NaNoWriMo :: NaNoWriMo Blog

The Board of Covers

The curtain has officially come down on 30 Covers, 30 Days for all of us here at NaNoWriMo, and we hope you enjoyed the incredible show Fwis put on as much as we did. Chris Papasadero proved his graphic design genius in November, pumping out 19 gorgeous, intelligent covers for 19 lucky Wrimos.

1. The Business - Solita
2. Traffic Lights - fadingwinds
3. The Beauty of a Grid - delucaa
4. Meet John Foe - MartianMenace
5. King of the Food Court - slithy-toves
6. Die Peperoni im Heu (The Pepper in the Hay) - Mandarinente
7. Soviet Kid (Lapochka) - cloister
8. Rhythm of a (Reluctant) Desi Heart - crookedmilk (Thank you to Elena Giavaldi!)
9. Hundred Hit Wonder - kattbee
10. So You Think You're a Vampire - jvolavka
11. Destroying Alice - Crunchy
12. Fragrance of the Crepe Myrtle - HMSChocolate
13. Till minne av dig (In Memory of You) - Zahra
14. Nightmares & Cityscapes - JupiterStar
15. Matando Hombres Muertos (Killing Dead Men) - J. Raoul
16. The Staff of Thollecombe Manor - CatsEnjoyPotatoes
17. A World Without Men - Tomorrow
18. He Didn't Take Me to Prom and Other Disappointments - dchadbrown
19. Welcome to Hell - Takato Metallium

Sure, it's not the perfect record I know Chris was hoping for, but I'll say it to anyone who asks: 19 is pretty darn impressive, especially when you consider Chris is running a successful design firm and was writing a NaNo-Novel to boot!

We want to thank all of you, for the passion, creativity and community you bring to NaNoWriMo every November, and for embracing the 30 Covers project in that spirit! I know Chris has had a blast getting to know you and talking in the forums, and--as a first year intern--I've been totally overwhelmed and grateful to be so immersed in NaNoWriMo this past month and the first annual 30 Covers!

We definitely have some kinks to work out in future years, but just think! You can tell your kids that in 2009, the Steelers landed their sixth Super Bowl win, Barack Obama won the Nobel Prize, and 30 Covers launched. Momentous occasions all.

Thank you again, and see you next year!

You thought we were done, but like the Energizer Rabbit, or a horde of zombies, or Arnold Schwarzenegger, we keep coming back. On the day of the deadline, November 30th, Chris made a comeback that would rival Mickey Rourke's and posted five more covers. Observe the visual splendor:

30 Covers: Another Final Batch (1)

Matando Hombres Muertos (Killing Dead Men) - J. Raoul

After bearing witness to a mob hit, a reluctant parking lot guard follows what his conscience dictates and makes an anonymous call to the local authorities. A day later, he is kidnapped and taken to an unknown location, where he is humiliated and tortured for hours. He readies himself to occupy a nameless grave in the desert but a tremendous blunder during the transportation of his body saves his life. Left for dead due to the nature and context of his predicament, he is discovered and a surgeon truly committed to his job ignores the consequences and saves the guard.

The general public knows no faith, no hope. There are no prayers or pledges for the soul of Nick Ramsey, only morbid interest upon knowing that he shall die soon at the hand of whoever reaches him first. No one hopes for his survival; they can only wonder who shall eventually kill him.

30 Covers: Another Final Batch (2)

The Staff of Thollecombe Manor - CatsEnjoyPotatoes

"The real mystery here is not that of the murderer's identity, but of why a Manor with only one inhabited room occupied by an old, dying man requires the full complement of a butler, a housekeeper, a cook, countless maids, a nanny, a gardener and a hall boy."

30 Covers: Another Final Batch (3)

A World Without Men - Tomorrow

One hundred years into the future society is being rebuilt and women have made a science that will change society forever - they are bringing men back to life seventy years after the war that killed every man in existence. With the oldest male in society at five years of age how will life change for these women? And can they stand their world changing just as much as it did seventy years ago?

30 Covers: Another Final Batch (4)

He Didn't Take Me to Prom and Other Disappointments - dchadbrown

High school sweethearts reconnect after 35 years and see if the magic is still there beneath all the emotional baggage.

30 Covers: Another Final Batch (5)

Welcome to Hell - Takato Metallium

Every God and Goddess has to go to school. Hades is no exception. For third years at Olympia Academy it's 'that year' - the year they discover what they'll be presiding over for the rest of eternity. For some it will be a year they will never forget, and for others it will be a year they would rather not remember...

A ski trip to Mount Vesuvius during the winter holidays soon uncovers a much more sinister plot. Persephone is being targeted by an unknown force; completely unaware of the danger she's in. With the help of his friends, Hades must prove his innocence in the downfall of Pompeii and warn the school in time to rescue Persephone from the unknown threat. Or does he have to dive in headfirst with only Loki and Bastet keeping him afloat and hope for the best?

Check out the forums to let Chris know what you think! And give the guy a round of applause, folks, he did an incredible job.

Thanks, and congratulations to all of you for surviving another NaNoWriMo! A true accomplishment.

It's the last day of November and that means the dreaded midnight deadline is only hours away. Pencils are about to come down, and Chris made an incredible and valiant effort this past holiday week, churning out three end-of-November covers for y'all.

To see all the covers Chris from Fwis has completed to date, you can check out this thread in the 30 Covers Forum, or take a peek at Chris' Cover Design Blog.

30 Covers, 30 Days: Final Batch (1)

Fragrance of the Crepe Myrtle - HMSChocolate

Crepe myrtles are flowering shrubs or trees native to East Asia, flowers are born in summer and autumn in panicles of crinkled flowers with a crepe-like texture. Colours vary from deep purple to red to white, with almost every shade in between. Some are very lightly scented. The myrtle is a symbol of love, mirth and joy.

Set in the 1700s in the golden era of the Qing dynasty of ancient China, a prince is kidnapped as a prisoner of war. Follow his wife as she goes on a journey to recover him. But even when she finds him, is he still the same person? Can she still find the man she loved somewhere inside the changed man she finds?

30 Covers, 30 Days: Final Batch (2)

Till minne av dig (In Your Memory) - Zahra

Sweden, present time: 17 year old Alexander has only one mission in life: to protect his baby sister Ebba from their abusive father. So when Ebba gets sick with cancer, Alexander wants to help by donating his bone marrow. But he discovers that he can't donate because he and Ebba are not siblings.

Alexander fights to find the truth about himself, but also to keep his life, because their father has decided that if Ebba dies, he'll make sure Alexander does, too. A story about how your world turns upside down when someone close to you is ill, about abuse, and about not knowing who you are...

30 Covers, 30 Days: Final Batch (3)

Nightmares & Cityscapes - JupiterStar

Once upon a time, the only way into the realm of dreams was through insanity or magic. But at some point in time, the real world became even more nonsensical and mad than dreams, and now people slip through into this world by accident every day. Darvan is a descendant of one of those accidents and has dedicated his life to helping the lost ones as his own mother was never helped.

This is the entity known as The City. Welcome home.

Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm for this project! I know Chris has had an amazing time embracing this challenge, in huge part because of the incredible community of Wrimos involved. Keep writing for all you who are racing towards that 50,000! And congratulations to all of you who are already NaNoWriMo Winners!

Hey, everyone! Chris is still determined to do as many of these as he can; make sure to get out to the forums to cheer him on and encourage him to power more covers out! We've got three stellar ones for you today:

30 Covers: Week Four, Day One

Hundred-Hit Wonders - kattbee

A group of exceptionally good-looking, wealthy high-school graduates with very little musical talent among them forms a band with the intention of getting rich and famous covering 'one-hit wonder' songs. Of course, they hit the big time straight away, shooting to stardom with a pretty decent cover song and sign a record deal. During their world tour, a fellow musician sweeps the lead singer off his feet, and then dumps him because he seems very shallow to her. The lead singer realises he would be a better person if he learned how to sing and wrote a song. The rest of the band thinks he's nuts and carries on with their partying and living in the fast lane, so he leaves the band, causing them drop off the face of the charts and become indeed one-hit wonders (what irony!). In the end, the protagonist succeeds in all his goals -- writes a song and sings it well, gets the girl, and reconciles with his band, which becomes a real band and cuts a new album with all original material (maybe one cover.)

30 Covers: Week Four, Day One (2)

So You Think You're a Vampire - jvolavka

Erica is a young woman with a dull but decent life; she goes to work, she comes home, she spends time with friends and family. She doesn't have a boyfriend because she's "just not interested in dating right now." She lives with her friend, Cassandra, in a downtown apartment near their jobs and goes about her daily life with little variation.

Unwilling to let her friend spiral uncontrollably, Erica sets out to prove to Cassandra that she isn't a vampire and that They aren't looking for her.

30 Covers: Week Four, Day One (3)

Destroying Alice - Crunchy

27-year-old vagabond Landon Russell has a special ability: he can see and talk to ghosts. While most heroes would go out of their way to fulfill these spirits' wishes, Landon doesn't care for their unfinished business and pleas for help. After years of avoiding and yelling at the dead to leave him alone, he meets the most troublesome of all: a 19-year-old girl named Alice Sutton. But instead of telling last words to loved ones, taking revenge on whoever caused the death, or even attempting to revive back alive again, she demands a strange request no spirit has ever asked before: to destroy her dead body.

Hope you enjoy! And good luck racing towards that finish line! You can do it!

Good morning, fellow Wrimos! It's Week Three, which is kind of hard to believe, am I right? Hopefully, you are safely at the halfway point in your novels. If so, congratulations! If not, come over and sit at my table. We can commiserate and spur each other on; there's still time!

Take a page from Chris from Fwis, of the indomitable spirit and generous friends: Elena Giavaldi, an extremely talented graphic designer in her own right, has stepped in to create the eye-opening cover below:

30 Covers: Week Three, Day One

Rhythm of a (Reluctant) Desi Heart - crookedmilk

Avantika Chaudhari might be Indian by name, but she is a true Singaporean by heart. She chopes her seat, uses Singlish fluently and can even swear in Cantonese pretty fluently. She ain't any Indian Avanktika in school, but is the popular social butterfly Ava, who is pampered to the extremes by her very Indian, very Desi parents.

Then, an wedding invitation comes from her father's family in Delhi, India, and Ava finds herself unwillingly whisked away into a world of rickshaws, lassi and ... bhangra?!

Enjoy! And don't forget to check out the forums and give Chris and Elena their well-due props, speculate over whether the cover selection process includes aliens or baseball bats, and dare Fwis to reach for even greater heights.

Ahoy all! Congratulations on making it through the second week of NaNoWriMo! Don't worry, the real world understands that you are creating whole universes in your novels. It'll still be here when you get back. Power through! (Are you sick of my flagrant use of exclamation points yet? I hope not!!!!)

Chris from Fwis presents:

30 Covers: Week Two, Day Three

Lapochka (Soviet Kid) - cloister

A young woman searches for her father through clues hidden in underground Russian comic books from the Cold War.

I'm a big fan of this one, it feels robust, you know? Check out the forum if you get the time this weekend. Any big plans? Write-ins? Let me know!

Tim

We hope writing is going well! Make sure to check us out on twitter to keep up with the latest news about NaNoWriMo, and give Chris a "Fight on!" cheer at his website.

30 Covers: Week Two, Day Two

Die Peperoni im Heu (The Pepper In the Hay) - Mandarinente

One day Matilda the cow finds in her rack for fodder a red pepper. This odd vegetable fascinates Matilda . It seems to her to be a greeting from a strange and totally alien world. Matilda absolutely wants to find out where this plant comes from and betakes without knowing it, a long and adventurous journey.

We hope you're enjoying this project! We've been name-checked over at Design Milk, which is kind of cool. Have y'all ever picked up a book because of its cover in a store? Which one?

Happy second week of National Novel Writing Month! I bring you a little impetus to keep you chugging forward: more novel covers! Go to the forums to keep cheering Chris on; he's attempting a novel in addition to the 30 Days, 30 Covers project, on top of continuing to shepherd Fwis towards graphic design rock stardom. By the hammer of Thor!

30 Covers: Week Two, Day One

King of the Food Court - slithy-toves

Old timers come to him for coffee
Pretty girls talk to him for rest
Plastic trays and paper plates
All the people here got dates
With the King of the Food Court

Pretty awesome. What are your favorite covers so far?

- Tim

Good afternoon Wrimos across the globe! Today is November 5th and the covers just keep on coming. Hopefully, so do your words! In a perfect world, you should be at just over 8,000 words. I, personally, am at just over 1,000. Unfortunate, but we will persist! That's what Congress-man would want us to do:

30 Covers: Day Four

Meet John Foe - MartianMenace

Charles Wilson Schmitz, newly-elected Representative from Missouri's 2nd District, discovers shortly after arriving in the Nation's Capital, that he's developed superpowers! Deciding to put his new talents to (literally) good use isn't going to be easy though - especially with a public career to maintain and a real villain lurking in the wings. Can he keep a secret identity while followed by political pundits, lobbyists, and the media? Can he save the day, get the girl, and still hold on to his elected office? This looks like a job for . . . Congressman!

Again, get to the forum during a writing break and bend Chris-from-Fwis' ear!

Welcome to your daily edition of 30 Covers, 30 Days! You can check out a neat interview one of our very own Wrimos did with Chris from Fwis if you click right here.

30 Covers: Day Three

The Beauty of a Grid - delucaa

When he inherits a locked box that has no key from an unknown relative, an adopted young man must travel across the country in search for his real parents in hopes that they will provide the answers about not only the box, but his childhood of which he has no memory. While battling his obsessive compulsive disorder along the way, he encounters characters from all walks of life and gets a glimpse of the real America in this poignant tale of adventure, redemption, and self discovery.

Get over to the forums if you get a chance and let Chris know what you think!

And we hope noveling is going great for all of you! Mine's coming in fits and starts, but I think I'm on the verge of finding a groove. How're you guys doing?

- Tim