Little known facts about Moondance
For years, friends (maybe even you) have looked me warily in the eye and asked... "So you're spending every weekend writing a book huh? That's obsessi—I mean impressive. What's it about?"
Yes, I really have been writing a book, and many people have helped me launch it. Thanks to publication consultant and agent Arnold Gosewich and editor Robert Buckland. Thanks to my sister Nora, who helped me find the cover image concept, friend Vinita Phord for creating the image and talented (and patient) cover designer Angel Guerra for pulling it all together. Thanks to layout artist extraordinaire Tannice Goddard for her kind words and fine eye, and to Sandra Bekhor of Bekhor Management for her personal support, and marketing savvy.
About the creation of Moondance
- Where did the name Moondance come from?
- What does the cover image mean?
- How did you create the cover?
- Will there be a sequel?
Where did the name Moondance come from?
The first title I ever had for Moondance was Versuchung, which means "Temptation" in German, and the same name of a breathtaking etching I own by Jurgen Gorg. This piece of art inspired the green-eyed man scene on page 271, the first line I ever wrote!
A few years later, I got serious, and changed the title to Ricochet, though I thought of it as a working title.
In 2003, I took a karaoke workshop to face my fear of singing in public. The song I sang over and over, for three days, was Moondance, by Van Morrison, and months later, it hit me—Moondance was the perfect name for Ricochet. In astrology, the moon represents the emotions. The dance part... well, you'll have to read the book to find out.
What does the cover image mean?
It's adapted from a crop circle web site I stumbled into. It's based on a Scorpio crop circle that really exists. I love it because Moondance is thematically Scorpio, and because it ties in the circles metaphor I use throughout the book.
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How did you create the cover?
The cover took almost five months—almost as much time as writing the entire book! Just kidding. But it wasn't a linear process (and neither was the writing of Moondance).
Covers are so important—in the sea of competition, I am an unknown, so I knew I had to create a cover that stood out.
I worked with talented designer Angel Guerra from Archetype Design in Toronto, where I live. First, I looked at literally hundreds of images on my own to save Angel's time (and my budget which was limited) on Corbis. Angel also took some gorgeous, treated photographs for me to consider. He showed me a portrait he created of my protagonist, Althea—it was amazing. Like meeting an old friend for the first time.
After some thought, I decided to use Angel's photograph on my cover. We began to explore layouts—more than a dozen. Then I started on font research.
The font
First, I rejected any font that looked too traditional, or on the other hand, too grungy. I wanted it to be different. After considering literally dozens of fonts, I finally chose Optima, which I found elegant, clean and unique for a book cover. Angel laid it out in a number of ways over the photograph I had chosen.
The Scorpion image
Then I had a conversation with a designer friend Vinita Phord of Beryl Communications and though she loved the photo, she felt the cover was flat, and it wouldn't stand out. When she said this, my heart sank. But deep down, I knew she was right.
After taking a deep breath, I decided to search for a scorpion image which would work with the photograph because:
- Moondance is thematically based on the astrological sign Scorpio, and
- This approach also lent itself to a series (I've already started a Pisces-themed book, for example).
A few days later, I sent my top scorpion choices to Angel and he re-laid the cover out, but for me, something was missing (and I'm sure Angel was wondering about my sanity). I felt discouraged.
Later, I was visiting my family, and I explained the situation to my sister Nora. She did a net search, and we found a really cool scorpion image on a crop circle web site of all places. The image immediately felt right to me. It was clean, graphically striking, and to boot, it was made up of circles, which is a metaphor I use repeatedly in the book. I also loved the metaphysical tie-in with crop circles, as the book asks metaphysical questions. So Vinita used the crop circle to create the final Illustrator image for my cover, and I passed my new "brilliant" concept to Angel to layout (yet again).
How it all came together
That day, I got three emails from Angel in about five minutes as I sat at my computer. The first laid the image out with the photograph and declared (rightly so) that now I had a bizarre and really ugly cover. I felt like laying down and giving up.
Then he emailed to say he was looking for the silver lining. His final email that day came a minute later, with an attachment—a new cover in which he had dropped the photograph I had chosen out completely, leaving the black background with the scorpion in red. When I saw it, I caught my breath and knew we were onto something. Red and black are both Scorpio colors.
Things were finalized quickly after that. We embossed the scorpion to add texture, an idea I loved because Moondance is a very sensuous book.
Will there be a sequel?
Not just a sequel—a series! I've started the second book, and know the themes I want to explore. I'll just say this. Moondance is just the tip of the iceberg—you just wait! Althea and her friends have lots more otherworldly dramas and earthly neuroses to explore... all part of the fun.
Fun facts
That Karen has a dream soundtrack for Moondance the movie? See interview with Karen for more.