Suzanne Berget's Blog, page 2

A long overdue update

So, I haven’t really written an update on this blog since September all the way back in 2023 (the book review in November doesn’t really count). Motivation has been lacking to be honest, but I’ve also been VERY busy! In October I was in Japan, which was amazing, November and December were just whack due to me working in a bookstore and getting sick, and I’ve spent January writing on the sequel to Let Slip the Beasts.

A little snippet from the sequel.

It’s coming along nicely! The first draft is currently sitting pretty at 50k words and is about two-thirds done. The story is definitely taking some unexpected turns, and I’m so excited about it. If you want to know more, check out my guest appeareance on the Page Turnerz podcast, where I talk about writing in general and writing the sequel.

I’ve also received my first quarterly report…but no royalties yet, which is kinda disappointing. I’ll hopefully get there eventually. The quarterly report covered June to September and in that period I sold a total of 48 books.

I still haven’t gotten a physical paperback release, or even an ETA for a physical release, which is quite annoying as I want to plan a proper launch party and stuff like that. But I have received several ratings and reviews on Goodreads since the last update AND my book was nominated in 5 categories in the 2023 Queer Indie Awards! In addition, another author wrote a fantastic review of Let Slip the Beasts, mentioning it in the same breath as The Island of Dr. Moreau and Bladerunner – which is absolutely wild to me! Reader, I might have cried a little…

Oh, and I’ve also joined a review tour thingy called Indie Visible Tours, so going forward I’ll be reading and reviewing a lot more indie books. Fun times ahead

If you’re curious about which books I read last year check out this Insta post!

The post A long overdue update appeared first on Suzanne Berget.

Cinnabar One – en litt lang omtale

Jeg leste en himla god anmeldelse av Cinnabar One på Nye Nova og ble inspirert til å plukke den opp selv. Det er ikke hver dag det blir gitt ut ordentlig hard scifi på norsk, så jeg ble ordentlig gira på å gi meg i kast med den. Så gira at jeg tok den med meg til Japan og leste den på flyturen bort og hjem igjen.

(Boka er ikke på Goodreads eller Storygraph, derfor må jeg anmelde den på gamlemåten, nemlig på bloggen min)

Som Cato Pelligrini sier i Nye Nova, Det er ikke hverdagskost at norske fabelprosa-forfattere skriver slike romaner. Dette er en roman som foregår over et langt tidsrom og på flere planeter – Jorda, Mars og den fremmede planeten Aldanrey, som for de fleste, meg inkludert, er den mest interessante. I tillegg blir vi introdusert for det vidunderlige romskipet Cinnabar One, som har så mange finurlige løsninger på de mest komplekse problemer at det nesten virker som en magisk deus ex machina, men som godeste Arthur C. Clarke en gang sa “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”

Jeg skal ikke gå så nøye inn på selve historien for å unngå spoilere, og Nye Nova har allerede skrevet en veldig god oppsummering, men jeg kan si at den er spennende, har godt driv, en god del action og føles på mange måter som en Roland Emmerich-film a la Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow og Moonfall. Teknologien og vitenskapen i Cinnabar One virker troverdig, og det er tydelig at forfatteren har mye kunnskap/har gjort mye research.

Og det er her problemene starter.

Det ligger mye planlegging og tenking og research bak Cinnabar One, og forfatteren lar ikke sjansen gå fra seg til å forklare ting ned til minste detalj. Men måten det blir gjort på gjør det tydelig at han ikke stoler på at leseren kan finne ut av ting på egen hånd. Alle spørsmål blir besvart med en gang og ingenting blir overlatt til fantasien. 

Denne overforklaringen skjer gjerne via fotnoter(!), som i seg selv er en uting for det får meg til å tenke på sakprosa og da blir lesing et ork, men det tar meg også ut av fortellingen fordi forfatteren plutselig er så tilstede. Det er et narrativt grep som virkelig ikke funker for meg. I tillegg er nesten alle fotnotene unødvendige for begrepet de forklarer blir enten aldri brukt igjen (som ly-gen og kaleri. Skjønner jeg at dette er en måleenhet for tid/avstand utifra kontekst? Ja. Trenger jeg å vite nøyaktig hvor langt det er? Nei, for det har null å si for historien) eller så blir det forklart i selve teksten en halv side seinere. Ikke bare tar dette opp undøvendig mye plass og øker sideantallet, men jeg får også det inntrykket at forfatteren tror jeg er dum. Dette er en major pet peeve, som det heter på godt norsk.

Så er det språket, da.

Boka har stort sett fått gode tilbakemeldinger, og det bemerkes at den er godt skrevet og at Bergfjord har en solid språkbeherskelse. Og det er her jeg må stille spørsmålet: Har vi lest samme bok?

Ja, jeg er kanskje en strengere leser enn de fleste og sliter litt med å skru av redaktørblikket. Og ja, siden jeg nettopp har vært gjennom den samme prosessen selv, har jeg nok lettere for å plukke opp på ting andre ikke nødvendigvis tenker over. Men! Jeg ignorerer det lett hvis det bare er snakk om en håndfull skriveleifer. Jeg har serr aldri lest en eneste bok, selv ikke fra de største utgiverne, som ikke har en skrivefeil eller fem. Dette er helt normalt. Men da jeg leste Cinnabar One la jeg merke til stadig flere feil som burde vært luket ut lenge før boka gikk i trykken.

Behold!

Her har jeg fargekodet alt grumset jeg har funnet, og som du kan se så er det en del! 

Oransje post-its markerer det jeg nevnte tidligere, nemlig (for meg) helt unødvendige fotnoter. Dette er jo ikke en “feil” i seg selv, mer en personlig preferanse. Men jeg ser ikke poenget med å ha en fotnote, når begrepet blir forklart hvis man bare leser et par sider til. Det føles som om jeg blir slått over hodet gjentatte ganger med all denne informasjonen.

Gule post-its markerer steder hvor det er ugrammatisk endring i tid, altså fra presens til preteritum, hvor det ikke skal være det. Dette er rett og slett bare slurv og burde vært luket ut under redigeringsarbeidet.

Rosa post-its markerer steder hvor det er såkalt hode-hopping, altså at synsvinkelen bytter midt i et avsnitt eller lignende. Man starter gjerne kapittelet med å følge en spesifikk karakter, være inni hodet hens og se ut gjennom øynene hens, men så plutselig skifter det til en annen karakter og det blir plutselig vanskelig å vite hvem vi faktisk følger. Det kan hende at forfatteren har prøvd seg på en autoral fortellerstemme med allvitende synsvinkel a la de gamle klassikerne – det ville forklart fotnotene og hvem som skriver dem – men utførelsen er i så fall uklar og forvirrende. F.eks. vi får en 4-5 sider med bakgrunnshistorien til en karakter som heter Wivildian og man får inntrykk av at det er hun som er synsvinkelkarakteren i dette kapittelet, og så plutselig er vi i hodet til Yttel og får vite hva han tenker om Wivildian. Man får litt whiplash til tider, for å si det mildt.

Lilla post-its er straight up helt standard feil – skriveleifer, manglende ord, mindre grammatiske feil, formateringsfeil etc. Alle bøker har noen av disse.

Blå er enda en pet peeve, nemlig overflødige ord og uttrykk. F.eks, en elv av vann. Men den personlige preferansen var ikke så viktig sammenlignet med alt det andre, tbh.

Alt dette er jo så klart ikke utelukkende på forfatterens kappe. Dette er feil som burde vært plukket opp av redaktør, språkvasker og korrekturleser – i det aller minste av en beta-leser, men her har det vært slurv i alle ledd. Og det er synd, for jeg hadde veldig lyst til å like denne boka! Historien er god den, men alle de språklige skavankene og det mangelfulle redigeringsarbeidet ødelegger leseopplevelsen min noe himla. Som historieforteller har Bergfjord helt klart talent, som forfatter har han et stykke igjen å gå (men dette er debuten hans så det er å forvente), men som produkt synes jeg rett og slett boka er upolert og uferdig. Cinnabar One har definitivt potensiale, men den kunne trengt 2-3 runder til med redigering.

Score: 2/5

The post Cinnabar One – en litt lang omtale appeared first on Suzanne Berget.

A win, a gift, a trip

My book is now three months old! Man, they grow up so fast, don’t they? In the past month my little darling has actually won a contest! What??! It’s soo cool. I entered my baby into the Author Shout Cover Wars and she won! I got a cool little badge and everything The week after, another CBG author, Jordan Turbeville, won the Cover Wars with her book All is Fair. Go check it out!

The win won me a week of promo through Author Shout, which is always nice. They have a lot of followers and I hope some of that exposure will translate into sales. Speaking of sales, I’m impatiently awaiting some sort of quarterly report from Champagne Book Group. I still have no idea how my book is doing, but I’m pretty sure I’ve sold at least twenty. That’s good, right?

In addition to winning the Cover Wars I’ve also been interviewed by Adam Gaffen over at Cassidy Chronicles!

In even cooler news, someone sent me MOTHERFUCKING FAN ART!?!?!ASDGAFDSGFSGFDASGFDHG

LOOK AT IT!!! I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!!

Oh, and in less than a week I’ll be going to JAPAAAAAAAAAAAAN! Me and my goblin in crime are finally going on our honeymoon. SO HYYYYYYYYPED!

[image error]

The post A win, a gift, a trip appeared first on Suzanne Berget.

A much needed break

My book has been out in the world for a little over two months now and currently has 4 ratings on Amazon (buuuu), 18 ratings on Goodreads (yay) and even one rating on Storygraph (what)! That’s twice as much as last month, but still not great. But, this is a marathon, not a sprint, and those numbers don’t really tell me how well the book is actually doing. I’ll hopefully receive my quarterly report from Champagne Book Group soon, and then I’ll have a clearer picture of sales numbers and such.

In those two months that my book has been out I have been on a writing break and not written a single word. I honestly have not been motivated to and I might have been wallowing in self-pity for a little while. What’s the point in continuing Kallie’s store if no one’s going to read it, right?

So, I’ve been focusing on other hobbies, reading a lot more and getting back into drawing. I made a character portrait of Ash that I think turned out pretty good and I’m redoing an old one of Buck that I was never really quite satisfied with. Next up is probably some more of the folks from the VyroGen crew. It’s been great doing something else completely and it feels awesome to finish a project in just hours and days, instead of months and even years. This break has been good for me and I feel ready to write again

Look at my girl Ash, isn’t she awesome!

In other news, Bok365 featured a story about me, which was cool, my book has been featured on QueerScifi and AwesomeGang, I’ve gotten a few reviews through Instagram and Siri Pettersen, yes THAT Siri Pettersen, had some really nice things to say about Let Slip the Beasts!

Oh, and we went to see the Barbie movie and it was AMAZING! I can’t wait to see it again!! And my outfit was so ADORABLE! I’m entering my Barbie era for real. Pink everything!

The post A much needed break appeared first on Suzanne Berget.

Has it been a month already?

So, Let Slip the Beasts has been out in the world for a little over a month. In that time she has gotten 9 ratings and 7 reviews on Goodreads and 2 reviews on Amazon, which isn’t all that impressive. But I have to remind myself that this is a marathon and not a sprint. It’s going to take a while before the book gets proper traction.

In more positive news, my hometown newspaper, Lillesands-Posten, has written a really nice article about me. I’ll also be making an appearance in an industry magazine for booksellers and publishers. And a Norwegian SFF magazine has agreed to review my book. Let’s hope they like it! And and and I womaned up and reached out to a famous Norwegian SFF author to ask if I could send them a free reader’s copy of my book, only to find out they had already bought it!! So that’s pretty dope.

When I haven’t been doing book stuff I’ve been enjoying the summer, read some good books, seen Fattern live for the second time, celebrated Pride by going in the parade for the first time, had some great date nights with my goblin in crime, been to a great wedding and celebrated our second wedding anniversary.

We’ve also been playing way too much Tears of the Kingdom – which is actually my very first Zelda game! I’m really enjoying it, tho there’s so much stuff I have to learn and figure out as I play. I love that there are so many ways to solve the different puzzles and shrines.

Next up is the Barbie movie, which I’m really looking forward to. We’re seeing it on Friday and I have the perfect outfit picked out.

P.s. The trailer for the second season of Wheel of Time dropped today and I cannot fucking wait!!!

The post Has it been a month already? appeared first on Suzanne Berget.

She’s heeeeeeeeere!

It’s official! Let Slip the Beasts is finally out in the world and ready to be read by strangers. I’m feeling a lot of dreadticipation, as we say in Norway, at how my little baby goblin will be received. Of course, I hope everyone will love this book as much as I do, but I know it’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. And there’s nothing I can do about that. All I can do is have the whisky ready when I read the reviews.

But it’s so weird to be done with this thing I’ve been working on for so long. I’m like “now what?” Now, I’m going to enjoy the summer and Pride and just have a great time and be happy knowing that I Did the Thing! I’m a published author!! It’s so WILD!!! Man, my teenage self would fucking die if she knew this would happen.

And when the weather cools down I’ll plant my ass back in my favorite chair and continue on book two. Reader, you have no idea what you’re in store for. For real.

Oh, before I forget! You can buy Let Slip the Beasts directly from the publisher Champagne Book Group, or from Amazon, Kobo and Barnes & Noble! How fucking cool is that?! And if you do buy it, it would be real fucking cool if you left a review on Goodreads or Storygraph.

Holy release date, Batman!

You know when somethings seems to take a really long time and seems so far away and then suddenly everything is happening all at once? Yeah, so, my book is apparently being released in a week! That’s just 7 days, folks! WHAT?! It’s too soon, man. I’m not prepared for this at all. And the book is up on the Champagne Book Group site with a little countdown timer and everything. And you can pre-order it! RIGHT THIS MINUTE!! Check this link out The book, as I think I’ve mentioned before, will be published as an e-book first for a pretty nice price, and then I will hopefully get a physical copy in about 6 months time (but please support me by buying the ebook version even though you prefer physical copies…maybe you’ll get a cool little treat if you by both, who knows?).

Oh, and here is the new cover, designed by the talented Sevannah Storm. Pretty cool, right?

Odd has also been making a bunch of memes that I will be using for marketing purposes. If these don’t get you hyped for the book, I don’t know what will…

O frabjous day! Callooh! Galley!

Due to circumstances beyond my control my book did obviously not come out at the end of May. If it had there would have been a lot more activity around here, I can tell you that! But, I have received the galley of my book, which is the almost finished version of it, with some front and back matter – dedications, acknowledgements, about the author – and it looks almost done. It even has a COVER!!!! I’ll reveal the cover soon, don’t worry! There is just a little more work remaining and that consists of me going through the book one last time with a fine-toothed comb looking for misspellings and other errors and reporting them in an errata sheet. I’m so close to the finish line I can taste it!

I can’t wait to be done with the part of publishing a book and get back to the fun bits, which is writing. I’m about two chapters away from being done with my horror novel, and I think I’m around halfway done with the sequel to Let Slip the Beasts! Let Slip the Beasts is really cool, but the sequel is going to be even cooler and I’m so damn excited to return to it.

Oh, and I did an interview with two authors from Champagne Book group about my book, my inspirations and aspirations, video games and comic books! You can check it out here.

Hopefully I have even more exciting news soon. Byeeeeeee!

Things are finally hampening!!!

In my last blog post I listed the potential reasons for the copy edits taking so long…turns out it was a combination of 1 AND 2 – a lot of mistakes AND the copy editor having a lot on their plate (possibly due to the amount of mistakes in my book). I received the copy-edited manuscript on Tuesday, but didn’t open it until Wednesday and when I did…hooo boiii, I almost had my hair blown backwards, as we say here in Norway.

1785 revisions. 1785!!!! And I have to go through every single one by the coming Wednesday. In addition, I have to deal with a lot of repeated words, too many sentences starting with either a pronoun or a name (but that’s what you get when you take away all my gerunds, adverbs, fragments and filler words…Ma’am, those were my emotional support filler words!) AND the ending needs a teensy weensy bit of work.

After going through a lot of the revisions I’m pretty sure I don’t know how to write. Like at all. What even is a sentence? How do I word??

Help

Oh, and apparently the scheduled release date for the book is end of May! Just a little over a month!! I am officially entering panic mode!!!

In other news, I think I’m nearing the end of my horror novel, and I finally got to read Laline Paull’s new book Pod and it was AMAZING. Maybe I’ll write a review some time. It sure as fuck won’t be now. But go check it out, and her first book The Bees, which is my all-time favourite book of all time.

Byeeeeeeee!