Inspired by Life ... and Fiction

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Story Boards (and a Giveaway!)

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Do you like Sleeping Beauty retellings? BESOTTED, the third and final book in The Fairest Maidens, is now available and is a unique retelling of the old classic fairy tale.

Each book of the series is fashioned after a fairy tale BEHOLDEN (September) is loosely tied to Cinderella,  BEGUILED (October) is developed around Snow White. And, as mentioned, BESOTTED (November) is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. 

One thing I really enjoy doing with my fairy tale medieval books is looking for pictures to represent the stories. With all of the pictures of handsome knights, medieval ladies, and beautiful castles, it’s fun to bring the characters and setting to life.

In fact, before I start writing a story, I usually search until I find pictures that I feel best mirror the characters.  Then as I write, I refer back to those images, helping to bring the characters to life in my mind.

Here are the three story boards I’ve created for each of the books:

BEHOLDEN

BEGUILED

BESOTTED

I also love the graphics that readers create to go with quotes from my books. They do such a fabulous job! I wish I could show you all of them, but here is just a sampling:

To celebrate the release of The Fairest Maidens, I’m having a giveaway! I’ll be giving away a paperback or ebook of ANY one of the three books in the series here on the blog to one lucky winner! Enter the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Do you like seeing what the authors visualize? Or do you prefer the anonymity so that you can visualize the characters and settings the way you want?

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Jody Hedlund

Author
Award-winning author Jody Hedlund makes her home in central Michigan with her husband and five children. When she's not busy with her family, she loves to read and consume large amounts of chocolate and coffee.
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Comments

  1. I do like seeing what authors visualize! One thing that is a little offputting, for me, is when a classic is redone (how many different Anne Shirleys I’ve seen in my lifetime) when I already have a vision in my head. But for my new books? Yes, I love seeing what you visualize.

  2. I do like seeing the pictures that authors use for inspiration. I also like to see if it is close to what I imagined

  3. I enjoy seeing what the author visualizes to see how closely the descriptions are in the book to match what I visualize in my head. You are very good at your descriptions in your books so it’s amazing when I see your storyboards and it’s so close to what I imagined. Happy New Release!

  5. To answer your question, I love to imagine for myself first. It is interesting to see the author’s imagining later, because I can find out a little more of how she focused on getting to know her characters better…

  7. I enjoy seeing the author’s process, pictures & all, similar to bonus features of a movie. Sometimes it matches what I get out of reading/watching the story, and other times it’s a “wow” moment. That process usually encourages me to read it again. Thanks for sharing!! 🥰📚

  8. Usually I like visualizing the characters in my own mind from the book descriptions. However, I do enjoy seeing images for setting inspiration that the author chose. I’m not as adept at visualizing landmarks/places.

  9. It is fun to see what the authors visualizes. I will admit though that often times my mind paints it’s own picture while reading a book.

  10. This is one of my favorite Fairytale Series Ever! And I do love to get a peek at how the authors visualize the characters! It helps so much my imagination! I always find it so fitting to their description, as in this case Jody! Love the images you chose for the characters! They’re perfect!

  14. I love seeing what the author visualizes, especially on the fantasy creatures. I was thinking the basilisk looked like that frilled dinosaur thing from Jurassic Park, but bigger. I have never seen a creature that you pictured. It is soooooo cool.

  15. Do I like seeing what the authors visualize? Ab. So. Lutley! It makes the story come to life and gives me a picture(s) of characters, places and things I may not be able to imagine myself. Thanks for the opportunity to win one of these books. All three covers are beautiful.

  17. I love seeing the pictures of the character for your books. But, there are some books I’d rather visualize myself. But, you seem to pick that right people and makes me more excited to read these books.

  18. I love books that sweep me away into another time and place, leaving my current reality a distant memory! Thank you for writing such stories, Jody!

  19. I love seeing what authors visualize! It makes it so fun and it is cool to see what the authors imagine

  20. I think I like both. I love seeing pictures of places and items that the author had in mind while writing the book. I also love seeing the pictures of people used for inspiration of the characters (but whether those inspirations are the same images I see in my mind for the characters while reading the story is another matter!😅)

  21. Jody, I enjoy seeing how the author visualizes the setting and characters after I’ve read the book.

    Congratulations on your newest release!

  23. I Love seeing what the Author had in mind while writing. So yes I do love to see inspiration pictures 🙂

  24. I love the visualizations by the author. I usually try to imagine what the characters look like on my own.. but this is a whole new world and I love it!!!

  25. Thanks for the chance to win! I really enjoy seeing what inspires authors for their stories, and also what they envision the characters looking like in real life. Its fun to see if it matches up with how I envisioned it when I read the book.

  26. I like seeing the storyboard pictures and then the cover shots. Especially the Cinderella storyboard picture, so downtrodden, and the change to glamour on the cover.

  28. I like seeing what authors used for their inspiration. I can always imagine something else if that doesn’t work for me.

  30. I think it’s fun to see what authors visualize for their characters. I also find it interesting when a book is made into a movie, and sometimes the characters are portrayed much differently from how I imagined them (often to get some “star power” into the movie)!

  32. I like to read the story first and then see the inspiration. It’s so fun to see if I was close to what the author was thinking.

  33. I love to see what the author visualizes and then see if I realize the same thing or if I visualize something different. It’s a fun adventure either way.

  35. I usually have a picture in my head of the characters, but LOVE to see the images in the mind’s eye of the author. So interesting!

  37. I do like to see what the authors visualize. However, usually by the time I read the books, I have forgotten what the authors have shown, so I still am able to create my own mental images of characters, settings, etc.

  38. I love seeing authors’ inspiration boards! Even if my visualization of characters or places is a bit different, I love seeing who and what they were thinking of as they wrote.

  39. I like to see what the author is picturing but when they don’t I’m happy to let my imagination will fill in the blanks.

  40. Every reader is going to have her own mental picture of characters and events, but I enjoy seeing a story board that reflects the author’s vision, even if it doesn’t match mine.

  41. I usually like seeing what authors visualize after I have read the book. It’s fun to see if my imagination came up with the same things the author was seeing and then to catch the vision the author had.

  43. I like to see what authors visually see the characters and the towns where the stories take place. Thanks for your great generosity.

  45. I like seeing the storyboard after I’ve read the story, to see if my mind envisioned what the author created. One thing I love is when the model is very similar in the storyboard to the model in the cover.

  46. This is the first time I have ever seen an author post a vision board like this. I have only read the first book so far, but it was neat looking at the images that I inspired you.

  47. When I first read a book I like to imagine the characters and scenery for myself, but after the first read I love to see storyboards because they portray how others imagined it. It’s really interesting to me that even with detailed descriptions we can all have our own personalized take on a story.

  53. I enjoy seeing the author’s visualizations. I’m not good at “seeing “ from words only which is odd because I love to read so much more than watching TV or movies.

  57. I like seeing how they visualize it. I can still see my own vision sometimes tho. Thank you

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