Blog
Susan Berliner is the author of six supernatural thrillers ("DUST," "Peachwood Lake," "The Disappearance," "Corsonia," "After the Bubbles," "Soldier Girl"); three short story collections ("The Sea Crystal and Other Weird Tales," "George's Mother and Other Weird Stories," "Crash Effect and Other Weird Stories"); and a memoir ("Doing the Write Thing"). If you have any comments or suggestions, please contact me.
Event evaluation - December 17, 2024
My holiday craft fairs ended this past weekend. I had six events: two were very good, one was okay, and three were poor.
Here's the problem with these events: It's impossible to figure out beforehand which will be good because it's a matter of luck. Will the fair include shoppers who like to read—and if so, will they like to read thrillers and weird short stories—or want to give my books as gifts?
And it's not a matter of how much the event costs me. I had the poorest results at the fair that was the most expensive and I had a really good showing at the fair that cost the least. Every event is a crap shoot.
In any case, I enjoy attending these fairs. Meeting potential readers and being able to talk about my books is lots of fun. I'm looking forward to participating in events next spring.
* * *
What's in a name?
The Resolve, my new novel, is an end-of-the-world story—but is it dystopian or post-apocalyptic?
In the past, I've found it difficult to distinguish between those two terms, but I think I've finally figured out the differences. Dystopian books deal with the end of society while the physical world and most of the population remains intact. Dystopian novels include The Hunger Games and The Handmaid's Tale.
Post-apocalyptic books deal with the aftermath of events that decimate the population and often destroy the physical world—nuclear attacks, meteorites, viruses, and other catastrophes. Post-apocalyptic novels include The Stand and Swan Song.
The Resolve is more post-apocalyptic than dystopian because, although the physical world isn't damaged, the population has been exterminated at the start of my novel (although, the reader doesn't discover how and why people died until later in the story). I hope to publish this end-of-the-world book in early 2025.
* * *
Reread results - December 5, 2024
I just completed my latest read-through of The Resolve, my YA dystopian thriller manuscript, and the results are mixed: The novel is better, but not yet ready for publication.
While I haven't had to make the major changes I needed to do in earlier reads, I've had to do more than just tweak words and add or subtract commas. Also, I have found (and corrected) several minor errors. In all, there were enough revisions to prevent me from declaring the book "finished."
Maybe one or two more rereads will be enough...I hope!
* * *
Nearing the finish line? - November 29, 2024
After rereading the manuscript of The Resolve at least seven times, I've printed a fourth hard copy of my YA dystopian thriller. And now I'm hoping this book is almost done.
In my last reread, I decided one plot element (what the good guys are wearing towards the end of the novel) needed to be adjusted, which led to revising several scenes and eliminating another. But the result improved the action and makes more sense.
Now, if my next reread involves just changing a few words and adding or subtracting commas (a typical part of my end game), this book will be nearly done. I had hoped it would be ready for the holidays. While that won't be possible, if all goes well, I should be able to publish The Resolve early in 2025.
* * *
Plot plotzing - November 23, 2024
Every time I think I'm moving forward with The Resolve, my YA dystopian thriller, I find another plot problem. That means I have to stop rereading the manuscript, go backwards, and make the necessary changes.
I thought I'd be finished with this novel before the holidays, but that isn't happening. The latest issue I discovered is relatively major, so I've had to eliminate one scene, edit several other scenes, and combine two chapters.
One good result: My latest rewrite substituted a new action scene for a repetitive one. But editing this book is such slow going...
* * *
You never know - November 17, 2024
On Saturday, I participated in my fourth holiday fair of the season and the experience again proved that you never know how a book-signing event will turn out. At the previous fair (November 2), I did well, selling a lot of books (by my standards).
But the November 16 event was bad. Although many people expressed interest, hardly anyone purchased a book. All the authors who shared my table (four) joked about the number of people who said, "I'll definitely be back." They all lied—except for one woman who promised to return. She did return, waving to our table as she chased her grandchild around the venue. Of course, she never stopped to look at our books.
I'm hoping to have better success with my two December fairs. You can see photos of this season's events here.
* * *
Making book writing a blast - November 11, 2024
If you follow this blog, you know I've been editing my YA dystopian thriller, The Resolve, a novel I've been working on for several years.
But, as I've just learned, all my hard work has been unnecessary because an A.I. app called Blaster will write my book for me. According to the email I received, all anyone has to do is "enter a keyword or select a niche...And within a few seconds you can have a full book...Written, edited, formatted, and designed...publisher-quality books with 200+ pages."
And there's more! "Not only will Blaster create the book for you...it will also blast it over Amazon's KDP platform...Allowing you to make hundreds of dollars every single day, on complete autopilot."
So why should I kill myself creating a novel the old-fashioned way when I can let Blaster write my book? I can just sit back and watch the money roll in.
Nah...I think I'll continue to write my books the hard way.
* * *
TikTok shock - November 5, 2024
I post videos on TikTok every evening, mostly alternating clips of me displaying my books and videos of pages turning with the cover shown at the end. Although I reuse text in these videos, I try to tweak the words a little each time. That's why I scroll through past videos to see the text I most recently used.
Imagine my surprise when I looked at the previous DUST video (pages turning) and realized the final frame showed the cover—not of a colorful dust devil—but of my short story collection, Crash Effect and Other Weird Stories.
And here's the strangest part: That video boo-boo had more viewers, likes, and favorite saves than most of my recent postings. Also, no one commented on the mistake (except me when I noticed it). That's because most viewers don't watch complete videos, even if they're 12 seconds long. And of course, TikTik is impossible to figure out.
You can watch my TikTok videos here.
* * *
Category concern - October 30, 2024
I know I should be as specific as I could in defining the genre of my new book, The Resolve, and I thought "YA Dystopian Thriller" said it all. But I was wrong.
When checking possibilities, I found "Dystopian Survival Thriller," a category I hadn't seen before, along with "Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller." (I like the former better than the latter, which is too much of a mouthful.)
Since The Resolve is about survival after an end-of-the-world event, this novel is certainly a YA dystopian survival thriller. Now that I know the book's category, I just have to finish writing it.
* * *
Not that real - October 24, 2024
In my last post (October 18), I wrote about the benefit of making a novel as real as possible. However, at my event last Saturday, one visitor complained about making a book too real.
At the Wiccopee fire station's craft fair, the woman mentioned that, until recently, she'd loved reading Harlan Coben's thrillers. "You know he sets his novels in real places," she said.
(Actually, I didn't know that. I've only read—and enjoyed—two of his books: one set mostly in Manhattan, near Central Park and another set in southern New Jersey, featuring Lucy the Elephant, a six-story elephant-shaped building in Margate City—a historical landmark I'd never heard of.)
"But I won't read his books anymore," the woman continued.
"Why?" I asked.
"He set one of his books so close to where I live that I felt he was peeking into my bedroom window," she explained.
I didn't ask her which book she was talking about or where she lived, so if you know a Coben book set in Dutchess County, New York, I'd love to hear from you. But in any case, I'll make sure The Resolve, my YA dystopian thriller, isn't that realistic.
* * *
Making it real - October 18, 2024
Although The Resolve, my YA dystopian thriller, is completely fictional, I still want the book to be as realistic as possible. That's why I set the major part of the novel in an existing university in Utah and am using building names and as many real details as possible.
Since I've never been to this college, I've been relying on maps and written sources for the necessary information. This week, however, I discovered a fantastic resource: an hour-long YouTube video by a man exploring the university on foot. His description (and camera work) is so good that I feel I'm alongside him as he walks around the campus.
Now that I have such a good picture of the school, I'm revising some parts of the setting—but not all, because it's too limiting to be completely factual. I still need fictional elements to make my plot work.
* * *
Yahoo! A new review! - October 12, 2024
"This is a great fast read suitable for middle school and high school students, but a nice diversion for adults as well. A sci fi story with an engaging plot, a smidge of romance, and plenty of teenage angst. I look forward to reading the second book in the series and definitely see this as a book that could be adapted to film!"
(The above 5-star Amazon review is for After the Bubbles, Book One of The Touchers Series, my two-part YA dystopian thriller series.)
As I've written here many times, Amazon reviews are wonderful things for indie authors like myself. Since it's so difficult to convince readers to leave reviews, when someone actually does, it is cause for celebration.
I'm hopeful the above review will lead to copycats. Even posting a very short review—e.g. "I loved it!"—helps.
* * *
Rereading again - October 6, 2024
I am in the middle of another reread of The Resolve, my YA dystopian thriller. Although I haven't found any major issues thus far, I am still making tweaks: substituting words, rewriting sentences, removing (or adding) commas, and fixing typos.
The good news is that most of these changes are minor; the bad news is that I am still finding many things to correct. And I also have to flesh out characters. But I keep procrastinating about that issue and haven't done it yet.
Here's the bottom line: The Resolve is not yet finished.
* * *
Ad adherence - September 30, 2024
Today, I got a strange email from Amazon regarding one of the ads I'm running. The notification says my ad is "non-compliant to creative acceptance policies" because it "contains content prohibited from advertising. This may include content that depicts excessive gore, distress, blood, or violence."
What's strange is the ad referenced above has been running since May 31, 2020—and the exact ad copy also appears in four other current ads.
Since the ad in question is for After the Bubbles (Book One of The Touchers) a dystopian thriller series, it does include distress and violence. In fact, the cover tagline is "One touch and you're dead..."
Here's the offending ad:
One touch and you're dead! Trapped in the house. Scary supermarkets.
Home school. Sound familiar? It's Erin Frederick's dilemma. How will she survive?
What do you think?
And the rereads continue - September 24, 2024
I just finished another reread of my YA dystopian thriller, The Resolve, and although the novel is improving, it's not yet ready for prime time, i.e. publication.
Why not? I'm still finding plot issues, though not major ones. These are more subtle problems. Here's an example: A character sets a fire using a lighter. But where does he get the lighter? The man is an escaped prisoner, on the run.
Of course, this is a fictional story and readers have to suspend disbelief. Nevertheless, I want the book to make sense.
* * *
Use the prop - September 18, 2024
When I started rereading The Resolve, my YA dystopian thriller, for the fifth time, I realized one of my main characters had been given a knife on page 60 that she never used, which led me to remember the above Chekhov quote.
So I skimmed past page 60 to see which choice I wanted to make: Could I find a way to use the knife or did I have to eliminate the knife mention from the book?
Fortunately, just 25 pages later, I found a perfect opportunity to introduce the knife. And the fix only involved a little tweaking of the story. But I can't believe I read this novel so many times without noticing that little booboo.
* * *
Reread results - September 12, 2024
I just finished the fourth reread of my YA dystopian thriller, The Resolve. Here's what I learned:
* Although the book is improved, it's still not done.
* I am still finding plot holes.
* I am still finding errors.
* I am still tweaking language and punctuation.
* I am still making other changes, though fewer than before.
I had hoped to have this novel finished before the holiday season. However, the editing is taking longer than I anticipated. Eventually, this book will be done—but not yet.
* * *
Event evaluation - September 6, 2024
On Labor Day, I signed my books at a YIKES! & TYKES & YUKS event at Senasqua Park in Croton, NY with authors Larry Berliner, Linda Griffin, and Ed Perratore.
The remarkable thing about this venue was the enthusiasm the attendees had for books. When I, or one of the other authors, greeted a visitor, that person mostly smiled and politely listened to our spiels. That doesn't usually happen.
In past events, most people either ignored us or walked away without making eye contact, and if we asked, "Do you like to read?" the response was often, "No," "I haven't read for twenty years," or "I don't read books." At Monday's event, many visitors answered, "Of course, I read!"
It probably helped that these Labor Day vendors were mainly artists or sculptors showcasing original higher-priced works than most fairs we participate in. And there were unusual displays. One vendor even spun yarn on a wooden spinning wheel, much like the spinning wheel used in Rumpelstiltskin.
To see photos of the event, click here.
* * *
Review request - August 31, 2024
"Susan Berliner's DOING THE WRITE THING is a chatty and easy-to-read memoir that provides a lens on life in the 60s and 70s. It is easy to relate to her stories, especially for people coming from a similar background or those curious about it. A child of escapees from the Holocaust, settlers in the Bronx, entering the world of writing with a few stops along the way -- all told from the perspective of someone who has a keen memory for the details of that era."
The above quote is the latest Amazon review of my quirky memoir and I certainly appreciate the reader taking the time to write it. But it's so hard for indie authors like myself to get reviews, which is why I'm making this appeal:
If you've read any of my novels or short story collections—or books by any other author—and enjoyed them, please take a few minutes to write a review. Just one or two sentences is sufficient. Reviews are important to authors because they help us to sell books.
Thank you!
* * *
Book blurbing - August 25, 2024
I'm taking a short break from rereading my YA dystopian thriller, The Resolve, to work on creating the book's blurb.
In recent years, experts have been stressing the importance of a powerful blurb for selling books on Amazon. And since I'd like to sell books on Amazon, I'm trying to follow the advice on how to write a really good blurb.
But it's tough. I've taken several on-line courses by Amazon book experts and am trying to change my not-so-successful blurb-writing instincts. I opt for a short and snappy synopsis—but that's not what's recommended. Instead, I'm supposed to concentrate on making an emotional connection with potential readers. Unfortunately, right now my main emotion is confusion.
* * *
Too much information - August 18, 2024
Sometimes when I write a novel, I forget I'm not supposed to tell the reader everything: I have to show, rather than tell—and then trust the reader to put the pieces together to figure out what's happening.
And when I make a mistake and provide too much information, I have to eliminate the scenes that give away too much. I've already found several instances of revealing more than I should with my YA dystopian thriller, The Resolve. In one early scene, I had a character divulge an entire plan before carrying it out. Why would I do that? It's much more suspenseful to show the plan without explaining beforehand what's going to happen.
In a later chapter, characters are hiding in the back of a pickup truck. Originally, I explained their situation before showing it. Again, this takes all the drama away from the story. It's sloppy writing. But, as I've posted here many times, the first draft of this novel was a mess, so now I've got to fix it.
* * *
Plot problems and more - August 12, 2024
I've begun the fourth reread of my dystopian thriller, The Resolve, and although I've improved the manuscript, more work is needed.
I'm still combining short chapters and getting rid of unnecessary lines at the end of scenes. Those corrections are easy.
Fixing plot issues is much more difficult. Today I reviewed several scenes where my co-protagonists escape from a makeshift prison. Originally, I had them dig a hole under a fence, but realized they had neither the time nor equipment for that escape so I came up with another getaway method that seemed more realistic. (It's still somewhat farfetched, but this book is fictional.)
In any case, I think this edit improves the story. Now I just have 340 more pages before I finish this reread.
* * *
Paying the price - August 6, 2024
I knew the first draft of The Resolve, my dystopian thriller, was messy—and now I'm paying the price.
I'm nearly finished with the third reread and, unfortunately, I'm still finding problems. Yes, the problems aren't as serious as the earlier ones. But they're still problems I have to correct.
If I'd taken more time to deal with these issues while writing the manuscript, the editing process would have been much easier.
* * *
Time troubles - July 31, 2024
All along, I've thought Part 1 of my dystopian thriller, The Resolve, was in good shape. But as I again reread Chapter 9, I realized I was wrong because the timeline in that chapter is all screwed up.
I've got back-and-forth events, featuring my teen protagonists and their adult companion—but the timing doesn't make sense.
As a result, I had to cut, paste, and eliminate--something I hate doing because moving text around is so much work. Nevertheless, I transferred several paragraphs to different chapters and got rid of an episode I liked because I couldn't find a good place to insert it.
Now I have to reread Part 2 (twice the size of Part 1), which I already know has issues. Eventually this book will be done. But finding new problems is discouraging.
* * *
Scene sense - July 24, 2024
I've finished the second reread of my dystopian thriller, The Resolve, and rediscovered a bad habit: I frequently end scenes with unnecessary words. So as I reread the book, I take my mouse and erase many of these insignificant (and unperiodic) sentences.
Somehow as I write a first draft, I unknowingly try to put a little word bow on a scene with a clever wrap-up sentence. It makes sense when I'm writing, but seems silly on the reread.
And since The Resolve is a thriller, scenes shouldn't end with clever phrases; they should end with cliffhangers.
* * *
Whack-a-mole effect - July 18, 2024
Sometimes editing a book is depressing for me, especially when I fix one problem and then another immediately pops up. Every time I think I've solved one major plot issue, I discover something else that needs to be resolved.
I'm three-quarters through the second reread of my dystopian thriller, The Resolve, and although I've made improvements, the manuscript still needs lots of work. I had hoped it would be in better shape by now. Too bad it's not.
* * *
Writing night and day - July 11, 2024
I agree with the author of the above quote. During the past week, I have "written" twice during what I thought were my off hours.
First, during the middle of the night, I thought of a great tagline for The Resolve, my dystopian thriller. (Luckily, I had a pad and pencil near the bed and jotted down the sentence in the dark.)
Then, as I swam laps yesterday, I figured out an entire backstory for a key character. (For some strange reason, he's from Uzbekistan.)
It would be nice to sometimes be off duty--but I can't turn off my brain.
* * *
Full speed ahead - July 5, 2024
I've been hard at work editing my dystopian thriller, The Resolve, and for the first time, I feel encouraged to think the book could be good.
Although I don't enjoy doing research—and lately I've done lots of googling—the experience with this novel hasn't been terrible, probably because I'm finally making progress.
Of course, I'm still filling in all the blanks I left out in the first draft, as well as fleshing out characters and adding lots of details. But I am moving forward, hopefully quickly enough to get The Resolve published before the holidays.
* * *
Subconscious suggestions - June 29, 2024
Here's what happens to me when I'm writing a novel: I include an incident (or incidents) that doesn't fit into the story—leave it dangling—and then later get an inspiration on how to tie it to the plot.
This situation has happened twice with The Resolve, the dystopian thriller I'm currently writing. I fixed one dangling episode about a piece of paper my protagonists find in the beginning of the story and need at the end and I'm currently trying to figure out the best spot to inject drug-related information (bad pun!).
I really think my subconscious self sometimes knows more about what I should be writing than my conscious self does. My subconscious has me jot down what seems like meaningless stuff and then waits for my brain to eventually figure out the connection. I guess we all know more than we realize.
* * *
Making sense - June 23, 2024
I'm reviewing all the times and places mentioned in my dystopian thriller, The Resolve. Although this story is totally fictional, I'm aiming to make the happenings as realistic as possible and this means the occurrences in The Resolve have to make sense.
This is tedious, time-consuming work—which is why I avoided doing the research while writing the first draft of this novel. But now I have to get this straightened out before I can focus on the many other editing issues.
* * *
Fair focus - June 17, 2024
I've participated in five spring events this year and here's the verdict: I had "fair" success. Of course, book sales are always better in the late fall (because of holiday gifting) so spring expectations are lower. But I have done better in previous years.
People seem to read fewer books these days. A number of visitors to the YIKES! & TYKES & YUKS table mentioned they don't read at all. One man proclaimed (rather proudly) that he hadn't read a book in 40 years.
There were also interesting excuses for not purchasing books. An older man told us he was attempting to read 2,000 books that someone had given him thirty years ago. Another man told us he had read lots of books—because he'd been incarcerated for 15 years. (We didn't ask the nature of his crime.)
Few people mentioned giving a book as a gift. Most buyers chose books just for themselves. Even fewer people considered books as gifts for their teens. They (and their children) were focused on jewelry, toys, or food—not understanding that books are food too: food for the brain.
* * *
Problem solving - June 11, 2024
I'm working on fixing the many problems in the first draft of my dystopian thriller, The Resolve.
Last week, I felt good about several improvements I made. I finally connected a piece of paper the protagonists find in the beginning of the book to an episode at the end. I also made the ending of an early chapter more dramatic.
This week, however, I'm not having much success. The novel is vague about where the opening chapters take place and I thought I could improve the book by being specific and basing the action in southern New Jersey. As a result, I spent hours checking towns and routes from Cherry Hill and Camden to Philadelphia. But when I returned to the novel, I realized my efforts wouldn't work. What a waste of time!
And I keep finding more problems. It's a lot like whac-a-mole: Every time I fix one problem, another problem raises its ugly head.
* * *
First reread results - June 5, 2024
I've finished rereading the first draft of my dystopian thriller, The Resolve. Here are some of my conclusions:
* The manuscript is missing lots of information. Among other things, I need to add many minor characters' names, routes traveled, college buildings, and car models.
* There is too much repetition of small details, e.g. tying up characters' hands and feet, which I've started to eliminate.
* I have to decide how much technology and weaponry the good guys will have—and whether they'll use grenades or bombs (and then I have to research how they'll make them).
* Although I like the beginning and end of the novel, parts of the middle move too slowly so I've got to firm up the action.
My next step is to fill in the missing information and that means I have to make a list of characters and a timeline. That's a time-consuming task, but at least I'm moving forward.
* * *
The reread continues - May 30, 2024
I've reread up to Chapter 12, Part Two of the first draft of my dystopian thriller, The Resolve. Although the last few chapters were basically okay, I'm finding repetition in the way the good guys attack the villains. I need to find more creative methods of destruction.
On the positive side, this book has a couple of gritty women characters and I like the way I'm depicting them. However, I'm finding too many plot holes and missing details. After I finish this first reread, I have to make a timeline, list people's names, and concentrate on having the story make more sense.
This book is going to take lots of time to fix, but I think (and hope) it can be done.
* * *
Rereading review - May 24, 2024
I'm still rereading my dystopian thriller, The Resolve. So far, I've finished Part 1 and read nearly 8 chapters of Part 2.
Part 1 was okay (not great) because some of the action moved too slowly. In fact, Chapter 10 started with the words, "This is boring"—and I agreed. As a result, I deleted that entire scene.
On the positive side, I did like my villain's backstory, which is revealed in the early chapters of Part 2. But here too, some of the action is not exciting enough.
Of course, I still have to do research, add details everywhere, plus fix the timeline and flesh out the characters. But at least I'm slowly moving forward.
* * *
Early evaluation - May 18, 2024
I've finally finished writing the first draft of my dystopian thriller, The Resolve (including the epilogue), and have started rereading the manuscript. However, as I posted below, the book is very messy—containing plot holes, missing details, and needing research.
So far I've reread the first 8 chapters and here's what I think: I liked chapters 1 and 2; felt chapters 3-5 dragged, and thought chapters 6-8 were better. I'm not surprised that the manuscript is so inconsistent.
I'm noting the problems along the way and will make corrections and add missing information after I finish this first rereading round. That's when the real work will begin.
* * *
Drecky draft - May 12, 2024
The first draft of my dystopian thriller, The Resolve, is finally done (except for the epilogue, which shouldn't be lengthy). It's taken me a very long time to write this manuscript, which is in really bad shape. But the good news is that this is only the first draft so I can edit it and fill in the many missing details.
Unlike many authors, I don't enjoy doing research so I've avoided most of that work, preferring to forge forward with my writing rather than take the time to gather necessary information. I'll do the research after I've reread the first draft and addressed the many issues.
But at least I'm making progress and I can visualize The Resolve being published by the end of this year—fingers crossed.
* * *
Event evaluation - May 6, 2024
On Sunday, I participated in my first spring event with fellow author (and hubby) Larry Berliner. Although it was a cold and rainy day, we were indoors where, even with the heat on, it was cold.
Because it was a 2-day event and Larry and I were only there on Sunday, we had no say in where our table was placed. While all the other 12 or so vendors were situated around the periphery of the room, we were in the center. "Everyone will see you," said the organizer.
That was true. Everyone saw us, but many visitors avoided our table. I guess the thought of books can be pretty scary. Nevertheless, we had a good time and even sold some books. You can see the photos here.
* * *
Children's book business - April 30, 2024
In my last post on April 24, I wrote about the need to publish my long-planned fictional children's book about a flying car before those vehicles become a reality.
Soon after, I received an email about the "future of children's literature." According to this message, I can now "create high-quality children's books effortlessly," with a new gizmo called the A.I. Children's Book Maker, a "powerful web app" that uses "cutting-edge AI to write and illustrate stunning children's books in mere minutes." And here's the kicker: I "don't need any experience in writing or drawing."
So my years of procrastination about writing a children's book doesn't seem to matter. All I have to do is get this new A.I. tool and the work will be done. Isn't technology wonderful?
* * *
Fear of flying (cars) - April 24, 2024
I saw another article about the progress of flying cars, this one titled "Are Flying Cars Finally Here?" in The New Yorker. Stories like this make me nervous.
Why? Because I've written a fictional children's story about a flying car, one I dreamt about nearly twenty years ago. But during that time, I've concentrated on writing novels and short stories for teens and adults. I haven't moved forward with the flying car book.
Although flying cars don't yet exist, they will be here eventually, especially since, according to this article, 400+ companies are working on the technology. The article's author estimates the first flying car won't arrive for another 20 years. At least that gives me time to publish my book.
* * *
Nutty numbers - April 18, 2024
I've posted before about strange fluctuations in my TikTok views, but this week's numbers were really weird: Two videos were shown to 700-800 viewers, one reached just 50 viewers, and the others were in my "normal" 200-300 viewer range.
What makes the platform so impossible to figure out is the two videos that drew the large numbers of viewers aren't new; I've posted almost identical videos many times. One shows me holding books (the dystopian Touchers series, After the Bubbles & Soldier Girl) and the other video shows pages of my time-travel novel, The Disappearance being turned.
You can see all my BookTok videos here. If you have any answers to how TikTok works, please share them with me.
* * *
Review relish - April 12, 2024
A "fun, clever page-turner"
Those are the concluding words of a recent 5-star review about my monster fish thriller, Peachwood Lake.
As I've posted here numerous times, I find it wonderful to get positive feedback about books I've written. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen often. It's not that most readers don't enjoy my books; it's that very few readers take the time to write a review.
Reviews are so important, especially to indy authors like myself. Encouraging words like the ones above inspire me to keep on writing. So if you enjoy one of my books—or a book by another author—please write a short review on Amazon. It's incredibly helpful.
Here's more from the new Peachwood Lake review:
"Berliner’s characters are true and likable, even the creeps, and the pace of this enjoyable novel is just right. Sure, it’s hardly the first story you’ve heard about a killer in the water. But the villain of Peachwood Lake is all its own, as is this fun, clever page-turner."
TikTok talk - April 6, 2024
I'll never understand how TikTok works. I continue to post BookTok videos daily. Most of them promote my books, but I also include a smattering of fun, writing-related videos. No matter what I post, nearly all the videos get between 200 and 300 views.
However, last week, one video about my novel, The Disappearance—with text I've posted countess times—got 650+ views (and a good number of likes).
Why? Only TikTok knows. You can see my videos here.
* * *
Writers write - March 31, 2024
As I've posted numerous times, I'm trying to finish the first draft of my dystopian thriller, The Resolve. But starting this week, I'll also be working on a freelance educational project, which entails a totally different kind of creative writing.
However, both projects have one important thing in common: Each involves writing. Yes, my novel is a book geared for teens and adults, while the freelance project involves creating short, simple reading comprehension test passages and questions for Texas English Language Learners (ELL) students in grades 2-5. But both formats give me an opportunity to write.
And no matter the type of writing or the subject matter, a writer has to write.
* * *
Social media movements - March 25, 2024
It's amazing how little I know about social media. In my "TikTok for Authors" Facebook group, a woman this week posted tips for making videos more attractive to younger BookTok viewers. And since I write YA books, I'm always interested in attracting young readers. Her advice included adding two details I'd never heard of: the "millennial pause" and the "Gen Z shake."
After watching examples of these trendy movements, I was not impressed. The pause is a brief wait before a video starts to allow the poster to put down a phone, supposedly to show casualness. The shake involves a jolting motion at the beginning of the video, again to show it's not contrived.
Of course, both actions are completely contrived—things I would ever do—and the shaking is downright annoying. Also, the woman who posted this "helpful" information on Facebook isn't even an author; she's a PR person. Her viral videos are all about current events and social issues, not books.
* * *
Killing a character - March 19, 2024
I'm writing Chapter 22 of Part 2 of my dystopian thriller, The Resolve, and I continue to hope this will be the final chapter before the epilogue. That means I have to kill the villain.
But he's been elusive. Every time I think he's going to die, he somehow escapes. It's getting exasperating. As I've mentioned, I even wrote the final death scene—but I can't get to that point.
It's not as if this bad guy has many redeeming qualities: He purposely killed mostly everyone on Earth so I don't feel sorry for his eventual demise. I just want to get there.
* * *
Better blurbs - March 13, 2024
Last week, I attended a webinar on how to write better book blurbs. While I work hard on creating good descriptions for my novels and short stories, I know I can improve my blurbs—and sales.
Although my last two books (a memoir and short story collection) have atypical blurbs, The Resolve, which I expect to publish this year, is a more typical genre: dystopian thriller. Hopefully, this webinar's advice can help me optimize the book's description for the back cover as well as for Amazon ads. I'm going to try to incorporate the blurb recommendations as I continue to write the book.
According to the webinar presenter, I should work on the blurb, and keep revising it, before I finish the novel. In fact, the man mentioned one author who wrote the book description before even starting his thriller. His cover contained the following tagline: "Should he kill his wife to save his daughter?" The book was a major success.
* * *
Funky phone - March 7, 2024
Unlike my computer, which is always reliable, my iphone is funky: Suddenly, it will stop doing tasks it has performed in the past, probably because it's an old model (6S).
Recently, however, the phone is once again doing tasks it had stopped performing. Why? Who knows? I haven't changed or updated anything.
Here are some of these positive changes:
* TikTok - For about a year, my cellphone had stopped giving me "Insights" on how my videos were doing. Now, I'm getting that analysis again.
* TikTok to Facebook - For a similar period, the phone refused to connect my TikTok videos to Facebook, refusing to recognize my correct password. But when I tried again recently, the sign-in worked.
*Wordle - Again, for a long time, I couldn't do the Wordle puzzle on my iphone, but I tried again a few days ago—because of the above recent successes—and Wordle worked again. (For the first time, I got today's word in 1!)
I'm on a technology roll! I guess you can get an old phone to do its old tricks.
* * *
First draft blues - March 1, 2024
"I never reread a text until I have finished the first draft.
Otherwise it’s too discouraging."
—Gore Vidal
I thought I'd have finished the first draft of my dystopian thriller, The Resolve, by now. But I haven't. And when I'm finally done, I have so much more work to do, that the situation is, to use Gore Vidal's word, "discouraging."
However, unlike Vidal, I have reread some of the text along the way. I always do. I needed to drastically revise some of this book's beginning, which originally was going to be a post-coronavirus story. But that didn't work and I also had to rewrite some early scenes in Part Two.
Unfortunately, I've left so many important details out of this first draft that my first revision will take forever—and that's discouraging too. But I'd still like to get to that point.
* * *
Review of The Institute by Stephen King - February 24, 2024
First, I have to warn potential readers that this novel centers on child abuse. Kids with telekinetic or telepathic abilities are kidnapped and taken to the Institute—a quasi-governmental facility in the middle of nowhere in Maine.
The children imprisoned in the Institute are subjected to horrible experiments. They are drugged, exploited, and ultimately destroyed, all for supposedly the "good" of mankind. Luke, the 12-year-old hero, is a likeable genius and we root for him and the other trapped kids who become his friends.
Despite the depressing theme, this novel is a terrific read. The only thing I didn't like is the book's beginning. The first 40 pages are devoted to an important (but minor) character, who doesn't reenter the action again for about 300 pages. I would have preferred for the book to begin with Luke and for King to insert the secondary character's background story sometime later in the novel.
* * *
The dreaded apostrophe (for the last time) - February 18, 2024
Although I've blogged about misspelled headlines in February holiday ads for many years, this will be my final post on the subject. Why? I'll explain later.
But first, a short history (and grammar) lesson: When I was a child, we celebrated the birthdays of two presidents: George Washington's (February 22) and Abraham Lincoln's (February 12), with a school vacation day for each birthday. However, in 1971, to create 3-day weekends, the government established a new holiday on the third Monday of February to honor Washington and, in most states, Lincoln.
This redesigned February holiday is called "Presidents' Day," with the apostrophe signifying that we're celebrating more than one president (not President's Day, which would honor just one leader). It's also not "Presidents Day," because it's a "Day for Presidents," which requires the possessive apostrophe.
For many years, retailers and car dealers ran newspaper ads promoting their holiday sales and a majority of the ads contained misspellings. But now, there are barely any ads in newspapers—and I read two New York City dailies. In fact, this Saturday's 20-page main section of the New York Times had just two tiny ads.
So it's not that advertisers are getting this apostrophe right, it's that they're not running newspaper ads. However, I did find one print misspelling: "President's Sales Event All Month Long!" by Nissan of the Bronx.
Online ads are another story since many web advertisers don't seem to care about punctuation. For example, Macy's and MattressFirm are both having a "President's Day Sale."
But my favorite 2024 online ad is by La-Z-Boy. A Google search turned up a "President's Day Sale" and when I clicked to the site, it boasted a "Presidents Day Sale." La-Z-Boy managed to spell the name of the holiday wrong twice!
* * *
Crawling to the finish line - February 12, 2024
I'm coming to the end of the first draft of The Resolve, the dystopian thriller I've been writing for more than a year. At least, I think I'm nearly there. For some reason, Part Two of this book has been a struggle and when I finally finish this draft, I've still got tons of work to do.
But today I wrote a scene I really like and that gives me hope. Also, when I get closer, I've already written two scenes involving the bad guys. Of course, I have to get to that point. And then I have to write an epilogue to tie up any loose story lines.
I can't wait to get there!
* * *
Bookless in Queens - February 6, 2024
Each February, I participate in a Military Bridge card game with long-time friends and about thirty other people in Queens, New York. And every year (except for the pandemic period), I sign my newest book for Harriet, one of the participants.
Here's a photo of the two of us in 2023 when I signed two books because of the pandemic break:
Last week before the game, Harriet rushed over to me, smiling and asking for my latest book.
"I don't have anything for you," I said.
"Oh," she said unhappily, putting her wallet back into her bag. "I was looking forward to reading your new book."
That experience (plus today's Facebook memory of a picture of me with Harriet taken seven years ago) was a reminder of how slowly I'm moving forward with my dystopian thriller, The Resolve, which I'd hoped to publish in 2023. But I still haven't even finished the first draft. I'm now trying to write more each day, two scenes instead of one.
I'd like to have a book for Harriet to read by next February.
***
TikTok trend - January 31, 2024
I belong to a Facebook group called TikTok for Authors, which sometimes gives me video ideas for that perplexing platform. Recently, a young British fantasy writer posted about one of her videos going viral and since it was a simple idea (and a simple video), I decided to copy the idea.
The author's short video shows her sitting in front of a computer, a puzzled look of her face, and text that reads: "When you're editing and get to a character you don't remember." As of this writing, that video has 292,000 views and 23,000 likes.
A few days ago, I posted a video of me sitting in front of my computer, a puzzled look on my face, and text that reads: "When I sit down to write, but my characters don't talk to me..." Thus far, my video has garnered 320 views and 32 likes.
I've made another video like the one above, which I'll post this weekend. Maybe it will generate more views.
Although the author with the viral video said her book sales haven't increased, I'd still like to get 200,000+ views. It can't hurt.
You can see my TikTok videos here.
* * *
Review request - January 25, 2024
I received a message today from a company offering to find readers to review my books—for a price, of course. But that's not something I want to do. Firstly, I don't sell enough books to afford this service and, secondly, I dislike the idea of paying people (even indirectly) to review my books.
However, book reviews are important, especially to indie authors. You'd be amazed at how much a few kind words on Amazon help writers like myself. So I'm making a request: If you've read and enjoyed any of my thrillers or short stories—or if you've loved another indie author's works—please take a few minutes to post a short Amazon review. It really does generate sales.
Thanks in advance!
* * *
Resourceful characters - January 19, 2024
I'm crawling to the end of the first draft of my dystopian thriller, The Resolve, and a few days ago, one of my characters said she had a plan to distract the villains. The trouble, however, was that I had no idea what her plan was.
This happens to me sometimes when I write: My characters know more about what's going to happen in the story than I do. Yesterday, although I still didn't know the mysterious plan, I was able to write another scene.
But today, I needed to write the scene with the plan I didn't know. I sat down at the computer, started typing, and voilà: My character set up her plan—and it was pretty good.
Thank goodness for my resourceful—and clever—characters!
* * *
College mixer - January 13, 2024
The second part of my dystopian thriller, The Resolve, mostly takes place on a Utah college campus. To make the book more realistic, I like the idea of using an existing school for the setting. However, as I write, I'm finding that plan too limiting.
As a result, I thought about shifting gears: Maybe I should create a mythical Utah college for the book. Such a plan would give me total flexibility to have a college fit the needs of my plot. But I like the authenticity of working with a real school much better.
My latest thought is a compromise. I'll use the name of the real college and the names of many of its buildings, but fictionalize everything else about the campus: a mix and match of reality and fiction. I'm hoping this approach will solve my problem.
* * *
Out of order - January 7, 2024
I'm getting near the end of the first draft of my dystopian thriller, The Resolve. At least, I hope this is true since I've written 54,000 words (many of them not very good).
But in the last few weeks, in addition to writing scenes in normal plot progression, I've written two scenes out of order, both at the conclusion of the novel. The last time I remember working out of order was more than ten years ago with my second novel, Peachwood Lake, when I suffered from writer's block.
The two scenes for The Resolve both involve confrontations with the book's villains. Both times, I thought of the dialogue quickly and rushed to the computer to transcribe the characters' words and actions.
Now to finish the first draft, I just have to write everything leading up to these final scenes. I'm hopeful I can reach this point by February. Fingers are crossed.
* * *
Writing resolutions - January 1, 2024
I'm continuing my tradition of posting writing resolutions that I hope to accomplish each year. My thoughts for 2024 are similar to last year's:
* I resolve to finish writing my dystopian thriller, The Resolve. Although I resolved to finish this book last year, it's been a slow process.
The good news is that I'm nearly finished with the first draft. The bad news is even after I finish it, I still have loads to do, including extensive research that I've been putting off. Lately, I've been working backwards—writing scenes at the end of the book. Now I just have to work my way forward to that point.
* I resolve to finally finish my children's picture book. I've had the idea of a flying car in my head since I dreamt about the story more than 10 years ago. However, I've read that flying cars will be a reality in a few years, so if I don't complete this picture book soon, it will no longer be fiction.
I hope to have different resolutions for 2025. Meanwhile: Happy New Year everyone!
* * *
