The lettering was a fairly straightforward choice, being something bold and easy to read. I sacrificed some of the readability to further enforce the presence of a cutting device being present on the page. The letters are cut out of the red banner, with a definite drop shadow behind them, which does make the title a little more difficult to read.
I think personally, the hardest part of the cover to design or collate was the wording on the back, the blurb. I wanted it to be something that would convey two timelines, as this is what the book is all about. I wanted also to introduce two of my main characters, but I also wanted to keep it short and sweet. Not an easy task.
Originally the blurb was a lot longer, but on reflection it really seemed to detract from the minimalistic approach I was aiming for. Several revisions later, and the text was reduced considerably, so much so in fact, that I had to re-jig the layout to get it to look right. I emphasised the split between the two timelines by having each paragraph sit entirely in either the red or white sections.
I decided fairly early on in the blurb creation, to take paragraphs directly from the book. I really felt that this was a better idea, rather than creating text specifically for drawing in readers. I aimed to let the contents of the book be a merit to itself and promote it’s very being. The blurb is included below:
The lecturer began commenting. “Oken Brown. He looks harmless enough but he was one of the most ruthless criminals ever to have graced God’s earth.” Suddenly Zane became interested. “He developed the first hand held temporal weapon, and used it in an underground fighting arena only twenty years ago.”
It wasn’t as if Oken hadn’t killed before, he was an elite member of an underground culture. He was almost like an ambassador of death. Oken was one of the best, but even he shuddered at this new weapon which threatened the very existence of everyone on the planet.
Re-reading it now, it feels a little flat, and given some more time I would have worked through some more ideas. This blog is supposed to be about my pitfalls as well as my triumphs whilst creating Emblem Divide. I can chalk this one up to experience, it’s not a good blurb.
Part 3 – Tools of the trade
