by Roseanna White | Nov 19, 2014 | Books, Remember When Wednesdays
This isn’t exactly a cover design post, since the covers haven’t been finalized yet. But this past weekend we had a photo shoot for an upcoming WhiteFire series, and it was so much fun that I thought I’d post a bit about it, and get y’all looking forward to when I do post about the cover design. 😉
WhiteFire recently had the Joy of signing a fresh young author to a 3-book deal. I first met Rachelle Rea on Go Teen Writers, quite a few years ago when the blog was first starting up. She’s been a regular member there over the years, and soon stood out as a sweetheart. One with talent. She just graduated from college last spring, and already she’s building a career as a freelance editor and is known for her tagline, “Inspiring Daring.”
Her Steadfast Love series takes place in the 1560s, focusing on a Catholic heroine caught in the middle of the riots and slaughtering of Catholics by Protestants in Holland, known as the Iconoclastic Fury. A rescuer arrives to sweep her back to her home in England…but not the rescuer she would have hoped for. No, the man who shows up is the very one who murdered her parents. She saw him standing over their bodies. So how is she to entrust her safety to him–but what choice does she have?
The heroine, Gwyn, is tall and willowy, blond, beautiful. So naturally, when stock photo sites fail me and I realize we’re going to have to do this one ourselves, I turn to my gorgeous, willowy, blond niece, Jayna. Happily, Jayna is active in theater and always eager to play dress up, so she readily agreed to pose for me. Yay!
The next step was costuming. The last couple times we had a photo shoot, we actually commissioned the dresses to be made by an amazing young seamstress–another girl I met through Go Teen Writers, LOL. But I knew I’d need three costumes (one for each book in the series), and that didn’t seem like the answer this time. So I instead contacted all the costume rental places I could find who were remotely close to my hometown.
I was kinda blown away by how that all worked out. My daughter was in a parade at our mall last week and had to go in for costuming…and it happens that the same shop I’d contacted in a town 1.5 hours away was the one doing those costumes, too. So I took Jayna to be measured at the same time as Xoe, and they brought the gowns with them to the parade. How perfect was that?
Now, fashions in the 1560s were pretty diverse. The gowns we chose reflect three of the very-different styles that a lady of Gwyn’s station would have worn, depending on the situation. In book 1, The Sound of Diamonds, she’s on the run—starting at a convent, where she wouldn’t have been decked out in court regalia. So for that one, we chose a beautiful blue velvet gown with a cape.
And we needed a “diamond” rosary necklace. Not that it deserves those quotes in the book, but I sure wasn’t shelling out the gazillion dollars a real one cost. 😉 So for the purposes of a photo shoot, we settled for Ye Olde Fakes.
Our next dress for The Sound of Silver was more in court styles. A burgundy velvet with a pop-up collar, this one is regal and ended up photographing so very well!
And finally, a dress for The Sound of Emeralds. Naturally, this one had to be green. =)
Of course, dresses weren’t enough. We needed a location. In the past, all our photo shoots have been in front of a blank screen, and then I put in a background photo to suit the setting. But in this case, I thought we’d try actually shooting with an appropriate backdrop. Of course, Cumberland, Maryland isn’t exactly bursting with Renaissance architecture.
But we do have one location that popped to mind–a church. I emailed them to ask about using the exterior of their building as our location, and they quite happily agreed. So we did the shoot at Emmanuel Episcopal, and it was absolutely gorgeous.
So there you get a glimpse of our costuming, set, and photography (photos are all by my fabulous aunt, Pam Mulligan). What you probably can’t tell from the abundant sunshine is that it was barely 40 degrees. Poor Jayna’s nose was getting red by the end of the shoot, LOL.
We had a fun time–though doing costume changes in a minivan is very daring. Rachelle should be proud. 😉 And the results were simply stunning. Can’t wait to share the cover process with you!
by Roseanna White | Nov 17, 2014 | Word of the Week
I found myself looking up the etymology of crime scene the other day. I had a feeling it was a bit modern…and I was right. The original phrase was actually scene of the crime (makes sense) and was coined by Agatha Christie in 1923.
But there were some other interesting facts to learn about scene while I was there. Not surprisingly, the word comes straight from Latin (via Old French), with the expected meaning of “a subdivision of a play.” What I didn’t realize was that is shares a root with shine–the original Latin and Greek words carried a notion of the physical stage or booth that actors used too, and hence were similar to shade and Shine.
The “part of a play” meaning existed in English from the 1530s…by the 1540s it could be used for the physical apparatus of a stage…and by the 1590s, it had taken on “the place in with a literary work occurs” and therefore also a general setting or place where anything occurs, not just literary work.
You could go “behind the scenes” of something by the 1660s. And by 1761, people could “make a scene” with their stormy outbursts.
Not that I would ever do such a thing… 😉
Have a lovely week!
by Roseanna White | Nov 13, 2014 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”
John 14:12
I had quite a few verses of Scripture that I kept in mind while writing A Soft Breath of Wind. One of them that was always hovering at the back of my mind was that one–John 14:12. A simple statement, made by Jesus to all who believe. To his disciples. To his followers.
I’ve heard this verse for a lot of years. I know it. I believe it. We, the church, are capable of doing miracles. We are. Do you ever question that? But we are.
This past spring, I read a really, really amazing non-fiction book that WhiteFire Published, called
No Plan B: Discovering God’s Blueprint for Your Life. I’ve mentioned this book on here before, but it bears repeating–it’s an amazing book. Because it helps shatter the lie that the church has come to believe over the past 2,000 years. That we
can’t do what Jesus did. That we’re powerless on earth, just waiting for heaven.
No true. So not true. And the author points out why. Jesus didn’t perform his miracles under his man-power, obviously. He didn’t perform them under his God-power, either, or we wouldn’t be able to do these works also. He did them under the power of the Holy Spirit. That same Holy Spirit that lives in us. Not that comes occasionally to visit us when the worship music hits us just so, but who lives in us. Always. He is the one who healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, fed the five thousand, and raised the dead.
Has the Spirit changed?
No.
Has the church?
Unfortunately…yes. Most of us have. We can’t believe in the miraculous in the world of CG and special effects. It just takes too much faith. We can’t believe in healings–and raising from the dead?? FORGET IT–in the world of emergency rooms, prescription drugs, and routine surgeries.
Nelson Hannah challenges us in No Plan B to let go of that lie–and, for heaven’s sake (literally), don’t teach our children that lie!
We tend to look at the church of Acts as something…special (and it was). But something…out of reach (but it isn’t). We tend to look at it as “Back in the day, when miracles happened.” I’ve even seen (quite a few) publishers who say, in their requirements “Stories may not include miracles unless they are biblical fiction.”
That galls me. It really does. Not because I have all these stories that want to use miracles as a device to quickly wrap up the action, but because I want to shout at these publishers and editors, “But He’s the same God! The same Spirit! Why in the world are characters set in A.D. 30 allowed to do it, but those from today aren’t???”
In A Soft Breath of Wind, there are miracles. Yes, it’s biblical fiction. So they’d be “allowed” by any publisher. But the whole point of the miracles, in Soft Breath, is that it’s the power of the Spirit, working through imperfect humans who doubt, just like we do. But who choose to believe instead, just like we can.
Because Jesus doesn’t say that we might do greater works than these. He doesn’t say that “He who believes in me today–but not those who believe in me in later generations, mind you–will do these same works and greater.” He says, “He who believes.”
In my book, not every character believes. But Zipporah does. She believes with the faith of a child, a faith that she clings too as she grows up, even in the face of doubt from those who should believe in her. She believes in the impossible, because nothing is with God. She believes that what Jesus spoke is truth.
In A Soft Breath of Wind, there are miracles. But the miracles aren’t used as a quick wrap-up. The miracles aren’t an easy way out. The miracles are the hard part, because they require the characters to let go of their human understanding, their human limitations, and trust in Him. They require them to step outside what they “know.”
They require them to believe in him.
Every wonder why Jesus says we’ll not only do what he does, but greater? Because we’re operating by the same Spirit…but now we have him in heaven, too, making intercession for us. Sometimes when I pause and think about it, this just awes me. Jesus–wise and humble, perfect and bold–is fighting for me. And his Spirit is whispering into my mind.
Writing A Soft Breath of Wind forced me to look pretty deeply at this. Forced me to realize that if I’m not doing these things–and greater–it’s no fault of His. It’s a fault of mine. It’s my lukewarm faith, not the age I live in. It’s me choosing to focus on the things of this world instead.
I’m not there yet–I’ll be totally honest about that. But I’ll state it here and now, a phrase pretty popular this time of year with talk of Santa and that famous Miracle on 34th Street.
I believe.
I believe He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
I believe the same Spirit that raised the dead and healed the blind and wrapped time around His little fingers is here today, waiting to be called upon.
I believe Jesus spoke truth when he made that promise.
I bet you believe too. The questions is…what are we going to do about it?
*Sunshine photo:
photo credit: Hamed Saber via photopin cc
by Roseanna White | Nov 12, 2014 | Uncategorized
Release week means a departure from the norm. 😉 Bear with me.
First, A Soft Breath of Wind is love on Nook!
Next, I have a marketing post up on Seriously Write–part 1, with part 2 coming December 10th.
Finally, did you get my newsletter?
If not, it went out last night–you can view it
here, and sign up for future updates
here!
Stay tuned for more links and updates throughout the week!
by Roseanna White | Nov 11, 2014 | Uncategorized
It’s release week! And as usual, I’m celebrating with appearances on some fabulous blogs–interviews, guest posts, and reviews will all be coming up, including some giveaways! So be sure to stop by and say hi!
Monday, 11/10
Wednesday, 11/12
Friday, 11/14
Saturday and Sunday, 11/15-16
Friday, 11/21
And I’m always happy to do more guest spots as they arise, so if you’d like to host me on your blog, just drop me a line!
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. Having successfully launched two homeschool grads, she now spends her time writing fiction, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years, as well as a fantasy series and contemporary mysteries and romances. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.