Guest Blog + Giveaway by JN Duncan

Creativity Beyond Writing and How It Helps the Author

by JN Duncan

I'd like to thank the Nympho (always wanted to say that, lol) for having me on the blog today. She said to write about whatever I wanted, which of course made my brain spin in helpless, perpetual motion, going nowhere fast. Thumbing through my old files for ideas, I came upon pictures I've created and used during the writing process, and thought perhaps readers might be mildly entertained by seeing what this particular author does.

I've drawn longer than I've aspired to write (long time), and while I make no claims to actually being any good at it, I do enjoy it a lot. It's time consuming, so I don't get the chance nearly as often as I'd like, but it helps feed my creative juices, often sparking ideas or cementing ones I've been mulling over. As you'll see below, I've made use of games, photoshop/paint type programs, and freehand drawing. Writing is my main source of creative outlet, but my brain has the need to be creative in general, and so I poke around in other things when the time/need arises.

Other authors do things like this, and I imagine some of you have seen such things from them, some of which is quite good. You won't find that here, but the point is I enjoy other forms of creative endeavor, and they go hand in hand with my writing. While they are unlikely to provide you with any incentive to pick up my story, I thought you might enjoy this extra scenery all the same, and see that some authors actually do more than hide in caves and pound out words on paper. :) So, without further ado, here are a few things I've done that are story related with a little caption for each to explain.

The first is a representation of Jackie Rutledge's apartment in my Deadworld series. Some of you may recognized that it was created using SIMS. While I don't actually play the game, I have fun playing around with the building aspects of it. I also created Nick's (the hero) house using the same method.

Next is a collage of the three main villains from my series to this point (the fourth is a ghost and there isn't much to draw there). The image on the left is Drake, the vampire from book one. The middle is The Spindly Man, which I drew myself. It is first seen in book two and plays a bigger role in book three. The woman on the right is an image bearing a close resemblance to Charlotte, the vampire villainess in book three.

The last are book covers. I like toying around with book covers, but my skills, as you can see, are rather mundane. Regardless I love doing them because it helps to give me a tone/flavor for the story. These are basically just toying around with found images and manipulating them in a paint program. The first is for a short story that you can actually find available on Kindle, at Smashwords, and likely for other ereading devices too. It is a look back at how the hero, Nick, became a vampire in the first place and his initial run-in with Drake. This was an element many readers wondered about from book one, so I felt compelled to address that question with the short story. The second is a cover for what would be my upcoming fourth book, a tone much different than what my publisher put out for the first three books and more closely aligned with what I feel is the mood and feel of the stories, which is less Urban Fantasy and more noirish, supernatural crime fiction. Unlike my other covers, it also gives a little bit of a hint as to what the book is actually about.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the little peek and found the imagery entertaining. If you enjoy your Urban Fantasy more on the dark side, I hope you'll consider taking the plunge. If you want a taste of my writing, check out the short story, which you can find on Amazon and other e-tailers that sell books.

Make sure you check out J.N. Duncan on:

 Twitter - Blog - Website 

I'd like to thank our favorite Nympho for having me here today, and as thanks, I'll give away a set of all three Deadworld books to one randomly drawn commenter. Hope you enjoy the read! Take care everyone and happy reading/writing!

Giveaway will end Friday 20th . 

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