The Word Cloud

The title says it all really... I'm currently in talks with an artist friend about creating the front cover of my book. I had an idea to include my MC but not sure if it's a wise move. After all, people interpet characters in different ways, and by putting the MC on the front cover it might take away from the experience of reading the book.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I've considered keeping the MC but with his face in shadow or something...

What is central to the theme of the novel? What does everything hang on? If it's a thing, you might want to consider that. It seems genre plays a part too - Harry Potter books have Harry on them, ones from the Twilight series don't feature Edward or Bella. Don Brown's don't have Robert Langdon on the front. The Lovely Bones doesn't have Susie Salmon on the cover.

Hmmm, probably not helping here. What type of book is it?

It's a fantasy novel centered around twin brothers (good vs evil - cliched I know )

I was going to have them both staring at each other with the silhouette of a wolf behind both (they have the ability to transform into wolf-like creatures)

There's not really a main theme, apart from the good vs evil plotline.

Back to back- The main character facing towards the reader, slightly to the left, and the antagonist facing mainly away from the reader, slightly to his right (Possibly glancing over his shoulder in the readers direction.

It sounds like a good idea to me!

I still haven't decided how I want it to look yet, but I'm still toying with this whole MC thing.

Despite the whole 'Don't judge a book by its cover' saying, I think the front cover (particularly with e-books) is the most important part! I know I'm guilty of seeing a picture on the front of a book and deciding that I wanted it before reading what it was about!

That's why I want to get the cover just right, hence the reason I am facing this dilemma

What Babblefish suggested sounds great. This is an idea that is similar:

I do like the idea of them just being silhouettes like that...

Apparently the characters in my story are similar to those in the video game Devil May Cry. I was shown this picture earlier which is what originally sparked my interest of having the twins on the front cover




My friend says he can recreate something along the same lines as this using different faces, hair colours etc, but I'm still faced with the prospect of taking away from the story by showing the MCs like this.

I'm still unsure about the graphics side to it aswell... Do you think the graphics in this picture would work on a book or do they need to be less... cartoony (I can't think of a better word)

Damien - I think the most important factor is the atmosphere you're trying to portray. The above Voodoo Dues oozes with it. IMO a brilliant cover.

Good V Evil could be presented as different colours, or light and dark, or sun and moon, with a jagged line down the middle showing a silhouette of a snarling wolf - maybe even a two-headed wolf! Symbolism in a fantasy novel is paramount - two characters don't really do that justice.

The above pic is too friendly - face to face can also represent togetherness, unlike BF's suggestion of opposition.

hope that helps...

Don't have it symetric. Don't don't don't have it symetric.

Thanks Stephen, that's really helpful.

Another idea I had was to make use of colours; lights and dark to symbolise their differences, but with something in the centre that connects them...

Babblefish - The image won't be symmetrical. Despite the fact my MCs are twins, they are quite different - hairstyles, clothing etc

I'm turned off by pictures of MCs on covers if they're too clear - I don't like being told how to imagine what they look like. Silhouettes sounds good though - as long as they're not too distinct. Only exception is for non-fiction biography, where the person is real and had a real appearance - then I appreciate a clear picture.
That was an interesting point about the age group of the readers - hadn't thought about it before, but I think Babblefish is onto something.
Other point, is that if this is intended as an e-book, then the cover will mostly be viewed at thumbnail size and so any fine detail will be lost, and an overly cluttered cover won't help at all. A single, clear motif may be all you need. I also like stephen's idea of the silhouette of a double-headed wolf.

I think that's what I was worried about CW. I fear that a reader may be reluctant to purchase the book if they are being spoon-fed images of how the MCs should look. The age group is an interesting point, and considering my target audience is anything along the lines of 16+, I'll have to take that point into account when deciding on my final cover.

The age group is a key point. My own view would be to avoid a clear picture of your MCs face if you're not writing a children's book - so, what's called Teen/Young Adult upwards. There also seem to be fashions - I remember a few years back there were lots of photo portraits on covers - the trend has gone right away from that. It's interesting when you look on amazon for a second-hand book how the cover designs change over the years.

Thanks SecretSpi,

That's an interesting point about the trends of front covers. I'm still undecided, but I will definitely take all of this info on board!

Personally, I don't like pictures of characters on the front, for the reason that it clouds the impression that the author creates - but there is no reason why you couldn't create a similar effect with the two faces in (partial?)sillhouette and a more vibrant background, to give that concept with out too much detail. I actualy don't like many images on book covers, I like well crafted fonts and colours and clever things with texture - I only really like pictures on picture books!

Yeah I know what you mean. We've ended up scrapping the idea of MCs on the front cover and now going for a basic image.

At the minute, the image is going to be that of an ancient lock. There's going to be a contrasting shade of blue (starting dark on one side and gradually getting lighter - symbolising the good vs evil part) The lock in the centre represents what both parties seek, and hopefully entices the reader to find out what secrets lay within the pages.

I think the image itself will work well both as a thumbnail on websites, as well as a regular-sized image.

Chances are I'll probably end up changing my mind again, but at the minute I'm quite happy with the cover!

That sounds better, I feel that especially with anything supernatural, less realy is more - in the way that in film what is unseen is so much more chilling than what is seen.