About the Author - Sketchbook Develpoment

Ok, don't really get what this brief is really getting at, if I'm honest. I'm hearing and being encouraged not to be literal, or cliche or obvious, or draw things that the author has already written about in their novels. It's also NOT an illustration for a book cover...i don't really see where that leaves me?! I don't have any middle names, but if i did they would be literal and cliche. How are we meant to make a set of images relating to a given author without it having obvious connections or elements from his/her books or life? I know the final outcome is to consist of a set of prints in a limited number of colours, so that's something. Hopefully things will become clearer. I'm not banking on it.

After procrastinating by making endless notes about reoccurring motifs and mental images i'd had whilst reading Murakami's 'Hardboiled Wonderland & The End of the World' novel, i started sketching these mental images, which apparently is a no-no, as I'm simply drawing things he's written about?

The latter sketches couldn't be more literal if you tried, and the portrait character of Murakami was never going to be a serious option, i just felt like doodling him with one of the many cats he's owned over the years. For a super quick sketch and remarkable few rub-outs, I'm actually pretty pleased with the likeness! Alas, a portrait of the author is not the objective, but with him being a famously private person, who is rarely seen and with little information about his personal life (apart from his love of jazz, cats and curry) I don't know where i'm supposed to magic all the creative material from without it being too literal.