Inkblots, Page Formatting, and my Kids

Most of you probably know that I’ve been asking other bloggers to write guest posts for my blog, since summer is a really tough time for me personally to be writing.  Well, although I haven’t actually gotten a guest post from a blogger, I did get in touch with Dylan Callens, an author, and he agreed to write a guest post for me!! Since he is currently in the process of publishing his novel, Interpretation, he decided to tell us more about the unique process of creating the images at the start of each of his chapters.  For me personally, this was fascinating to read about, and I hope you feel the same!

Inkblots, Page Formatting, and my Kids

When I sat down to start formatting the interior file for my new novel, Interpretation, I wanted to do something neat at the beginning of each chapter.  I perused through images of nicely formatted book interiors on Google as a first step.  

I like chapters that have fancy first letters and interesting fonts but these are pretty common and it didn’t really fit the theme of my book.  After the first few chapters, things get a little… harsh for my protagonist, Carl Winston.  I continued searching and found a few examples with pictures at the top of the chapter, which I really liked.  I thought about how I could adapt that to my novel and finally, it dawned on me:  I could use inkblots, since the book is based on a number of psychological experiments.  There is even a moment where Carl does an inkblot test.  

A quick sigh of relief escaped my lips because I am no artist.  I figured that I would be able to lift inkblots online and dump them at the top of each chapter.  But then I started to think about copyright laws.  Plus, each online image was a different size, some with ugly backgrounds, and most with a low resolution.  Plus I needed thirty-one of these things.  

I soon decided to abandon my search and just make the inkblots myself.  Well, sort of.  

What I did was dupe my children into making them for me.  I told them, “It’s a fun art project,” not leading on to the fact that I had secretly created a sweat shop to produce antiquated psychological pseudo-art.  We took out the cheap acrylic paint, some recycled paper, and randomly threw globs of paint across the page.  A quick paper-fold and a smash of the fist – voila!  Insta-art.

It’s quite amazing how effective inkblots are at inspiring the imagination.  As each one was created, their excitement grew.  “That one looks like a crab!”  “That one looks like fish!”  “That’s a heart!”  

Every time that they saw something interesting in an inkblot, it drove them to make a new one, in hopes of discovering new images.  Which is exactly what I want a reader to do when they come to a new chapter.  

There was a down side, though.  Once they knew that this was for my book, both my ten and eight year old agreed that they wanted a royalty deal for their art.  And they drove a hard bargain.  According to the contract that I was forced to sign, they now get 90% of my royalties.  

Ultimately, the joke’s on them, though.  They agreed to royalties on net income, not on gross revenue – and I dump most of my money back into books.  Let that be a lesson learned for them!

For me, interior design is typically a tedious job but having my kids help with it really brightened up the process.  I love the way that each chapter title looks.  More importantly, whenever I look at the book, I’ll be reminded of them and the fun that we had creating the images.  I’ll also have the satisfaction of knowing that when someone looks at those inkblots and tries to decipher what the image is, I’ll know that my kids inspired the reader’s imagination.   

So, no matter how hard it was to format those pictures properly, and no matter how much effort went into the rest of the book, my favorite part of this novel are the thirty-one inkblots scattered throughout Interpretation.

About Dylan Callens

Dylan Callens lands cleanly. That would be the headline of a newspaper built with an anagram generator. And although Dylan is a Welsh name meaning god or hero of the sea, he is not particularly fond of large bodies of water. His last name, Callens, might be Gaelic. If it is, his last name means rock. Rocks sink in the sea. Interestingly, he is neither Welsh nor Gaelic, but rather, French and German. The inherent contradictions and internal conflict in his life are obvious.

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About Interpretations

Carl Winston awakens to find his son, Liam, screaming with fear. Trying to understand why, Carl tries to soothe him. Neighbors gather in front of Carl’s apartment to help – until they see him. The crowd cowers back, afraid of this monster. 

Carl runs. His life of luxury is ripped away. Forced beyond the city limits, Carl sees a land bereft of life. Traveling in search of answers, his quest comes to a sudden halt when he collapses. As darkness shrouds him, a figure hovers from above. 

Traveling along the same route, Eva Thomspon finds Carl and nurtures him back to life. Together, they continue the journey, finding out that their lives have too much in common to be a coincidence. As their affection for each other deepens, an unknown nemesis attempts to remove their only source of happiness – their love for each other.

Interpretation is a dystopian fiction that explores hope and happiness in the bleakest of conditions and what happens when it’s torn away.

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iBooks

What do you think of Interpretation? Have you ever had an inkblot test? 

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