Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?
Absolutely. Haunted by R.L. Stine. It's part of his original Fear Street series. I purchased it at my grade school's book fair when I was ten years old and it changed my life. It awakened the reader, as well as the writer, inside me. I'm pretty sure I read that book at least 10 times. And then I began crafting my own stories that I wrote by hand in spiral notebooks. I owe my love of books to Mr. Stine.
How do you approach cover design?
I think it's different for me every time. Often an image of the cover begins to form in my head as I write. Sometimes I have no clue what the cover should look like. And occasionally, I'll come across an image and just KNOW that's my cover. I once came across this image of a hot guy online and used him as a side character muse. Later, when I wrote Park's story in Before Now, I hunted down the photographer via the internet, and purchased that picture to use as the cover. (The male model was Brandyn Farrell, the photographer was Vince Trupsin, and the cover designer was actually my stepfather.)
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