The Final Book:

Today I'd like to show you the results of my semester's hard work. It was a new experience for me, and it turned to be an excellent challenge. I hope so there will be someone, who will have fun reading it. Below I posted link to my chapbook:

The Leicester Reaper 

I also included a copy of my book in the portfolio on my website. 

Book Cover Creation: Canva

In this post I would like to show you the process of creating a cover for my chapbook. Since I will be creating the entire book using Canva, I decided that I don't want to complicate my life and I will also create the cover in this program. It was a very simple and pleasant experience.

At first I logged in Canva using my Google account and I and I chose the book template I wanted to use.

My next step was to add my chosen photo and adjust it to the size I needed.

At next I just added a heading, changed font to Awesome Lathusca and adjust it to 60p, and changed colour of text to red.

In this same way I added a heading with my name, only difference is in text size (i chosen 38p) and text colour, because I used white instead of red. 

In this simple way I created my chapbook cover in less than 5 minutes. Writing this post about creating a book cover took me more time than making it :) Below you can see final effect.

Chapbook Final Chapter

Today I finally completed third and the last chapter of my book. 

Writing this book was an extremely difficult experience when I hate writing. However, I hope that someone will like my work. When writing this book, I was inspired by the Sherlock Holmes books an movies, of which I am a huge fan.

Sherlock: The Abominable Bride Trailer #2

I've included a link to the last chapter below.

The Leicester Reaper: Chapter 3

Chapbook: Draft Chapters One & Two

In this week I finished first two chapters of my book about serial killer which name: The Leicester Reaper. When I was writing this book, I draw inspiration from the books of Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Moreover, the story takes place at the end of the 19th century, when Jack the Ripper was active in London. If you want know his story, I've added YouTube video about this murder below.

The Horrific Crimes of Jack the Ripper By Decades

Bellow you can find links to first two chapters of my book.

The Leicester Reaper: Chapter 1

The Leicester Reaper: Chapter 2

Creative Media Production: Practise writing

 Leicester Reaper

Inspector Andrews read again the files of his new case. He known that this investigation can be a great occasion to show that he is the best detective in Leicester, however if he will not figure out it quickly his career will be in danger. It was third murder in last month and all newspapers in the city wrote only about 'Leicester Reaper'. And Andrews was the one who was chosen to find the killer. 

- How many stabs this time?- asked Andrews.

- 27 like always.- answered Johnsons.

- And of course he cut the star in her left hand, I guess...

-Yes, nothing changes. This same modus operandi. - Johnsons added. 

They spent 4 hours in studying files and photos of crime scenes and still have nothing. It's started to be annoying. 'Reaper' was a profesionalis, he never left any clue or even small piece of evidence.

Chapbook: Planing

Plan of chapbook

What is your final idea? Please explain in two sentences the theme and the form your writing will take.
I will write story about fictional character 'The Leicester Reaper'- serial killer living and hunting in Leicester in the end of 19th century. I will use my own photos and simple graphics.

Considering the form, how do you intend to layout your book pages?
I'd like to create a novel in traditional book form with my own images and graphics. 

How many pages do you expect there will be?

30-40 pages


Are you going to use images? Are these your own images (illustrations/photographs) or copyright free images that you will source?
Yes, I will use my own photos and graphics

What is the plan of your time and how much you will need to spend on this?
Remember writing is something that you will need time and concentration without disturbance - you must make sure that you plan time to do this.
10-20 hours

What do you imagine the final book will look like?
I will use trade book format

Have you considered the cover page/contents page/back cover with blurb?
My cover page will contain the title, my name and perhaps a photo of a building in Leicester.

Drafting and redrafting will need to be done? Who would you get to proofread your work?.

I will ask my colleagues/classmates about opinion.

Write down any other thoughts or comments related to your plan on your blog post.

I will write my chapters in Google Docs, because it will be simple to share them in posts in my blog.

 

Creating a Chapbook: Initial Ideas

Introduction to the project

My second project in this term will be creating a chapbook, which is a very short publication with up to forty pages.I  have only two weeks for this project, so it can be a challenge. I will make my work into a flipbook and then add it to my portfolio on my website.

What is a chapbook?

According to National Library of Scotland (2024) 'Chapbooks are small paper-covered booklets, usually printed on a single sheet or portion of a sheet, folded into books of 8, 12, 16 and 24 pages, often illustrated with crude woodcuts'.Their history dates back to the end of the 15th century, but they became most popular in the 17th and 18th centuries. There were many different types of chapbooks such as almanacs, ballads, children's literature, folk tales, nursery rhymes, pamphlets, poetry, and political and religious tracts. They owe their popularity to their low price, usually amounting to a penny or halfpenny, which unfortunately resulted in the low quality.(Lyons 2011)

Chap-book by Will Bradley (1894)

Ideas:

I have several ideas for my project, but I think the best one is a fictional story about 'Leicester Reaper - the most danger serial killer in Leicester'. Another idea is a guide around Leicester in which I describe the most beautiful buildings in the city and add photos of them. However story about murder will by more interesting and I will follow this idea. 

One of the inspirations for writing this book was the story of legendary London murderer, Jack the Ripper, who committed his crimes at the end of the 19th century. He become one of the most famous serial killer in history, who was never catched.

Form:

I want my book to be similar in form to the most famous Agatha Christie crime stories or Sherlock Holmes books, so it will appeal to fans of this literary genre. Furthermore, I would like the book to have three or four chapters and illustrations from free photo sites or created by myself using IA.

Reference:

National Library of Scotland. (2024). Chapbooks. [online] Available at: https://www.nls.uk/collections/rare-books/collections/chapbooks/ [Accessed 6 Feb. 2024].

Lyons, Martyn. (2011). Books: A Living History. Los Angeles, CA. Getty Publications. (pp.121-122)

Pinterest. (n.d.). 1894_willbradley_chapbook_cv | Illustration art nouveau, Art et illustration, Affiche artistique. [online] Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/569142471661382201/ [Accessed 6 Feb. 2024].

Creative Writing: Writing Exercise One

Emotion: Sadness

Monday. Kate woke up at eight o'clock like every day. And of course she was tired like every morning. Another cold and dark February day. She moved to UK three years ago, however it was still difficult for her to used to this. It was only one thing she hated in this country- always depressed weather. Especially in winter, when days was short, rainy and cloudy. She tried to find motivation to go out, but when she checked messages in her phone, all her energy disappeared. John, her boss known how to destroy good mood. Kate hated this guy and everyday ask herself this same question- Why I still work with this idiot?

The Man with Night Sweats: Analysis

 

'The Man with The Night Sweats' is a poem written by Thom Gunn in 1992. He created this lyric to draw attention to the problem of the AIDS epidemic, who took some of his close friends. In this post I will try to analyse this poem.

'The Man with Night Sweats' is eight stanzas long and divided into stanzas of two or four lines (couplets or quatrains). The poem's couplets and quatrains all fallow to the same basic rhyme scheme, ABAB CC.(Baldwin, 2020)

In first stanza 

I wake up cold, I who

Prospered through dreams of heat   

Wake to their residue,   

Sweat, and a clinging sheet.   

My flesh was its own shield:   

Where it was gashed, it healed.

References:

Foundation, P. (2021). The Man with Night Sweats by Thom Gunn. [online] Poetry Foundation. Available at: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47956/the-man-with-night-sweats [Accessed 13 Feb. 2024].

Baldwin, E. (2020). The Man with Night Sweats by Thom Gunn. [online] Poem Analysis. Available at: https://poemanalysis.com/thom-gunn/the-man-with-night-sweats/ [Accessed 13 Feb. 2024].

Saharay, R. (2023). The Man With Night Sweats: Analysis and Poetic Devices. [online] The Literary Companion. Available at: https://igcseenglish.com/2023/01/20/the-man-with-night-sweats/ [Accessed 13 Feb. 2024].

Spacey, A. (2023). Analysis of the Poem ‘The Man With Night Sweats’ by Thom Gunn. [online] Owlcation. Available at: https://owlcation.com/humanities/Analysis-of-Poem-The-Man-With-Night-Sweats-by-Thom-Gunn [Accessed 13 Feb. 2024].