The Joy of Collaboration: Why Writer’s Should Work with Other Artists by Kevin T. Johns + giveaway

The Joy of Collaboration: Why Writer’s Should Work with Other Artists 

By Kevin T. Johns

Writing a novel is a lonely endeavor.

It means hours spent alone, staring at the glow of the computer screen, with no noise in the room other than the ghostly clickity-clack of fingers against a keyboard.

In my writing workshop, The Novel Writer's Blueprint, I compare writing a book to running a marathon, and I consider it an extremely apt metaphor.

Writing a book lacks the spontaneity of poetry, and the exuberant discovery of writing a song or producing a painting. It is a long grueling haul with nothing to keep you going through to the end other than your own dedication to the craft.

That’s why it is such a pleasure when a writer finally gets an opportunity to collaborate with other artists.

Writers are often obsessive about controlling every aspect of their work. Some even fear their unique "voice" will be lost if others are allowed to contribute.

In my experience, this couldn't be further from the truth.

Collaborating with other artists produced some of the most enjoyable experiences in the creation of my young adult horror novel, The Page Turners.

check out our review of The Page Turners: Blood

When I called up Melanie Shields, a photographer who happened to live close to me in Ottawa, Canada, and enquired about getting my author photo taken, she asked what I was looking. I told her I wanted the picture to look like a cover for Men's Health magazine.

(I know it's not the tradition author image, but I've long wanted to be a Men's Health cover model, and this is as close as I'm ever going to get, damn it!)

The result?

Boom! 

Throw Men's Health across the top, and some B.S. headlines like “How to Get Six-Pack Abs in 15 Seconds a Day, While Still Eating Poutine!” and you've got your average issue of the magazine right there. 

Pretty cool.

Now, The Page Turners takes place in a small town, and during the crafting of the novel, I ended up drawing a map to help me keep the town organized geographically.

Here's the map:

When I shared this map with my editor, F. A. Sumner, he asked if I would mind if he took a crack at drafting something a little more polished for possible inclusion in the novel. I figured, what the heck, go for it.

Here's what he came back with:

Adam's beautiful and detailed maps now take up the first six pages of the book. The maps add a wonderful level of realism to my fictional town, which readers have told me they absolutely love.

Now listen, don't ever let someone tell you people don't judge a book by its cover. They do. They absolutely do. That's why I consider myself super lucky to have worked with amazing cover designer, Kit Foster.

I sent Kit a number of potential cover ideas for The Page Turners, including the following description: Concept B - Playing with the idea of fiction come to life. An open book, with a scary looking hand coming up out of the text; the paper of the page is all stretchy and the words appear across the hand like skin, ala the girl coming out of the TV in The Ring or any number of ghosts pressing out of walls in ghost movies.

I attached this sketch:

What did Kit come back with?

This:

I've got to tell you, seeing that book cover for the first time was one of the most exciting parts of the whole novel writing process.

So yes, writing a novel can be an exhausting and solitary effort, but working with other talented artists can reinvigorate a writer's energy and bring new aspects to the project that can raise the book to whole new levels of quality.

If you want to see how all these different collaborative elements came together in the final product, make sure you get your copy of The Page Turners in paperback or ebook today.

Kevin T. Johns is the author of The Page Turners and creator of The Novel Writer’s Blueprint: Five Steps to Creating and Completing Your First Book

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