Pain-Free Book Illustration

or, Had I But Known: A Primer on Photos

Today, if all goes well, principal photography will begin on Ryan Gingerich's book. This is part of the project is always fraught with danger. Depending on how things go, it either means that the project will soon be finished, or that I have a boatload of work ahead of me. (Actually, no matter what happens, I have a boatload of work ahead of me. However, the size of the boat -- whether it be a dinghy or a battle cruiser -- remains to be decided.)

When I wrote my first book, I was unaware of certain key questions that needed to be asked before I signed the contract. One of those questions was "who will be the photo editor?" It wasn't until late into the process that I discovered I, the writer, was destined for the job.

The photographer for the project, a wonderfully talented individual, had never photographed for a book before. He took pictures -- over 4000 beautiful images. And then he gave them all to me.

Since I'd never written a book before, I wasn't certain what the protocol was. However, after spending literally weeks wading through photo after photo after photo after photo, I realized there had to be a better way.

Through trial and error, I've developed a system that works for me. It seems to be the most efficient, the least time-consuming, and the least painful for all involved. If I can get everyone, the models, the photographer, the expert, and me on the same page, the shoot goes quite quickly. The key, I've discovered, is taking the reins and directing the entire thing. (I was reluctant to do this at first. I felt that it smacked of dictatorship. But after several nearly disastrous projects, I discovered that "dictator" isn't necessarily a bad word.)

The first step is writing the text. Polish the text until it shines. Get the manuscript ready.

Then, go through the text and look for words that lend themselves to visual representation. Find the phrases that require illustration. Find the words that are particularly evocative. Think of an appropriate illustration for this text, and describe it.

Give each illustration a unique number. The easiest way to do this is in sequence within each chapter. For instance, every illustration in chapter 1 will begin with the number one. I generally use a dot to separate the sequence number from the chapter number. The first photo in Chapter 1 is titled photo 1.1. The second in the same chapter is titled photo 1.2, and so on.

Photos that require being grouped in a sequence, as is often the case with how-to books, are designated with alphabetical letters. So, for instance, four photographs in a sequence might be titled photo 1.1A, 1.1B, 1.1C, and 1.1D.

Directly underneath each photo description, I write a short suggested caption. Captions for photos and illustrations are generally taken from the manuscript text, and then elaborated upon in further detail.

What I've gone through the entire manuscript and indicated where illustrations are appropriate, I make a chart. The chart includes the photo name (1.13, for instance), the short description, and the suggested caption for the illustration.

This chart goes to the photographer, and becomes his or her shot list.

As each shot is taken, the photographer can indicate the frames or file names of the two or three best photos for each required illustration. I tell the photographer in advance that I do not want every single photograph he or she snapped. I only want ones he or she would feel proud of if they appeared in print. This, I have discovered, narrows my selection process down immeasurably.

I generally have 2 to 5 photographs for each possible illustration. I prefer doing the initial photo selection off of thumbnails because it takes so much less time than working off the flow photograph file. I weed out the ones that are patently inappropriate for the text. Then I look at the full files and find the ones that best match the text.

I insert the name of the appropriate file in the manuscript text next to the photo number. My goal is to make the entire manuscript submission readily and easily understandable for the publisher. The publisher then receives a hard copy of the manuscript, printouts of the photo thumbnails, a CD of the large photo files, and an electronic version of the manuscript file.

If all goes well, complete photo selection, edits, and placement can be done in a few days. If all does NOT go well, photo selection alone can take nearly as long as writing the manuscript in the first place. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

In Other News

Made good headway on the Novel in Progress today, while I await the photos to come in for Ryan's book. I'm really enjoying the long-term creative process that a novel requires.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Not only is it the next meeting of the Writing Practicum, but a friend that I met at the Christian Writer's Conference in Grand Rapids earlier this summer is planning to come spend the day with me at the beach talking writing stuff. Sounds great! Nothing like a kindred spirit to sharpen the creative edge and make the Muse work overtime!

It's Official

I discovered today that pre-orders are already possible for Ryan's book. This is mildly concerning since it's not yet finished. Ah, but it will be. It will be. Soon.

Last night was the final class of the Writer's Workshop. Twenty people attended. It was quite bittersweet -- it's been a great group of people to work with: dedicated, driven, and interesting.

So many are interested in pursuing their writing dreams and improving their manuscripts that I am going to be holding an ongoing Novel Writing Practicum: a roundtable reading group limited to only 8 members. It will exist for the sole purpose of helping members polish their work and get it into publishable form. I'm really excited about it. Looking forward to continuing my work with some of these students.

Last night we discussed marketing and promotion. It's the sort of thing that always gives me a reality check because I know I could be doing more on that front myself. (Having a mother who drills the lessons of humility, modesty, and the evils of blowing one's horn is a great thing -- until the day one realizes that one must engage in some Shameless Self-Promotion if one wants to feed her family.)

So, because I know how important it is to DO and not just to SAY, I bit the bullet today and created a FaceBook page for the "writer" me, as opposed to the "person" me. Hoping this allows me to keep business and personal things separate without adding extra upkeep time to my day.

The important thing, I always say, is to know what you're talking about before you tell others how to do a thing. Social networking is the future of marketing. Just ask my friend and author Trudy Morgan-Cole.

Trudy's latest book, By the Rivers of Brooklyn, made the Top 10 of her online Canadian bookseller after she used FaceBook and other networking tools to coordinate a successful online book launch. (I like to take credit for suggesting the thing. But Trudy gets all the kudos for actually putting it together and seeing it through.)

So... it's official: Ryan's book WILL be finished soon. And I officially exist as a "Writer" on FaceBook. Now I just need to fine tune how to use all the tools at my disposal... Further bulletins as events warrant.

High Hopes and Big Hair

This Sunday, we thoroughly enjoyed going to see the musical "Hairspray" at Lake Michigan College's Mendel Center. We all liked the movie, and Cassandra knows the soundtrack by heart, so we bought our tickets soon after they went on sale. Since yesterday was Robert's birthday, it was a sort of "happy birthday" present for the whole family.

After we got our tickets, we learned that there was a "Big Hair" contest coming up. Grand prize: two free tickets to the show, and $100 gift certificate to The Bistro in downtown St. Joseph.

All you had to do to enter was rat your hair as big as possible and submit pictures to prove it.

The potential for humiliation was great, so of course we went for it.

Cassandra and I spent a laugh-filled evening doing the hair thing. (Robert gamely let us do his hair, too, but the pictures I took really didn't do him justice. He's so photogenic, it was a crime.)

We had a ball, though since Cassandra's hair is longer than just a few inches, hers was easier to make "big."

Anyway...

We WON!

We shared our winning tickets with friends and we all enjoyed an evening watching Tracy Turnbladt, Link Larkin, Seaweed, Penny, and the rest of the cast sing and dance their hearts out. Very fun!

In Other News

Various writing projects are nearing completion. My Major Project for my VIP client is in the final stages of editing and fact-checking. All that remains now is a editing a few last-minute additions and illustration captions.

The first draft of the biopic screenplay that I'm working on with my director friend Paul Martin is finished. We still need to finesse it and fine-tune it, but we're pretty happy with how it's coming along.

Ryan Gingerich's book is slowly coming along. I'm hoping to make real progress on it in the next two weeks, so he can begin the approval process.

Several other projects and "Good Ideas" are waiting in the wings, but I've put them all on hold until the current projects are completely taken care of.

Earlier this week, I received a nice e-mail from a young man who attends Grace Christian High School in nearby Watervliet. It reads in part:

My goal is to become a writer once I get out of college. Right now, however, we're doing a vocational research project. The project involves finding out about career paths that we're chosing for ourselves. Part of it is to interview someone we're not familiar with who is already in this career. I'd like to set up an interview with you sometime, if you could find the time.

Of course, I said I'd be honored to help him with his assignment. Anything to encourage someone who wants to make his living with words...

Speaking of making a living, Ryan's unfinished chapter beckons. (So does the beautiful sunny day outside -- but it will have to wait.) I may not be writing the next Tony-award winning musical, but my hopes for the project are still high. Which means I'd better get busy and finish it!

Puppy Love

Sera, our lovely little English Mastiff, continues to charm her way into our lives. She's 13 weeks old now, and the most Perfect Puppy I've ever known.

In the short time she's been with us, she has learned:

* Humans do not comprehend the inherent Toy Value of shoes.
* Cats and chickens are almost, but not quite, as much fun to play with as footwear.
* "Business" is to be done outdoors. Even when it's raining.
* No one in the family enjoys having their toes chewed.
* If Mom calls, run around the cat. Cats don't move. They hate getting run over, and they make for nasty speed bumps.
* Everything tastes better in the kitchen.
* When in doubt, go to the crate.
* It's hard to stand up when you're stepping on your ears.
* No one in the family ever runs out of "scritches" and hugs.
* Life is goooooood.

"Dribble Work"

Work has slowly been trickling in from various clients. I honestly thought my Very Important Project would be so hot right now that I'd be unable to accept new clients or new projects until the end of the year. However, it is currently stalled in Committee.

This development has given me time to start on Ryan Gingerich's book. But I'm caught up on that, too, pending Ryan's commentary and approval on the preliminary chapters.

This has allowed me to work with my friend Paula, who I'm helping put together a proposal for a book about her very interesting life. And that, too, is caught up.

Which means that -- barring a load of files being dumped in my In-Box tonight -- I have a window of opportunity to work on my own stuff! I'm practically giddy with anticipation.

I want to continue working on the screenplay I workshopped with Jim Mercurio in July. I want to finish the text and illustrations of a coloring book for Mini Miracles a friend's not-for-profit ministry that uses miniature horses, dogs, and other therapy animals to brighten the days of the sick and elderly. And I have an idea for another screenplay that I'd like to be able to play around with in the near future.

Though there is no shortage of work to be done for my clients, as of now, the balls are all in their courts. Which leaves my court free for playing on my own.

Let the games begin!