Idumea/cover ideas

References and descriptions

The skunks

A good many of the characters are skunks that bear a lot of visual similarities, being descended from one person, though there are a few differences in presentation. They're generally short and anywhere from stocky to fat, presenting sort of queer-feminine or even nonbinary.

• Rye, one of the two main characters, generally more of a cozy aunt vibe, tending toward t-shirts and cozy pants
• End Of Endings, the other main character, who is sometimes a skunk
• No Hesitation, a therapist, more enby, a bit more put together than Rye, tending toward business casual
• Warmth In Fire, similarly childlike, though far more critter with mussed up fur, far more slender
• Motes, a kid, looking to be somewhere around 7-10

• 

  Rye

• 

  Warmth In Fire

• 

  Motes

• 

  A general reference for the skunks

The humans

The setting is one where people can choose how they appear, though everyone is born human. As such, some of the characters choose to remain their human selves.

• Dry Grass, short, pudgy, pale skin with short, curly black hair
• End Of Endings, sometimes a human
• Farai, tall-ish, slender, black, buzzed hair
• The kindly restaurateur, southeast Asian woman
• The asthetician, ancient nonbinary person

• 

  Dry Grass

• 

  The general template on which Dry Grass and End Of Endings are pattern, showing the similarities with the skunk form

The dogs

There are two characters who are dogs. Not anthro, just...dogs. They're good dogs.

• Scout is a golden retriever of sorts, looking well groomed and with a nice collar
• The Rabbit Chaser is similarly a golden retriever, but one who has gone more feral, living in the woods and refusing to engage with his forgotten humanity at all

• 

  Scout

Those who are in-between

A few of the characters have a hard time nailing down their appearance.

• End Of Endings, the main character, appears as a human like Dry Grass, a skunk like Rye, or a panther. She is described as being relatively chic and put together, with a stillness to her attitude and appearance.
• Rejoice, who can't seem to appear as just a human or just a skunk, but who continually flows between the two forms.

Cover ideas

Here are some ideas from the authors. I am thinking paintings. These can be on wood, given the theme of trees, or on print, given the theme of graphomania (notably, the title is taken from a shape-note hymn which hey, maybe an option). Pick one or two (front/wrap-around or front and back).

A skunk (No Hesitation, Rye, or Warmth) at the base of a tree, looking pensive

The story concludes with the main character turning into a Catalpa tree — yes, similar to the piece you've already done for me c.c It's a recurring dream. As such, she leaves behind a bunch of friends in a state of grief, since whether or not she continues to actually be alive, she's become effectively dead to them. This includes Rye (the narrator), No hesitation (her best friend), and Warmth In Fire (another friend who sees her regularly). The mood could be anything from No Hesitation looking pensive to Rye writing feverishly, to Warmth In Fire looking quite distraught. The tree is planted in front of a coffee shop in a college town.

What of the one who goes now to the coffee shop every day and drinks eir mocha by the base of The Tree, eir tail curled over eir paws, and speaks aloud to one who is lost? What will become of em?

There might be room for flowers in this, which also figure in the story. One option would be a bellflower (the model for the image used on the back cover of the paperback), but dandelions also figure quite prominently.

Rye somewhat crazed

The format of the book is Rye trying to write a fairy tale while slowly slipping into an episode of psychosis, which manifests mostly as graphomania, uncontrollable crying, pacing, and so on. There are a few instances of this described:

She remembered these things, and I remember these things, just as I, in dreams, remember the sands beneath my feet and the rattle of dry grass in the wind and the names of all things and forget them only when I wake. She wandered the field and lay down and looked at the stars and bathed in memories and I pace the empty rooms of my home, listening to nothing, looking at nothing, clenching and unclenching my fists as I struggle not to reach for my pen, my paper, and instead write in my head.

The Woman is whole, my beloved friends, my dear readers. She is whole! She is whole! She has to be whole. I tell you, she is whole. I tell you as I write this with tears streaming down my face and blood soaking my paws from the way that my claws dig into my palms that she has to be whole. For all of our sakes, for my sake, she has to be whole she has to be whole she has to be whole I have to be whole she has to be whole I have to be whole for otherwise what will become of me?

I am struggling and I am crying and I am pacing around my empty house and I am trembling and I am struggling and I am crying and my paws are bleeding from where my claws have pierced my pads and I am having a hard time holding myself down to one set of thoughts to one set of words to one language to the present moment to the living world and I am looking up and within and without and around and hunting for our superlative friend who is The Dreamer who dreams us all and I am struggling and I am crying and I am doing my best not to step away to that sim to that coffeeshop to that tree where I may throw myself at its roots and wrap my arms around its trunk and press my cheek against its coarse bark and weep and weep and weep and weep and weep and weep and weep and weep and weep and weep and weep and weep and weep and weep and weep and–

End Of Endings laying on her back in the grass and flowers of the tenth's field

End Of Ending lives with those she is closed to in a house placed in the middle of a field of fairly well-kept grass (sort of like the field behind a school) which is nonetheless liberally speckled with dandelions:

We are, as we are so fond of saying, nominally one hundred, and yet we are thousands more, and so many of us have these fields, or perhaps snatches of field, that are speckled with dandelions. I have dandelions on the little moat of grass that surrounds my patio, just as did The Instance Artist who has since left Lagrange, but beyond the low fence that surrounds that patio lies a field, and that field is dotted liberally with them, and my beloved up-tree, The Oneirotect, will bring over her beloved friend, The Child, and they will race around yan tan tethera in endless circles, playing leapfrog or tag or simply running for the sheer joy of it and then go all atumble, and the white fur of their stripes will wind up streaked with the yellow of those dandelions and perhaps the green of that grass.

She goes for a walk at one point and lays down in the grass to let out her emotions:

The Woman wandered far from home. She picked a direction — east, if the entrance to that Gothic house on the field was due north — and began to walk. She walked for an hour. Then she walked for two, for four, for eight. She walked until the sun set and then she lay down in the grass and looked up to the stars and remembered all of these things and wept and smiled and laughed and sobbed.

She can be any of the three species she usually presents as: skunk, panther, or human.

Interior art ideas

Here are some ideas for the interior illustrations. These would be black and white doodles, so probably line art of some sort. The original inspiration for the book was Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio which includes cartoon engravings (as seen here). Obviously, these need not be precisely the same style, just something to include throughout the text. Pick 5-7, preferably evenly spaced.

• End Of Endings and No Hesitation talking about unbecoming — End Of Endings (in panther form) meets up with No Hesitation at a coffee shop to talk about this desire she has to unbecome. It's a very calm and even pleasant conversation.
• End Of Endings making cookies or something else chocolate — After the conversation at the coffee shop, End Of Endings is left feeling filled with joy and friendship, and she shares this at home by making treats for others.
• End Of Endings getting comfort from the kindly restaurateur — After trying something too spicy at a restaurant, End Of Endings is left in tears and gets comforted by the owner of the restaurant, getting soft pets and little bits of ice cream.
• End Of Endings getting groomed by the aesthetician — As a skunk, End Of Endings visits a groomer who turns out to be incredibly nice, not to mention easier and, in some ways, more productive to talk to than her therapist.
• End Of Endings and Farai meet on the train — End Of Endings (in panther form) meets with her erstwhile lover on a train in a tearful, joyful reunion.
• End Of Endings and Farai right after the first shift in form — In the process of getting close, End Of Endings has a spike of anxiety and shifts from panther to human, leading to distress between her and Farai.
• End Of Endings, Rye, and Warmth talking — End Of Endings (in panther form) has a conversation about creativity with Rye and Warmth In Fire. It gets a bit dire and Warmth winds up crying at one point.
• Rye pacing and crying with bleeding paws — As Rye starts to struggle, she has to switch to writing in her head so that she can pace, unable to see well for tears, and having injured her paws by clenching them too hard.
• End Of Endings sitting with Rejoice in mourning — End Of Endings joins Rejoice in the room she shared with one of her cocladists, dead now these last few decades, to mourn the loss.
• End Of Endings crouching by Scout with a bag of kettle corn — End Of Endings happens across a non-anthropomorphized dog and feeds him little bits of kettle corn to draw out his story.
• End Of Endings and Motes walking, leaving chalk lines blossoming behind them — End Of Endings (in human form) goes for a walk down a neighborhood street, and as they do, lines of chalk follow them like flowering vines.
• Rye and Dry Grass talking, the former curious and the latter distraught — Dry Grass meets with Rye to discuss End Of Endings's plan to transform. She's distraught at what it means, while Rye sees that there is story there.
• Rye completely lost in writing — Now all but lost, Rye writes compulsively, almost not even seeing the page, looking off into space, emotionally overcome.
• Dry Grass picking up End Of Endings at the house — Dry Grass picks up End Of Endings (in any form) from her home to lead her to where she will transform. Dry Grass is quite sad, End Of Endings is quite peaceful.
• End Of Endings digging her hand her paw her hand her paw into the soil while Dry Grass watches — Dry Grass watches as End Of Endings starts to transform by digging her fingers into the soil (which is basically something you've already painted, so :P)