While deciding on the book cover …

Wanchain
Wanchain
Jul 23, 2017 · 2 min read

Near the end of my book, a swan appeared. It reminded me of a comment from my photographer cousin who sent me a picture of a swan saying that it reminded him of my first novel, even though my first novel did not have a swan in it.

I thought this picture might be the cover for my second novel, The Return of the Elephant. But following the swan’s appearance, an elephant appeared — the unbeknownst missing piece that the main character Eunice had been chasing for throughout her journey.

Thus I decided to put an elephant on my book cover, and asked my cousin if he would have a picture of an elephant.

“Somehow I get the impression that you think I’m a zookeeper.” He joked.

One Saturday afternoon, I suddenly got up and went to the zoo, in my pyjamas. At the admission booth while I was buying my ticket, I asked, “Is Lucy available today?”

“Yes,” the cashier said.

“Can I see her?”

The cashier phoned the guards who were tending Lucy the elephant, and was told that she was not ready to receive guests at the moment, due to the summer heat, but she would be at her pen at 2pm.

From afar, I took about 250 pictures of Lucy, but discovered that she was not trained to pose for a photo shoot. Instead, I found a reptile in the zoo who was extremely patient and cooperating. I showed my cousin the following picture.

“That doesn’t look like an elephant to me,” my cousin laughed.

Later he found a swimming elephant in his inventory. In fact, we had both seen this elephant in 2015.

It would have been lovely if this elephant could make it on my book cover, but he appeared to be swimming away from it.

The Return of the Elephant

A space about the novel and the author

Wanchain

Written by

Wanchain

The Return of the Elephant

A space about the novel and the author

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