» Catching your Eye with the Cover of Caught

Catching your Eye with the Cover of Caught

September 22, 2010

Hi A.B. Gayle here again.

Thanks for checking out the blog. This is my last post. Honest!

So often you hear the complaint that too many stories feature white Anglo characters. I wholeheartedly concur. However, after writing “Caught” and the hours I spent searching for a suitable photo for the cover I can understand one aspect why that might be.

Admittedly, the fact that my character, Daniel Ho, has long hair, made the job extra difficult. I have to thanks my Facebook friend, Kei Chan, whose daily suggestions inspired me to keep looking as long as I did. I literally scanned through hundreds on the different stock photo sites before I eventually discovered my guy. I’d seen him in other poses but they always included weapons and markings. In them, it’s almost as if he’s hiding his beauty. The photographer is Raisa Kanavera, a freelance photographer who lives in St Petersburg, Russia.

Mara did a wonderful job blending the photo with one I took of the lighthouse that features so strongly in the story. Here are the originals.

But it’s not just the image that is difficult. There is often the accusation that you can’t write about a black person or Asian unless you are one. Well, although the result may not be as authentic, I believe as long as you do your research and are sensitive to your subject you can. I was helped by the fact that there is a large Chinese population in the area of Sydney where I live. Some of these have been born here, indeed in many cases their parents have also been born here, but many are new arrivals. I work with them, they are my customers, my sister in law is married to one and my daughter has been going steady with one for a number of years. So I have come to know a few over time.

The same model as he's more commonly seen

I tried not to stereotype Daniel, with any quirks being as much to do with his personality as anything, but to ignore the influence of their heritage is to me more disrespectful than getting the odd thing “wrong”. Yes, some do take off their shoes at the door, some don’t use their hands while eating. Non-Asians often do that also but for different reasons eg not traipsing the red dirt through the house. When it is a cultural tradition it should be respected as such.

One of the main themes of my other novella “Mardi Gras” also out with Noble Romance Publishing and available from Amazon, revolved around the concept of diversity. I believe we should celebrate our differences not ignore them or see everyone as the “same”.

It’s perfectly fine to think a girl looks beautiful because she has long blonde hair and draw people’s attention to it, but somehow it seems wrong to draw attention to an Asian person because of their appearance. Or at least that’s the feedback I’ve got on more than one occasion.

Judging by the response we’ve had to the cover, other people think he’s as gorgeous as Mara and I do. (And I was informed by my Beta Reader that guy’s never use the term “gorgeous” when referring to other guys!)

Hopefully, I’ve created a character who is not just an anglo with an Asian name, but a believable person. I’ll be interested in your feedback when you read it.

Fixing the image of the main character wsn’t the only important thing. Another strong thread in the book is the subject of photography. It is one of the strong ties linking the men together.

I had great fun researching Alfred Stieglitz whose quote I use at the start of the book and whose journal and photo “Winter – Fifth Avenue” is mentioned in the text. As I mentioned during the pre-release party, it was incredibly fortuitous that the first ever exhibition of his photos visited Sydney during the editing stage so I was able to incorporate that element better in the book. It was there at submission time, but I’d been relying on things I’d only seen on the internet.

I also took a number of photos as location shots one day. These are in my Caught album on Facebook. Please come and check them out.

You’re more than welcome to comment here or in the comment box on my website www.abgayle.com on any aspect of the story. I do value feedback of any kind as long as it’s constructive.

Thanks to the beta readers who encouraged me along the way, Karen Dohm, Aleksandr Voinov and Kei Chan and a special big thanks to Kate, my mate from Goodreads and Don Schecter who provided so much constructive criticisms. If this book is successful it will be largely thanks to you for steering me away from a couple of cliff edges.

Finally, a big thanks to Dreamspinner for firstly publishing my book, then being so patient with me during the editing stage and finally helping me to share the making of “Caught” with you.