Tags
advice, art, aspect, author, Book, cover, look before you leap, look it up, novel, ratio, research, writer, writing
Have you ever finished a project, thought it was just perfect, and then realized that you did something wrong?
That happens to me more then I’d like.
For example, remember that cover I put up the other day? Well, I messed up several things on it. I made it all look like I wanted, and then I looked up the ratio size that a book cover could be. I was way off! I had to squish and stretch the background. I had to create so many more layers and tweak things. Finally, I got it looking good again.
Then I realized that I had put the wrong date on it. Sigh.
Sad to say, the same thing happened when I made my children’s book. I did all of the art, only to find out that I had used the wrong ratios. That I had to start nearly from scratch.
Lesson: check things out before your start.
Read the rules if there are any.
Research anything that needs researching before you write about it, or as soon as you know that you will be writing about it.
It’s easier to get it right from the get go, even if it takes some effort to know what you’re doing, then to do it all, and have to start over again.
Angela Cavanaugh 
Karen said:
Haven’t we all stumbled before… Each project – be it a book cover, a short story, a novel, a painting – needs a plan phase. This phase covers the requirements, risks, deadlines, etc. There was one story that went completely wrong from the start. The only time I really deleted something completely. Very frustrating.
Adan Ramie said:
This is one of my biggest problems. I jump into a project, psyched about the experience, before I’ve made any plans. I’ve had a few moves and road trips full of misery because of lack of planning, not to mention several hundred stories. Plans are good, and necessary – even for those of us who live to walk out on that tightrope with our blinders on.