Making a Book Inside and Out

Writing a novel is not easy. You need an idea to start with. It shall change as you write it into a story. You must show what you mean with words, and words are not pictures. The reader must imagine what the words tell them.

Designing a cover for a novel is not easy. It must attract attention and hold it, to make people want to read the synopsis and flip through the pages. The font and illustration must have an immediate and a lasting effect on whoever glimpses them. The words and picture should match the story they represent.

I write books and illustrate the covers. I create the title fonts.

It took me fifty days to write the 66,266 word novel The Wayward School for Girls. I created the font in the meantime. I illustrated the cover in a day. I edited the manuscript and cover afterwards. I am never entirely satisfied. At some point I must finish the project. Deciding when is not easy. Lingering doubts bother me until I am preoccupied with the next project.

Writing a book is hard work. Illustrating its cover is hard work. Creating its title font is hard work. Doing all of them myself is especially hard work.

I have been told that I am wasting time creating fonts when countless fonts are already available. I am told my covers would be better if professional artists illustrated them. Alas, I yearn to do what I do even if wasting my time to make something amateurish.

My writing began as drawings. My creativity has come full circle. Though never satisfied as no artist ever is, I am satisfied at heart. My work is my own, and that means everything.