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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.
Cover concerns (continued) - January 17, 2025
I'm back to square one with the cover for my young adult post-apocalyptic survival thriller, The Resolve. Why? After seeing the first four designs--which incorporated most of my suggestions--I studied the covers for a long time to figure out why I wasn't more excited about the art.
Here's what I finally realized: The covers were not what I had asked for. The artist was producing covers featuring realistic people and backgrounds, while I wanted a simple cover with a hazy background. In the forefront I just wanted a menacing man holding a weapon.
I conveyed this information (with an apology about switching direction) to my liaison before the artist created the next cover, although I had asked for this stylized approach originally. Nevertheless, Cover #5 shows a small figure of a non-menacing man standing in front of a realistic-looking backdrop. The only thing I like about this cover is the large red title and my name.
So I repeated my instructions and hope for better results with Cover #6. As I mentioned before, the artist will keep generating covers until I'm satisfied. Unfortunately, it seems like that won't happen for a long time.
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Cover concern - January 11, 2025
After nearly a month of waiting to see the first cover for The Resolve, my YA post-apocalyptic survival thriller, I finally received the artwork last week.
The company had sent me the cover in mid-December, but I never got it—and my contact person never notified me that it was sent. Since I assumed the holidays had delayed the artwork, I didn't check with him until early January.
This cover wasn't worth the wait. I asked for a bold red title and an ominous-looking villain. I got an all-orange cover, with illegible type and a figure who looks more like a hero than a villain.
It's unfortunate because I was hoping the artist would do a better job. But this company has many artists. The cover for my last book was almost finished after one try; this cover will probably take much longer.
The good news is that this artist will keep producing covers until I'm satisfied and since I'm still proofing and editing the manuscript, I'm not ready yet to move forward.
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More plot plotzing - January 4, 2025
Each time I think The Resolve, my YA post-apocalyptic thriller, is finished, I find new plot issues to fix. Some are minor tweaks, others are story improvements, and a few are sneaky mistakes.
Here are several examples:
* Since this book is a thriller, my teen protagonists have to extricate themselves from many dangerous situations. At one critical time, however, I didn't like the way I handled an escape, so I rewrote it with a more suitable character initiating the action.
* Although I'm basically a pacifist, many guns are fired in The Resolve. I changed (and improved) the way one minor character gets a weapon.
* I realized my protagonists tied a character's hands and feet—before removing his shirt and pants.
When I reread this book again (hopefully for the last time before it's formatted), I want to fix just little things like commas, repeated words, and synonyms. That's when it really will be finished.
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