Roseanna White - Roseanna M. White

Word of the Week – Field Trip

by Roseanna White | May 11, 2015 | Word of the Week

My kiddos on a field trip to a one room school house last year

Since someone asked me about this over the weekend, I figured, hey–already looked it up, might as well share! 😉 Especially appropriate since this is our last week of school. Oh yeah. Right about now the kids are mighty glad we didn’t take a bunch of snow days! 😉

Field trip comes from the idea of field…not as in “an open piece of land, often cultivated” (which dates from time immemorial) but from the idea of field being a place where things happen. This is a slightly newer meaning that began evolving in the 1300s. (I said slightly newer, not new, LOL.) By then it could mean a battleground. And by mid-century, a “sphere or place of related things.” By the mid-1700s people would refer to field-work as anything that took one out of the office or laboratory and into the world, where things take place.

Field trip, then, is a natural extension of this meaning. It’s a trip into the field, going out of the classroom and into the world where the things you’ve been learning about can be found. Though an actually-new phrase (from the 1950s), it has its foundation on a nicely aged idea. =)

Cover Design – Turning Point

by Roseanna White | May 6, 2015 | Uncategorized

I recently had a very interesting and new-to-me project come my way. No doubt you’ve seen the ebook collections out and about these days, where authors with similarly-themed books package them together and sell them digitally for one low price. These “box sets” (quotes because they’re digital so not technically in a box, LOL) are a great way to try out new authors along with ones you already know you love.

And as a designer, they’re super fun…and rather challenging…to find an image for!

Jill Williamson contacted me about designing such a box set for her and 6 other authors of inspirational young adult novels. The genres in the set range from contemporary to fantasy to science fiction. We have both male and female protagonists. Very different themes and styles. The thing they all have in common is that they focus on a turning point in the characters’ lives.

That’s the title of the collection: Turning Point. And here are the front covers of the 7 books that are a part of it.

As you can see, the covers are as diverse as the styles. I certainly couldn’t just take a color or image common to them all and run with that. So instead I considered that Turning Point theme. What would capture the idea of a turning point in an image? A few thoughts sprang to mind or were suggested by the authors:

~ A road
~ A crossroad sign
~ A shot of someone wearing Converse shoes, standing beside an arrow drawn onto the road
~ A gate

The authors were open to either a graphic style or a photographic style, so my options were wide open. I played with a few of these ideas, like so…

But the group agreed they wanted brighter colors, so I set that particular background aside and went on the hunt for color. I was pretty stoked when I found this one.

I liked the bright colors, and also that it was at street-level, with that road in the forefront and the horizon in the center. That left plenty of room for me to insert some teens. Going off that first image above, they liked that both genders were there but that they didn’t look like a couple–some of the books have romance but some don’t. They suggested perhaps even adding in a third teen.

So off I went on the hunt for teen silhouettes. I found these 3 at the beach.

Feeling confident that these two images would give the group of authors what they were looking for, I put them together.

The general idea is there in this, though the teens look more like they’re floating above the road than standing on it. The solution? A shadow. To create a perfect one, I duplicated their image, flipped it, skewed and stretched it, and then faded it out to about 60% opacity.

Muuuch better, right? I even bent the shadow a bit where it went over the leaves in the foreground.

So there’s the main image. Now for the font. I wanted the title to be a huge part of this design and tried several different fonts before I found one everyone liked. We ended up with Pretzel.

Looks pretty standard, right? But it has nice, thick letters, which was important to my plan. Because, you see, I wanted to turn those words so they looked like they were sitting on the road too.

I achieved this by rasterizing the font layers so I could I alter the perspective of each word. I also applied a gradient to the layer to make the words darker near the ground and lighter up higher, nearer the light source. Then, mimicking what I did with the silhouettes, I duplicated those font layers, flipped them upside down, and stretched and skewed them so they, too, have a shadow.

The only thing left for the front was the subtitle!

So there we have the front cover of the box set…but yet to be done is to make it look like a box set. 😉 I knew from the get-go that the authors would like the spine of the books to have their cover down at the bottom, and then of course the titles.

Now, in some of the box sets like this I’ve seen, each title is written in the same font…but I thought it would be fun to match the font used on each book’s cover. Fun–but a bit of a challenge! Luckily, I’ve become graphic-design-minded enough that I’m always taking note of fonts and trying to identify them, so I already had mental notes on what a few of them were. A few of the authors knew what font was used on theirs. One I actually hand-drew, LOL. Otherwise, I found exact or very-near matches on www.dafont.com.

I then took that sunset-y street image to use as a background for the spines, dividing it at regular intervals. I put on the titles, the author names, and the thumbnail of each book cover. Then I flattened the image, selected each 1/2 each spine segment, and saved it as a separate file. Here’s an example of one.

Then off I went to my 3D software that lets me create a box. After determining the right sizing, I built 7 books into it, adjusted the widths correctly, and put each spine onto one of the books. Here’s the result!

I had a lot of fun on this one, and my hope is that I managed to capture the personality of each book with those individualized spines, and yet draw the all together with the vague but compelling cover image…and give it little extra twist with the treatment of the title font. What do you think?

Pre-order Turning Point on Amazon!

Word of the Week – Duck

by Roseanna White | May 4, 2015 | Word of the Week

So, cute story. Way back when Xoe was just a little miniature thing (as opposed to now, when she’s quickly closing the gap between our heights and wearing my shoes!!!!!), I read her the Little Quack books. In one, Little Quack is playing hide and seek with his brothers and sisters, but he can’t think of a place to hide–so he hides behind Mama Duck, swimming right behind her, in her blind spot, while she finds everyone else. But she can’t find him, until finally she calls out for him, and he says, “Here I am, Mama!”

Ever since I read her that book when she was two, Xoe has liked to play “duckling.” She would try to hide behind me as I moved around, usually ruining her stealth with giggles…and with the fact that I’m not a duck with that particular blind spot, LOL. But she still does it–and I knew well she didn’t remember why, given how long it’s been since we’ve read Little Quack. I was telling her about the origins of that particular playful habit on Friday night, explaining that’s why I call her “my little duckling” when she does it. She didn’t remember the why, but Rowyn sure thought it was hilarious that his sister was acting unknowingly like a duck…and then asked why in the world we call them ducks.

I, in my wisdom, said, “I don’t know. Maybe because they duck and dive under the water?”

Rowyn: “Well not always, Mommy. Only when they’re eating.”

Smart little fella. 😉 Anyway, naturally I went and looked it up. And happily, I was right! Duck is from the Old England ducan, which means “to duck, to dive.” So the verb really did come first, and then it was applied to the waterfowl. For hundreds of years it carried that water-associated meaning only. You ducked under the water, but you didn’t duck to avoid a ball flying at your head. The “to bend, stoop quickly” meaning didn’t come until the 1520s–several hundred years after the “dive” meaning.

Thoughtful About . . . Writing and Passion

by Roseanna White | Apr 30, 2015 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized

Passion: though its current definition involves “any strong feeling,” it has its roots in pain. Passion comes straight from the Latin passio, which means, quite simply, “suffering.”

So our English idea of being passionate about something…it means not just something we feel strongly about, but something we’re willing to suffer for.

Susan Meissner pointed this out in a great class at ACFW one year, along with the question of “Are we really willing to suffer for our writing? Are we passionate about it?” And went on to say that for many writers, herself included, the answer was no. She was willing to work really hard at it, but it was a career. She loved it, but it didn’t deserve the word passion.

Another writer, very well respected and often ground-breaking, just said something similar. That when it came down to it, there’s not much she’d give up for writing.

It made me realize anew that I’m not in that camp. Susan Meissner began that aforementioned class by breaking down writers into 3 groups–those who write as a hobby, those who write as a job, and those who write as a ministry. She was speaking to the middle group.

I belong to the ministry group. Neither is right or wrong, they’re just different. But I’ve recently heard a lot of voices talking very wisely and thoroughly about the Career group, and I wanted to take some time to examine the Ministry aspect.

I have said many times that I write for the same reason that I breathe: because I must. I have written before about “Being a Writer and Zombies” LOL and how even if the world as I knew it was obliterated and I was on the run for years at a time, I would write (albeit just in my head, telling stories around the campfire). If writing fiction became illegal, I would write. It isn’t a choice to me, it isn’t a job, it isn’t something I do–it’s who I am. It’s how I process. It’s how I think.

More, it’s how I fulfill the Great Commission.

I had the honor and pleasure of speaking at a MOPS group two weeks ago, which is something I’ve done before and always love. I’m about the same age as most of the women there, my kids are just recently out of that “pre-schoolers” age, and I can relate to them on a lot of different levels. I love talking to them about juggling their home life with other passions, which is what I was talking about this time too, and about my publishing story.

Afterwards, one of the ladies said something to me that I’ve heard before, LOL. “It’s so fun hearing you talk about this–you’re so passionate about it!” (When I’m speaking to older crowds, that often gets paired with “It’s so adorable how excited you are!”)

But that’s me. I get excited about writing, about books, about the stories I get to tell. I get excited about how God has worked in my life to bring me to this point, and the ways He has used my books in the lives of His children. I get excited about what’s to come.

And yes–I’m willing to suffer for it. Because the written word is my mission field. Telling stories is how I spread the Gospel and share God’s truths. Yes, I had to learn the career side–how to follow the rules of writing, how to appeal to readers and editors, how to get my books out into those readers’ hands (otherwise it’s not much of a mission field!), and I work hard at it. But if that were taken away from me, if I could no longer get books out there, I’d still write stories–and I’d still get them to as many people as I could.

There are so many reasons to write. So many ways to treat it. So many things it can be even to someone like me who considers it a ministry, a calling. Yes, I want it to entertain. Yes, I want to write the best I possibly can. Yes, I want to keep learning how to make my books successful. No, I certainly don’t want my stories to ever come across as an agenda.

But that’s the beauty, to me. If I pursue this thing I’m called to wholeheartedly, I know that God will give me those truths to write into my stories. I know I’ll continue to understand God’s love better and better by exploring relationship and family through writing. I know my stories will get better and better as stories, and that the better they get, the more they’ll be able to fulfill their purpose on a spiritual level too.

For those of us whose writing is a ministry, the question of “Why do we do it?” always comes back to “Because that’s how we serve Him.” And because that’s my reason, it makes me view things like low sales and setbacks in a whole different light. Obviously I want my books to be successful–as in, reach lots of people–but more, I want them to be used by Him. Ideally, the two will go hand in hand. But if not, if my sales are awful but I’m still getting notes from people telling me how my books opened their eyes or touched their hearts or made them redefine their faith…well then, I’m doing my job.

It’s not always easy. It doesn’t always seem worthwhile. It certainly isn’t always logical. It can’t always be quantified. But that’s true of most ministries, isn’t it? We serve, we give, we fight for the right to do so. We falter, we weep, we wonder if it will ever make a difference. Then we get up again and keep serving. Because it’s part of who we are.

It’s a little odd that writing is something you can do for so many different reasons–after all, not many people choose “missionary” as a career simply because they think they have a way with people and words and it seems like a good career choice. That’s one that most people will do only as a calling, a ministry. But writing can be a talent, a gift much like good math skills or engineering acumen. It can be a job that goes hand-in-hand with ministry. It can be so many different things.

But if you’re pursuing it, it’s a good idea to identify why you are. What it means to you. What you’re willing to give up for it, and what you’re not. For many fabulous writers, they’re not willing to give up much to pursue writing. For others, there’s not much they won’t give up to pursue writing. How awesome that God can use us all. =)

Remember When . . . We Chose a Hero?

by Roseanna White | Apr 29, 2015 | Remember When Wednesdays

I’m in the first half a new book…which means that as I’m writing, I’m searching for lovely images to pin to my Pinterest board for this story. =) And ohmygoodness, I’m ready to move to the Cotswolds!

http://www.cntraveller.com/guides/europe/england/the-cotswolds/where-to-stay

I’m so thrilled that I decided to set this book in this gorgeous region of England. =) That last photo there is Temple Guiting Manor, which I’m basing my hero’s home, Anlic Manor, on. Isn’t it just perfect???

But I’m still trying to nail down a good image for my hero. He has warm brown hair. Green eyes. And bears a resemblance to his cousin, the hero in book 1.

This is the cousin, an actor I realized was perfect for him when I watched the new Chronicles of Narnia movies. And I love that he’s now in a new show (The Royals…which I have no interest in watching, LOL), so there are tons of pictures of him as a twentysomething rather than a teen. =)

This is William Moseley as a prince in The Royals
Not a bad look for the Duke of Stafford either. 😉
Cousin to the hero in The Waiting Lady

So my new hero, Cayton, needs to look sorta-kinda like him, though not too close, of course. And their coloring is different.

Cayton is quite handsome, though at this point in time he’s also described as rather surly and grumpy. But that’s more a condition of current circumstances that who he is. So who is the Earl of Cayton? Well, he can be absent-minded and has a hidden appreciation for all things artistic, be they his secret hobby of painting or poetry. Though he once loved the social crowd, recent losses have made him think that perhaps the hermit’s life is the life for him, so he can avoid hurting anyone else. He was once selfish and happy to choose the easy path…and has learned that the worthwhile things in life are seldom easy.

He has a little girl about 9-months-old and is a doting father–to the point where his cousin accuses him of hiding behind little Addie so he doesn’t have to face the world. Cayton wants to do the right thing, wants to make up for his past failings…but fears that he’ll just mess things up all the more.

He is in a lot of ways an anti-hero. And I’m looking forward to giving him an anti-romance, where instead of trying to get the girl, he’s doing his best to lose her. 😉

So…I need an actor who captures that look! LOL

At the moment, the best I’ve found is Henry Cavill: