Let's Make Some Magic!

I used to love a Benny Hill sketch in which he played a person who didn't speak English well.  The tag line for the character, delivered with a German-type accent, was "Learning, learning all the time"...

I often find myself repeating that line in my own life.

One of the first things I learned about when I started writing was "copyright".   When boiled down to the most simple terms possible, copyright exists when one creates something, whether one goes through legal channels to get a registered copyright or one just puts the words "copyright [this year] by [creator's name]" on an original product.  It basically prevents someone from claiming your work as their own so that they can't make money off your sweat and tears.  But as with all things, copyright isn't all black and white.  There are some grey areas allowing "use without intent to claim the rights".

I ran into a bit of a copyright issue when it came to the covers for my books, as I wanted to use a model to represent a character on the cover for "The Tiger's Cub".  Since most of the story revolves around the character of Chase, I learned a bit about search engines when I didn't know anyone to represent the handsome, green eyed young man who was whispering in my ear and showing me scenes from his life.  "Night of the Tiger" had covers put together by artists the publisher knew, so there was never a copyright issue, since the art works were specifically created for the book on a computer screen.  I wanted something a little more eye catching for the second book.

Frustrated at first when my search tags were bringing up results that, when I first was doing searches for my friend for the use of his older computer became tagged as "pink bunny slippers" (because I would type in something like "Parking regulations" and get boating laws), I walked away for a bit and went for a walk.  Then I came back in and, although I don't remember exactly what tag words I put in, I suddenly found myself looking at handsome green-eyed men.  One in particular must have made me make an interesting face, because my daughter came over to see what I was looking at....

The model's name is Theo Theodoridis, a Greek man who has a LOT of photos on the internet.  In the particular photo I was looking at, he is partially reclined, looking into the camera with what can best be called "a Mona Lisa smile".  My daughter looked over my shoulder at the screen, did a double take, and said "OMG!  That's Kyle!" 

Hearing my own thoughts as I stared at the photo, I had to do a little copyright research about being able to use the photo (and others) to represent my handsome trucker on a fan page on Facebook.  The simple explanation of the "grey area" is this:  If one posts a photo on a web page that is copyrighted by someone else, but ownership isn't clear enough to allow contact with the owner to request permission to use, it is acceptable to post the photo along with a link to the site where the photo was found and to name the person who appears there.  Should someone request a "cease and desist" pertaining to the use, the person who has "creatively borrowed" the photo must take it down.  I cheerfully put up some photos of Theo Theodoridis that evoked scenes from the book - and had fans drooling and sharing my fan page with their friends.  A few other suggestions for Teresanna came in as the fans realized what I was doing.  Jarah Mariano, a beautiful bathing suit model, was chosen to represent the character, bringing in some men to like the fan page for "Night of the Tiger'.

With his parents thus represented, the search for Chase continued.

Several suggestions, some that I agreed with and some that I didn't, came through from the fans who had read the post about what I was doing, and then, searching for something else entirely, I suddenly found him:  the young male model who, like Theo, jumped off the page at me as the representative of Chase.  In terms of what I was searching for, he was the "pink bunny slipper", as he had nothing whatever to do with the search tags I had put in, but when I looked at the green eyes, the dark hair that looked almost as if he had combed it by just running a hand through it on getting out of bed, the shape of the face - and that smile - I knew I had found my Chase for the book that was, at that point, just a couple of chapters based on a dream sequence I'd had over the summer of 2011. 

The model's name is Dylan Griner, a young man who moved to Los Angeles from the mid-west to pursue a modeling career, which I found out while visiting web sites looking for other photos.  I found several more photos and started a playful "contest", putting the various young models who had been suggested for Chase next to photos of my representative for Kyle and my representative for Teresanna, allowing the fans to "like" the one they thought looked most like he might be the offspring of Kyle and Teresanna.

Dylan Griner, my personal choice as the person who most looked like the real-life representative of the young man I was seeing in my mind's eye, won the contest, so on Facebook and within the introductory chapters of "The Tiger's Cub" I put up on The Northern Bard, he became the face of Chase Benton.  Imagine my surprise when, among the other notifications I got one day on Facebook, there was the notification that Dylan had "liked" the fan page for "Night of the Tiger", where his photos were part of an album I had titled "Advance Photos for a New Tale"!

Thanking him for liking my page, I mentioned that, should he ever want me to remove his photos, all he had to do was ask.  He responded, confirming that he was just getting started in his modeling career and was "flattered by the attention".  It was the start of what has become a very interesting association with someone from the other side of the United States from where I live....

Fast forward to this past winter, when the characters from the historical romance I was trying to complete started to argue about where the next chapter should go.  Writing on that piece, which wasn't exactly speeding along, faltered to the "struggle" stage, then progress stopped entirely.  Going back to edit and try to find out where I had gone off the tracks, I found that I was putting myself to sleep trying to read it.  Frustrated, I set it aside and, in an effort to get my creative juices flowing again, I started to look at the photos for the characters of Aloriah Starbird and Chase Benton that I had been collecting into  the "advance photos" album for almost a year.  Despite my internal argument that Chase and Aloriah wouldn't be old enough for the romance part of the tale until 2017, the characters were very pushy.  They wanted their story told.  I emailed my publisher about it, and she informed me that "chronological time doesn't matter in stories" and encouraged me to start working on it.

I started off on February 24th, focusing my thoughts on Chase and Aloriah by starting a separate fan page on Facebook for "The Tiger's Cub".  I transferred the photos I had of Dylan Griner to the brand new page, tried again to find a plus-sized model to represent Aloriah, but still couldn't find anyone with the right look.  Then I made the mistake of releasing my hold on the tight leash I had kept on Chase in my head.....

You may have heard the old adage about trying to close the barn door after the horse has escaped.  Yup.  That was what it was like to try to rein Chase back in once he gained his place in my head.  When I was at home, my hands were on the keys of my laptop, madly typing to try to keep up with the images flooding my mind.  When I had to go in to my part time job, Chase was almost constantly whispering in my ear, firming up the next scene before I got home.  In the few moments that he wasn't driving the bus, I was in touch with a new young model in my area about having her get together with a photographer for some "in character" shots for Aloriah.  (She owed me some favors, so she was willing to do a photo shoot with an amateur photographer friend of hers who wanted to practice doing shoots with models, as he had mostly been working with the natural beauty of Maine.  They both did the shots for free and signed release forms that allowed me to use the resulting photos however I wish - remember that copyright thing?  Yes, these two very nice Maine people, who actually have also been granted the rights to use the photos however THEY want, granted be carte blanche.)  I sent a message to Dylan Griner about whether or not he was interested in being the cover model for the book, admitting that I'm not rolling in dough.  He was willing, but unfortunately, the old copyright copperhead raised it's nasty head and bit me in the nether regions.  We weren't able to get permission to use any of the photos from Facebook for the cover....

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

With the exception of the first three chapters of "The Tiger's Cub", the book, driven almost entirely by the intense, stubborn character of Chase, was written within 25 days.  Editing went just as quickly, and before Easter, I had sent off the manuscript to the publisher, who asked the innocent enough question:  "Do you have any thoughts on the cover?"

A contest among my friends and fans ensued, with a particularly sexy photo of Dylan (which one of my photographer friends in Massachusetts dubbed his "I'm sexy and I know it" pose and which a friend from Maine referred to as his "cougar bait" look) taking the biggest number of "likes".  As mentioned above, when Dylan approached the photographer for permission for us to use his copyrighted work as the cover, I got my first "cease and desist" request, as I not only got refused for the use on the cover, but had to take down that super-sexy photo from everywhere I had ever posted it.  Bummer.  Back to the ole drawing board, and the loss of a photo that looked the most like the character who, at that point, had pretty much taken over every waking moment of my life.

Unable to find any of the photographers who had posted photos of Dylan who were willing to give permission for me to use his photos without me having to take out a major loan to cover their fees, I approached the photographer whose Photoshop skills had garnered the most "likes" during the cover contest.  I sent her the photos of Elizza-Rayn Belle Louve - who I know personally as well as professionally - to see if any of the photos her friend, Kevin James, had taken would work for the cover.  Jodie Burkett and I brainstormed, I sent her an RTF version of the tale to help her focus her creative energies, and, for the better part of two months, we were in constant email contact.  All I can say about Jodie is that it takes a very special friend to go through that insanity with me without driving through the several hours of traffic that separate us to strangle me....

When none of the photos from the first photo shoot were quite what we wanted for the cover, I arranged with Elizza and her boyfriend, who could pass for Chase from the back, but who doesn't have the green eyes for a close up, to meet me in Portland, Maine - which is a harbor town with some streets that have that old world look of the photos from New Orleans I was looking at.  We did a photo shoot on a damp evening (which works well for New Orleans, which is always damp because of being lower than sea level) on a nearly deserted street with me standing in as a photographer (and not a very good one, I might add).  That photo shoot yielded a couple of nice photos - but not what Jodie thought we needed as a creative vision for the book cover.  Some more brainstorming, some lessons for me on what I needed to try to get out of my models, and I tried again.

Again, some interesting photos, but not what Jodie was looking for.

By this point, the "horse trading" I was doing to pay Jodie for her work was escalating.  The single author-signed copy of "The Tiger's Cub" that she had been promised for having the winning cover in the cover contest became two signed copies of "Night of the Tiger" and three of "The Tiger's Cub".  I upped the ante with the possibility of a trip to Massachusetts from my end to hand deliver the books, as this woman has been a sister-at-heart since she was helping me through the pain and frustration while I was out of work with a back injury, but we've never met face-to-face.  I'm very glad to be able to trade books for the work she did for me, but I still think she's getting the fuzzy end of the lollypop....

One more lesson about how to get the look on Elizza's face that Jodie thought would work best for the book (more about where I needed to be standing and what I, as a photographer, should be saying to her), one more trip to meet with Elizza (who also was getting the fuzzy end of the lollypop, as this was all above and beyond the favor she owed me, so I scraped together some cash to be able to give her), and EUREKA!  We had the photo we needed for the cover!  Bonus points that, as the photographer, I had the copyrights for the photo and had the model's signed permission to use it as I saw fit!!

Working in Mardi Gras colors to represent New Orleans (royal purple, emerald green and gold), putting in a tiger face from a stock picture (with no copyright issues) to represent Chase, and with the photo of Elizza to represent Aloriah, Jodie made a cover image that made me say "Oh YES!!"

The image was put into the specific format that the publisher requested and was sent off to join the manuscript.  Then the waiting game began while the publisher cleared out some of the work that had snowed her under before I sent in my manuscript, had her editor go through my manuscript, added the other elements to the book cover that needed to happen before printing, and got the manuscript into the galley proofs, which show how the book will look when it goes through the printing process.

In short, between mid-February and the end of June, when the galleys made it back to me for editing, I felt as if I was visiting Hogwarts, making magic a part of my daily life while trying to maintain a normal, every day personality for the Muggles in my life who don't understand the writing world.  While I wait for the corrections to be made to the galleys and the first copy of the book to roll off the printer for me to be able to give my final blessing before it goes into full-on production and is offered as both a paperback and ebook on the many sites that are selling it's predecessor, I still am having a little trouble living in the Muggle world again.

But then again, there IS the book about media marketing I'm reading to be able to learn new techniques to advertise a book without an advertising budget, keeping me in Chase's world and in contact with the handsome young model who looks like the real world version of my character.....

For the next post, I'll get deeper into some of the new things I'm learning about advertising once you have a book to promote.....