“Inspired” or “The Story Behind the Cover”

You’ve read the blog posts.

You’ve seen the novellas.

Now at long last, it’s time to show you what a full-length Danielle E. Shipley novel looks like.

I give you… INSPIRED!

Back of the Book:

For a muse like Lucianíel, one story’s end is another’s beginning.

In the wake of his author’s sudden death, Luc takes ownership of her surviving creations—four fantastical characters with tales yet to be told—saving them from unwritten lives crumbling around them and giving them a second chance at a literary future.

Luc finds that chance in the unsuspecting mind of Annabelle Iole Gray, a quirky teen with her head in the clouds, nose in a book, and imagination ripe for a brilliant muse’s inspiration.

Or so he hopes.

Neither Luc nor Annabelle, however, realize all they’ve undertaken. Even with a to-write list including accounts of a shape-shifting cat creature, gentle knight-in-training, vigilante skater girl, and a mystery boy smothering in unspoken fear, the most remarkable saga created between author and muse just may turn out to be one stranger than fiction.

Their own.

* * * * *

How in the world to condense all that awesome story into a single thousand words’-worth of picture on the front of the book? It was by no means easy, I can tell you that!

I knew from the start what I wanted. The tricky part was working within the parameters of reality (which is not my strong suit, hence my career in imagination). Out of a finite supply of stock images, J. Taylor Publishing and I had to search out the ones that best represented the novel’s heaviest hitters, Annabelle and Luc. She was not so terribly difficult to deal with. He, on the other hand… well, I don’t have to tell the artists in the audience what it’s like trying to get any cooperation out of a muse.

After much stress, toil, stress, compromise, and, just for giggles, a little more stress (whose bright idea was it to make me the spokesperson for the demands of persnickety characters?!), we arrived at a cover that was author-, publisher-, and muse-approved.

Idowanna wait ‘til March 17^th, 2014 to get this book in your hands! There are so many amazing fictional people for you to meet! So much adventure and drama and whimsy to share!

Gah! Somebody distract me. Talk to me: What do you guys think of the cover and blurb? Anybody out there inspired to give this novel a read, once it releases? ^^

P.S. – You can totally add “Inspired” to your Goodreads shelf, if you wanna. (: