Friday, July 13, 2012

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 . 


REVIEW COMING SOON













16 comments:

  1. Oooh I'm the first commenter! :)

    I've been 'stalking' this series for a while now, wanting to start it! Thanks for the giveaway!

    <3 Goldilox

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  2. I would love to read this series. It sounds awesome. Please enter me in contest. Thanks for the giveaway. Tore923@aol.com

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  3. I've had this series on my WANT list. Thanks for the contest!!!

    heatwave96(at)hotmail.com

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  4. Thanks for a fun post and congrats on the new release! I'm so far behind... I have book 1 for my Kindle and I need to get reading! It's so cool that not only do you create the world in words, you can then make a visual model too. I'm in awe of any one artistic and you're a double talent :)

    efender1(at)gmail(dot)com

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  5. Hi this is great i would love to win this for me and my grandaughter and then when we finish with them we share with the local boys and girls club here. We live in rural Georgia and funding here is very bad and this helps me teach my grand children on how to give to others. Thanks joannie jscddmj[at]aol[dot]com

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  6. These covers look awesome. I'm always on the lookout for new series to read and other. Great guest post.

    Grace

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  7. I really liked Deadworld and would love to read the others. Thanks for offering!
    deedee [at] grifmail [dot] com

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  8. Great post. I have been wanting to read this series. Thanks for the chance!

    bacchus76 at myself dot com

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  9. Looks interesting. Thanks for sharing! emily joy drake at gmail dot com

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  10. This looks amazing! Can't wait!

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  11. I would so love to read these books. Thank you so much for the opportunity to win them. This was an awesome post. I never considered the idea of using an actual mockup of an element (home, room, etc) could be such a tool in writing a story. It certainly makes sense and I am so glad it helps with creating these awesome stories.
    dz59001[at]gmail[dot]com

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  12. This series makes my toes curl (in anticipation) nice
    earthdancedaph@yahoo.com

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  13. Great post. Thanks for showing us your creative process. This series is new to me and I am going to add it to my wish list. Thanks for the giveaway.
    amysbookworld@gmail.com

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  14. OH! I've been wanting to read this series for like forever and keep postponing it for some reason. I guess this is a good way to stop making excuses. Thank you for the giveaway
    anniech85(at)gmail(dot)com

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  15. Been looking at this series, but my TBR is HUGE - good reason for me to get it now :)

    kerryjcj AT verizon DOT net

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  16. I've never read this series. The covers are cool :)

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