Ellie Rees's Blog - Posts Tagged "self-published"
An Ode to Myths
04/08/2020
An Ode to Myths
I have a confession to make. I’m a big old myth nerd. I just love them. From Ancient Greece to the Welsh myths I grew up with; I am gripped by them all.
I can’t pinpoint when this love affair began but I’m pretty sure it’s been for at least 90% of my life. As a child, like most who grew up in Wales, I learnt about the stories that have been interwoven into our collective history (especially in the lead up to St. David’s Day where, no doubt, you would have to draw your own version of a myth or recite the story as part of the school’s Eisteddfod. And for those not from Wales, google Eisteddfod.) The myth that always sticks out for me, and I’m still not sure why even after all these years, is that of Gelert. He was a brave dog who fought off and killed a wolf that was attempting to attack his master’s son but when the prince returned he saw blood dripping from Gelert’s mouth, assumed the dog had killed his and son and promptly plunged his sword into the poor thing. It wasn’t until he heard the baby crying and saw a dead wolf next to him that the prince realised what a prick he’d been.
Wales is built on these types of stories and I relish them being a part of my heritage. For those of you that have read The Arben Bridge you’ll hopefully notice a few nods to these myths in there as I felt they encapsulated the otherworldly universe I was trying to create.
I also love the myths of Ancient Greece and Rome and I’ve spent years trying to learn more about them. I was lucky enough to visit Rome when I was fifteen and as the tour guide explained the Romulus and Remus myth I was standing there eyes wide open absorbing everything he was saying and determined to learn more (meanwhile my brother was standing there wondering when we were going to eat pasta again.)
During lockdown I have discovered the wonderful podcast ‘Let’s Talk About Myths Baby,’ which I would encourage anyone with an interest in ancient myths to listen to because Liv the host is hilarious, and my love for this world has only grown. They are completely ridiculous and the women are always, always, always wronged which incites a huge rage within me and yet I am addicted! I think it’s because so many of our words and basis for our stories come from this time that I find myself utterly fascinated. Plus, as mentioned, the stories are so over the top you just have to embrace it and love them.
I don’t think it’s hard to make the link between my love of myths and why I like to write stories. No matter the setting there’s always a sense of right or wrong (in the context of the time period, I’d like to add), a great conflict and a character we’re either rooting for hoping get’s his or her comeuppance. Stories are an integral part of how we interact with one another; it’s how we learn and attempt to understand the mad world that we live in. I recently attended an online event hosted by the networking organisation Warrior Women on this very subject and the emphasis that the speakers placed on telling your story not only highlighted how it connects us to other people but, in a business context, also enables you to stand out and grow your brand.
Myths have been my gateway into storytelling and I am proud to continue to get my nerd on and learn as many as I can. The history and grandiosity of them all is simply delicious and, in all honesty, I feel like I owe them a huge debt because without them I wouldn’t have this drive to create outrageous stories for people to, hopefully, enjoy.
To read this blog and more visit my website at www.elliereeslikestowrite.com
An Ode to Myths
I have a confession to make. I’m a big old myth nerd. I just love them. From Ancient Greece to the Welsh myths I grew up with; I am gripped by them all.
I can’t pinpoint when this love affair began but I’m pretty sure it’s been for at least 90% of my life. As a child, like most who grew up in Wales, I learnt about the stories that have been interwoven into our collective history (especially in the lead up to St. David’s Day where, no doubt, you would have to draw your own version of a myth or recite the story as part of the school’s Eisteddfod. And for those not from Wales, google Eisteddfod.) The myth that always sticks out for me, and I’m still not sure why even after all these years, is that of Gelert. He was a brave dog who fought off and killed a wolf that was attempting to attack his master’s son but when the prince returned he saw blood dripping from Gelert’s mouth, assumed the dog had killed his and son and promptly plunged his sword into the poor thing. It wasn’t until he heard the baby crying and saw a dead wolf next to him that the prince realised what a prick he’d been.
Wales is built on these types of stories and I relish them being a part of my heritage. For those of you that have read The Arben Bridge you’ll hopefully notice a few nods to these myths in there as I felt they encapsulated the otherworldly universe I was trying to create.
I also love the myths of Ancient Greece and Rome and I’ve spent years trying to learn more about them. I was lucky enough to visit Rome when I was fifteen and as the tour guide explained the Romulus and Remus myth I was standing there eyes wide open absorbing everything he was saying and determined to learn more (meanwhile my brother was standing there wondering when we were going to eat pasta again.)
During lockdown I have discovered the wonderful podcast ‘Let’s Talk About Myths Baby,’ which I would encourage anyone with an interest in ancient myths to listen to because Liv the host is hilarious, and my love for this world has only grown. They are completely ridiculous and the women are always, always, always wronged which incites a huge rage within me and yet I am addicted! I think it’s because so many of our words and basis for our stories come from this time that I find myself utterly fascinated. Plus, as mentioned, the stories are so over the top you just have to embrace it and love them.
I don’t think it’s hard to make the link between my love of myths and why I like to write stories. No matter the setting there’s always a sense of right or wrong (in the context of the time period, I’d like to add), a great conflict and a character we’re either rooting for hoping get’s his or her comeuppance. Stories are an integral part of how we interact with one another; it’s how we learn and attempt to understand the mad world that we live in. I recently attended an online event hosted by the networking organisation Warrior Women on this very subject and the emphasis that the speakers placed on telling your story not only highlighted how it connects us to other people but, in a business context, also enables you to stand out and grow your brand.
Myths have been my gateway into storytelling and I am proud to continue to get my nerd on and learn as many as I can. The history and grandiosity of them all is simply delicious and, in all honesty, I feel like I owe them a huge debt because without them I wouldn’t have this drive to create outrageous stories for people to, hopefully, enjoy.
To read this blog and more visit my website at www.elliereeslikestowrite.com
Interview with Becky Sandy Art & Illustration
Last month the wonderful Becky Sandy agreed to let me interview her for this blog (via Skype in case you’re thinking of dobbing us in) so not only can I show you all how fabulous she is but I will also have some nice content to post on here. So, yes, it’s all pretty self-serving but I’ve got books to sell.
Joking aside, Becky is possibly the loveliest person you will ever meet, is crazy talented and one of my closest friends. We lived together for about eighteen months and it was during this time that I asked her if she wouldn’t mind creating my book cover for me. Thankfully, she agreed and designed such a beautiful cover that sometimes I just find myself staring at it longer than is deemed appropriate.
Becky launched Becky Sandy Art and Illustration five years ago and specialises in bespoke pet portraits, so creating a book cover was a little different to her usual work! Below we talk about the design process, fancy sword hilts and loveable rogues.
Hello! Thank you for agreeing to this, you are most wonderful. So, I’ve tried to come up with questions but I’m worried they’re a bit lame. We’ll have to see what happens.
Well, I can’t promise that I won’t have lame answers, to be honest.
Great. Are you ready for your big interview?
Go on, then.
Excellent! First question, as someone who isn’t remotely artistic; what does the beginning of the design process look like? Especially for this project as I know it’s different to your usual stuff.
Yeah, it was definitely different, because for most of the stuff I do it’s pet portraits so I don’t really have a process so much because I get a picture and just make that a painting! I think with this the first thing I obviously wanted to do was read the book so I could know the story and what was needed in the cover. I guess that was kind of an ideation thing in itself because as I was reading through it I was working out what was important and there’s a bit where Tarley is describing her favourite gate and the image was so clear in my head, especially with the coloured crystals. I thought that could be quite a striking cover so once I got that idea I started doing some Googling to see what fancy gates look like in real life!
A common Google search, I’m sure.
Yeah. GATES.
To be fair, the stuff I’ve Googled for the book is pretty weird. How to make a sword, why do people want to kill each other etc. Anyway, carry on.
Ha, so I read through the story to see what stuck out to me, what would work well as a cover and then searched the internet for some inspiration on top of the idea that I had in my head. And then I had to make sure that that matched what you were thinking as well.
I remember with the sword you were sending me ideas of what you had pictured and I said ‘Oh I actually have a picture of that!’ because I’d seen the exact one I’d imagined when I went to Copenhagen.
That was super handy by the way when you were like ‘this is actually the sword!’
It was mad because Ryan [also a close friend] and I went to a castle in Copenhagen and we were just looking around and I saw that sword and went ‘What?! That’s it! That’s the one I’ve written!’ So obviously I had to take a picture of it.
That’s so cool.
It stuck out because of the way the handle curves. I did a lot of Pinteresting while I was writing because I don’t know anything about swords, but I always liked the style of the ones in Pirates of the Caribbean and the fancy hilts. I thought I had better get some reference images so I can describe it properly!
It was really helpful because in my head I think I overshot what you wrote in the book because I imagined a King Arthur style sword with a big hilt so when you sent me that picture I was like ‘Ohh…’
Isn’t it mad that two people can read the same thing and have a completely different interpretation of it? Anyway, digressing! This is an arty question because I don’t know much about art; what materials did you use?
This was done in ink and watercolour and, to be honest, I can’t give you too much detail because I’m quite new to it but I used watercolour because that’s what I paint in most. I like that it’s light and freer than other paints.
That’s interesting. In my head when I asked you to do this, I know nothing about art and obviously I knew that you did the pet portraits, but I expected something quite graphics led and then you came back with this beautiful painted image. It was just so much better than what I had imagined.
That is something I thought about because I used to do a lot of digital painting but when I thought about the book I thought it would suit a traditionally painted cover, which I think always look really nice and some of my favourite books have those types of covers.
Such as?
Well, I’ve got a really nice copy of Watership Down with an illustrated cover…
I’ll take that! I’ve been lucky enough to have a few people review the book on social media. How do you feel about reviewers calling the cover ‘Instagrammable’? Is that a word you ever though you’d hear to describe your work?
That’s a fun question! Umm, no? Whenever any of them say that I’m so happy because I think when you do a painting or piece of art you get to a point where you’re like ‘Ok, this is finished now,’ because I know that if I stare at it for too long I’ll find little bits to do. But there’s always that bit where you’re not sure if you should add to it or will it be overkill, so I’m never completely satisfied.
But obviously I wouldn’t send you anything unless I thought you would like it and I was really happy with it, so it’s so nice to hear it described like that. I would never have thought that anyone would ever call something that I had painted Instagrammable; that’s really nice.
Well, in case you didn’t already know, I love it. But it does beg the question…why on Earth did you agree to do this?
Umm, because you asked me to? But then also because I really liked you story.
Phew! I’m glad it didn’t feel like too hard work.
I really want to do more art for it but I just haven’t got round to it yet!
Well I’m not going to stop you, I love your art. This may be a really obvious question but what are the key differences between doing the pet portraits and this? Did it feel like a big challenge?
I think the challenging aspect of it was trying to get something that I felt represented what you had in your head or what was a good representation of what was in the book. I wanted something that would look nice on the cover but also sell the story so I think the context was the most challenging thing but doing it was really fun. With pet portraits, because you’re trying to accurately reflect a pet, you don’t have a lot of freedom. I do try to keep them quite loose but you can’t go too wild on them, so this was a nice chance to have more freedom and get creative.
OK, I’m now going to ask you some questions to inflate my ego even further. Who is your favourite character in the book?
My favourite character is West but I’m not really sure why! I just felt from the moment he was introduced that I warmed to him and then as the book went on I really liked his story.
With West, he’s a bit of a loveable rogue and those are some of my favourite characters in literature.
That’s exactly my type of book character to be fair.
Yeah, for example I love Haymitch from The Hunger Games; he’s one of my all-time favourite characters. I think that’s why I liked writing Lenna too because she is a loveable rogue and that’s traditionally more of a male trope. Anyway, do you have a favourite moment? No spoilers!
Ooh but my favourite moment is the biggest spoiler! I’ll just say that I really liked the big twist because I didn’t see it coming at all.
Oh, that’s such a relief! Also, thank you. I’ll never forget when I did a creative writing course in uni I was told that when you write a twist it has to be shocking but also believable so I wanted something that had that kind of impact.
It definitely did, the red herrings really worked on me.
This is where I do an evil laugh. OK, last character question; which character do you think you’re most like?
Oh God, I don’t know!
May I make a suggestion? I’m going to say Carida because you’re very warm and lovely just like her. And she’s a seamstress so she’s creative like you, too!
Aww, I’ll take it!
What’s coming up next for Becky Sandy Art and Illustration?
At the moment, it’s mainly Christmas commissions, which is really cool but also a bit annoying because I can’t post anything as they’re all secret! I’m also releasing gift vouchers, too, as I’m a bit swamped with commissions at the moment but people can still gift them. My future plan is to also start working on things like cards and maybe pieces that aren’t custom pet portraits but just prints. I’m also thinking of working on an Etsy shop!
Well I know that I will be first in line for everything you have on sale! Becky Sandy, thank you very much.
If you'd like to read more of my blogs and some of my writing you can do so at www.elliereeslikestowrite.com
Joking aside, Becky is possibly the loveliest person you will ever meet, is crazy talented and one of my closest friends. We lived together for about eighteen months and it was during this time that I asked her if she wouldn’t mind creating my book cover for me. Thankfully, she agreed and designed such a beautiful cover that sometimes I just find myself staring at it longer than is deemed appropriate.
Becky launched Becky Sandy Art and Illustration five years ago and specialises in bespoke pet portraits, so creating a book cover was a little different to her usual work! Below we talk about the design process, fancy sword hilts and loveable rogues.
Hello! Thank you for agreeing to this, you are most wonderful. So, I’ve tried to come up with questions but I’m worried they’re a bit lame. We’ll have to see what happens.
Well, I can’t promise that I won’t have lame answers, to be honest.
Great. Are you ready for your big interview?
Go on, then.
Excellent! First question, as someone who isn’t remotely artistic; what does the beginning of the design process look like? Especially for this project as I know it’s different to your usual stuff.
Yeah, it was definitely different, because for most of the stuff I do it’s pet portraits so I don’t really have a process so much because I get a picture and just make that a painting! I think with this the first thing I obviously wanted to do was read the book so I could know the story and what was needed in the cover. I guess that was kind of an ideation thing in itself because as I was reading through it I was working out what was important and there’s a bit where Tarley is describing her favourite gate and the image was so clear in my head, especially with the coloured crystals. I thought that could be quite a striking cover so once I got that idea I started doing some Googling to see what fancy gates look like in real life!
A common Google search, I’m sure.
Yeah. GATES.
To be fair, the stuff I’ve Googled for the book is pretty weird. How to make a sword, why do people want to kill each other etc. Anyway, carry on.
Ha, so I read through the story to see what stuck out to me, what would work well as a cover and then searched the internet for some inspiration on top of the idea that I had in my head. And then I had to make sure that that matched what you were thinking as well.
I remember with the sword you were sending me ideas of what you had pictured and I said ‘Oh I actually have a picture of that!’ because I’d seen the exact one I’d imagined when I went to Copenhagen.
That was super handy by the way when you were like ‘this is actually the sword!’
It was mad because Ryan [also a close friend] and I went to a castle in Copenhagen and we were just looking around and I saw that sword and went ‘What?! That’s it! That’s the one I’ve written!’ So obviously I had to take a picture of it.
That’s so cool.
It stuck out because of the way the handle curves. I did a lot of Pinteresting while I was writing because I don’t know anything about swords, but I always liked the style of the ones in Pirates of the Caribbean and the fancy hilts. I thought I had better get some reference images so I can describe it properly!
It was really helpful because in my head I think I overshot what you wrote in the book because I imagined a King Arthur style sword with a big hilt so when you sent me that picture I was like ‘Ohh…’
Isn’t it mad that two people can read the same thing and have a completely different interpretation of it? Anyway, digressing! This is an arty question because I don’t know much about art; what materials did you use?
This was done in ink and watercolour and, to be honest, I can’t give you too much detail because I’m quite new to it but I used watercolour because that’s what I paint in most. I like that it’s light and freer than other paints.
That’s interesting. In my head when I asked you to do this, I know nothing about art and obviously I knew that you did the pet portraits, but I expected something quite graphics led and then you came back with this beautiful painted image. It was just so much better than what I had imagined.
That is something I thought about because I used to do a lot of digital painting but when I thought about the book I thought it would suit a traditionally painted cover, which I think always look really nice and some of my favourite books have those types of covers.
Such as?
Well, I’ve got a really nice copy of Watership Down with an illustrated cover…
I’ll take that! I’ve been lucky enough to have a few people review the book on social media. How do you feel about reviewers calling the cover ‘Instagrammable’? Is that a word you ever though you’d hear to describe your work?
That’s a fun question! Umm, no? Whenever any of them say that I’m so happy because I think when you do a painting or piece of art you get to a point where you’re like ‘Ok, this is finished now,’ because I know that if I stare at it for too long I’ll find little bits to do. But there’s always that bit where you’re not sure if you should add to it or will it be overkill, so I’m never completely satisfied.
But obviously I wouldn’t send you anything unless I thought you would like it and I was really happy with it, so it’s so nice to hear it described like that. I would never have thought that anyone would ever call something that I had painted Instagrammable; that’s really nice.
Well, in case you didn’t already know, I love it. But it does beg the question…why on Earth did you agree to do this?
Umm, because you asked me to? But then also because I really liked you story.
Phew! I’m glad it didn’t feel like too hard work.
I really want to do more art for it but I just haven’t got round to it yet!
Well I’m not going to stop you, I love your art. This may be a really obvious question but what are the key differences between doing the pet portraits and this? Did it feel like a big challenge?
I think the challenging aspect of it was trying to get something that I felt represented what you had in your head or what was a good representation of what was in the book. I wanted something that would look nice on the cover but also sell the story so I think the context was the most challenging thing but doing it was really fun. With pet portraits, because you’re trying to accurately reflect a pet, you don’t have a lot of freedom. I do try to keep them quite loose but you can’t go too wild on them, so this was a nice chance to have more freedom and get creative.
OK, I’m now going to ask you some questions to inflate my ego even further. Who is your favourite character in the book?
My favourite character is West but I’m not really sure why! I just felt from the moment he was introduced that I warmed to him and then as the book went on I really liked his story.
With West, he’s a bit of a loveable rogue and those are some of my favourite characters in literature.
That’s exactly my type of book character to be fair.
Yeah, for example I love Haymitch from The Hunger Games; he’s one of my all-time favourite characters. I think that’s why I liked writing Lenna too because she is a loveable rogue and that’s traditionally more of a male trope. Anyway, do you have a favourite moment? No spoilers!
Ooh but my favourite moment is the biggest spoiler! I’ll just say that I really liked the big twist because I didn’t see it coming at all.
Oh, that’s such a relief! Also, thank you. I’ll never forget when I did a creative writing course in uni I was told that when you write a twist it has to be shocking but also believable so I wanted something that had that kind of impact.
It definitely did, the red herrings really worked on me.
This is where I do an evil laugh. OK, last character question; which character do you think you’re most like?
Oh God, I don’t know!
May I make a suggestion? I’m going to say Carida because you’re very warm and lovely just like her. And she’s a seamstress so she’s creative like you, too!
Aww, I’ll take it!
What’s coming up next for Becky Sandy Art and Illustration?
At the moment, it’s mainly Christmas commissions, which is really cool but also a bit annoying because I can’t post anything as they’re all secret! I’m also releasing gift vouchers, too, as I’m a bit swamped with commissions at the moment but people can still gift them. My future plan is to also start working on things like cards and maybe pieces that aren’t custom pet portraits but just prints. I’m also thinking of working on an Etsy shop!
Well I know that I will be first in line for everything you have on sale! Becky Sandy, thank you very much.
If you'd like to read more of my blogs and some of my writing you can do so at www.elliereeslikestowrite.com
