"[As I was writing], mostly I was thinking about plants. Plants and more plants! But there are already quite a few book covers out there with plants on them. They seem to skew toward spooky tendrils, like the Beautiful Creatures cover, or close-ups of luscious blossoms, like New Moon. I knew The Poison Diaries needed a cover that would appeal to fans of gothic, supernatural and romantic YA, but would also communicate the uniqueness of the poison plant concept. Thank goodness it was not up to me to come up with a solution.
"While writing The Poison Diaries, I read quite a bit about the English Romantic poets. In fact, they’re one reason I chose to set the book in late 18th-century England (that and Wuthering Heights, of course!).
"My boyfriend and I went to see an exhibit of William Blake’s illustrations at the Morgan Library &Museum. There were all these amazing, trippy drawings, with terrifying winged angels and so on. The hallucinogenic feel of it was inspiring to me. (You can check out this exhibition online.)
"I remember sending my editor, Donna Bray, some links to those images. I’m not sure they were useful in her thinking about the cover, but I certainly drew upon some of that imagery when I was writing. People think writing is all about the words, but I find visual research very stimulating when I’m working on a book. Thank you, Google Images..."
Read the rest of Maryrose's story on melissacwalker.com.
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