Q&A with The Program Author Suzanne Young: Part 2

Here’s part 2 of our exclusive Q&A with The Program author Suzanne Young.

Most authors have very little say in the covers of their book. But you had a concept in mind for the cover of THE PROGRAM early on. Tell us how you were able to work with your publisher to bring that to life. 

I knew THE PROGRAM would be a difficult cover concept because it has several themes, but I really wanted it to show the isolation of depression and the foreboding of The Program. So I thought about a long white hallway with a shot of a girl, staring down the hall. I’d tried to draw the concept several times, but it was ridiculous. Then on a trip to the Shasta Dam in California, we walked down the longest hallway in the country. We immediately snuck away from the group and had my then eight-year-old pose. I sent it to my editor at Simon Pulse and the reaction was immediately positive. I love both the jacket cover and the case cover of THE PROGRAM.

You’re one of the most prolific writers I know. It seems you’re always working on ten different story ideas at once. What are you working on right now? And … do you ever sleep?

I have a teen romance coming from Simon Pulse next year that I’m plotting, but mostly I’m looking toward my next series. I have three possible projects that I sort of flip between—but none fleshed out enough to summarize. Basically, a horror, a contemporary, and one about parallel worlds.

Sleep? I’m not familiar with this word.

Speaking of your other projects – I’m super excited to check out A DESIRE SO DEADLY, a novella in your A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL series coming out this summer. Tell us a bit about the story and how it came about!

A Desire so Deadly is about eighteen-year-old Claire Becks who is living a seemingly charmed life in California. When a new girl, Lucy, moves to town, strange things begin to happen. The appearance of Harlin further complicates the situation, and Claire is soon torn between the normal life she knows and the past that’s slowly coming back to haunt her. With the Shadows corrupting everything around her, Claire will have to make a choice—or destroy the one person she loves most.

Desire is a continuation of the A Need so Beautiful series, and I wanted to write another because I wasn’t done with Harlin yet. I felt like he still needed some closure, and luckily Desire gave me that opportunity.