A look back at my Royal Wedding Doodles title for Buster Books (Michael O’Mara).
As we look forward to a royal wedding in May …
… I’m remembering the 29th April 2011 and a hopeless romantic’s dream of a writing project. I am of course referring to William and Kate’s nuptials, and to my Royal Wedding Doodles title for Buster Books (Michael O’Mara).
As soon as the engagement was announced, it seemed as though the whole world had gone wedding crazy. Everywhere we turned there were replicas of that sapphire-and-diamond ring, magazine articles about who would design the dress and speculation about when the couple’s first baby would arrive.
Understandably publishers saw a huge opportunity and went into overdrive in order to get their titles out before their rivals’. At Buster Books, we too wanted our slice of the matrimonial action. The whole office had come down with a fever – royal wedding fever!
Beautiful, inspiring and highly creative doodle books are Buster’s speciality and what could be more appropriate and appealing than Royal Wedding Doodles? I couldn’t wait to begin writing and commissioning illustrations.
Coming up with a long list of wedding-related themes and topics gave me a great excuse to indulge in a couple of my guilty pleasures – watching countless episodes of Don’t Tell the Bride and flipping through every bridal magazine I could find. From designing the dream dress to creating a carriage fit for a princess, the doodle possibilities were endless.
Working with illustrator Katy Jackson was wonderful. Not only is she talented and timely, she is highly collaborative and really works with writers and editors to come up with solutions or alternative ideas when a page just isn’t quite working. I hope she is as proud of the end result as I am!
When I had finished writing the text and Katy had illustrated every page, it was time to think about the cover. Going with a white cover is a bold and brave decision for a publisher, as it can become grey and grubby before it’s even hit the shops. On the flip side, white will stand out amongst the colourful, often headache-inducing, covers on the shelves. And in this case there wasn’t much need for debate – it had to be white. As white as Kate’s elegant lace Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen dress, in fact….
I for one am super excited about Harry and Meghan’s wedding, and I’m looking forward to seeing all of the wedding-related titles that will no doubt be published in 2018!
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