The Spice of Life

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine


This weekend, a friend shared his childhood memories of the "family movie night" that was a weekly ritual in his home.  Each member of the family got to take turns picking the flick of the week at Blockbuster.  As you can predict, the kids always picked out movies geared toward children, while the adults chose more sufferable fare.

For every Ninja Turtles movie they watched, my friend's dad had them sit down to a classic like On the Waterfront. Or A Streetcar Named Desire. One week it was even Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. (Don't worry, grade school exposure to these mature themes didn't scar the young boy for life; in fact, he went on to become a youth pastor).

It harkened me back to thoughts of my youth, which included a lavish movie house with a balcony, curtains that opened and closed, and where you could buy expensive souvenir programs for the epics being shown. I think even more than the movies themselves, my parents enjoyed introducing their children to edifying entertainment.  So I too grew up on a well-balanced diet of comedies, dramas, romances, musicals, as well a couple of movies my parents made us walk out on.

Looking back, I'm especially grateful for this early education, which gives me a pretty good understanding today of the elements that go into a comedy, a drama, a romance, a musical, not to mention movies my parents would still walk out on. And no doubt you can say the same. While we may have a favorite genre of movie—let's say spy thriller—that doesn't keep us from attending the occasional romantic comedy that catches our interest.

Which brings me to this question: Do you read more than one genre?

Variety is a good thing, for storytelling and for painting

Do you always read the same genre, or do you mix that up too? Granted, committing to an entire novel requires a greater time investment than a two-hour movie (unless you're Susan Reichert, who can read a book a night).

Just as we moviegoers have cut our storytelling teeth by watching a variety of film genres, veering from our usual reading course and picking up an author who writes the kind of tale we're unfamiliar with could introduce us to other ways of telling a story. The intricacies specific to another genre could be eye-opening.  They could help add a new dimension to the genre we normally write in.

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Mary Schmich said, "Good art is art that allows you to enter it from a variety of angles and to emerge with a variety of views."  I look forward to adding a little more variety to my library, and I hope new ideas will emerge for you too.

For now, I can't let a mention of Mary Schmich go by without sharing one of her greatest achievements, a laundry list of advice that director Baz Luhrmann turned into a music video.  It could change your life.  I at least guarantee it will change the next five minutes of your life.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI

The Color of Your Cover

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine

Remember what a magical experience it was to get your first big box of Crayolas, in "64 different brilliant colors"? You may recall having favorite colors and scorning certain others.  I myself was never fond of periwinkle.  It just seemed like a tepid, anemic shade of blue.

From childhood onward, colors elicit emotions that affect our mood, appetite, and purchases.  Advertisers use this to great advantage, and it's to our advantage to recognize how important our color choices are when it comes to designing book covers.

Consider the following selections, all of which are from recent pages in Southern Writers.  You know right away what kind of story you're in for, as each of these is an evocative reflection of their genre.

SOMEONE'S GONNA DIE

Colors being able to speak volumes is probably never more apparent than in the mystery / murder / thriller category, where darkness rules and the color of crimson drips freely, as in these stark black and red covers of Robin Perini, Steve Bradshaw and Amanda Kyle Williams. Dr Richard L. Mabry takes a slightly different but equally effective approach, adding the white of a sterile medical background.

THERE'S NOTHING TO BE AFRAID OF

Contrast those dark and stormy covers with the colorful whimsy of the cozy mystery. Tonya Kappes, Linda W. Yezak, Fran Stewart and Peggy Webb are among those whose covers let you know up front that murder can be fun too.  Bright primary colors abound and tell you it's all gonna be okay.

THAT'S AMORE
 
Red isn't just for Valentine's Day. The lush and sometimes passionate covers of Julie Lessman, Tamera Alexander, Rita Clay Estrada and Kellie Coates Gilbert will make you see red, along with an abundance of pink and purple, other popular hues that harken the heart.

MOODY BLUES (AND BROWNS) 

Faded sepia tones remind one of an old photograph and suggest the past, as in This Side of the River by Jeffrey Stayton. The shadowy almost-gray of Ernie Lindsey's War Child: Judas suggests the turmoil of its dystopian setting. The muted tones of Linda Viden Phillips' Crazy reflect the cloudy mind of its protagonist. The cold gray-blue of Merle Temple's A Ghostly Shade of Pale creates a mood of the chilling danger ahead.

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

Traditional holiday colors of red and green, with bonuses of snow white, silver and gold, help to make the season bright.  Offerings like these from Ann H. Gabhart, Fern Michaels and company, and Kathy Macias leave no question that Santa Claus is coming to town.  We also made certain to put the yuletide spirit in our new holiday book catalog.

There are exceptions to every rule, of course, and plenty of successful books have bucked the tide and went against stereotype.  But a good starting point when planning your cover is to see if the parameters of proven palettes will work for your project.


 

It's About Time

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director


Timing is everything, they say, and when our timing's off, we all wish we could go back for a redo. Which might explain the popularity of stories about time travel.

A brand new addition to the field, Looper, opened this weekend.  I haven't seen it yet, but the idea of Bruce Willis going back 30 years in time and meeting his younger self is intriguing.  Demi Moore might even want to see that.  And apparently, so have many others, as Looper was the second most popular movie this weekend, earning $20 million at the box office.  (Family flick Hotel Transylvania was #1.)

Looper joins a long legacy of films and books in which the hero engages in some time-shifting.  Among the most memorable:

(those with * are based on novels)

Source Code (2011)
Jake Gyllenhaal is repeatedly sent back to the same 8-minute time frame to thwart a train bombing.

The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)*
Eric Bana has no control over his spontaneous time traveling.

13 Going on 30 (2004)
Jennifer Garner gets her birthday wish to be all grown up.

Big (1988)
After wishing he wasn't so small, a 12-year-old wakes up as 30-year-old Tom Hanks. He can also play piano with his feet.

Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
Kathleen Turner goes back 25 years and reconsiders the choices she made, including Nicholas Cage.

Back to the Future (1985)
Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd visit the 50s, the future, and the Old West in this legendary trilogy.

Groundhog Day (1983)
Bill Murray is a weatherman stuck in a 24-hour time loop.

Its original title: Bid Time Return

Somewhere in Time (1980)*
Christopher Reeve falls in love with a girl in an antique picture, and finds a way to meet her in the past.

The Time Machine (1960 and 2002)*
The 1895 classic that started it all, in which the writer himself travels forward hundreds of thousands of years. In more ways than one, H.G. Wells was ahead of his time.

I'd be remiss not to mention one of my favorite books, written by the late Jack Finney (whose birthday, incidentally, is today). For years I've been saying that they should make a movie out of Time and Again, in which an artist goes back to 1882 and has trouble staying there. At one point, Robert Redford even had plans to produce a film version.  Finally, just this summer, it was announced that Lionsgate has acquired the rights and that a director has been chosen.  If Time and Again is successful enough to warrant a sequel, Finney was kind enough to provide that too, via a second novel called From Time to Time.

Call it science fiction, call it fantasy, call it futuristic, but one notable thing about time travel talespinning is that it's one of the few "out there" genres that are accessible enough for almost anyone. 

What are your favorites?