is a lot better than the suggestion I had in my mind's eye. She captures my character's mood of reckless abandon almost uncannily.
I also love the wild long eyelashes. Although the final manuscript has been submitted, I'm going to add those to my character's night wild makeup.
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