(Back) Cover Update

Things are moving slowly, but they are moving. I’m always slow, so snail-like progress doesn’t bother me; however, I do despair at the ease with which other writers seem to work. Working on their fourth book of the year and publishing two short stories, other writers always have their shit together. I…do not.

There’s nothing new about the front cover, but I wanted to give an early idea about the back.

I’m doing a map again, but this time, the dude who designs the book is going to design the map. This past weekend, we looked at a lot of Dell maps and tried to articulate what we like about them. It turns out, we like clarity.

The main action in The Five False Suicides takes place on a tied island on the southern coast of Maine. There are 10 cabins on the island. It’s lined with beach and filled with forest. The connecting strip from Maine to the island is not a bridge. It is a tombolo. You should all be thankful that I won’t be writing dialogue about how the bridge has been washed out. The tombolo has been washed out. It’s totally different. I don’t want to hear any complaining about me repeating myself.

In the lower right-hand corner is an inset. which will show us the interior of the cabin.

We looked at this beauty as we discussed interiors. I don’t expect Matt to copy the Dell style, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to use the most famous kind as an example.

The cabin’s architecture is important. I was thinking of including this drawing inside the book–the same way I did with Vampire–but I think it’ll only go on the back cover in the inset. If the Atlantic Ocean is the backdrop, I don’t think the image will be cluttered, and we’ll get that sweet clarity we both like so much.

I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make the October 15th date, but I’m going to try. I work on the book every week. I think about it all the time. Hopefully, it’ll be a fun read. That’s my biggest concern. Nothing hurts more than the thought that someone might read two chapters and then quit. When I wrote Vampire, I was quite conscious of this. I tried to make it as entertaining as possible with the 3 parts being obvious places to stop–essentially a 3-day read.

Now, I find myself trying to slow the narrative down at certain points. It is at precisely these times when an asshole voice in my head says, “Boring!”

It’s a fine line between rushed and boring.

I’ll have a character list with descriptions soon.