The Illustrator feature

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#Horror

An illustrator is hired by publisher to produce artwork for new novel whose author is New England recluse. As more artwork is created, he begins to realize his own reality is altering in unpleasant ways.

Awards

Approved
Winner Draft #1

Summary

2 Reviews | 95 pages | 4 years ago | Draft 1
Nick is an artist of superb ability and he has been convinced by his best friend, Adam, to illustrate the latter's new book. The duo schedules a meeting with a publisher who has seen specs from the pair, but on the day of the meeting, Adam's a no-show. In the hopes to save the situation, Nick attends the meeting anyway. The publisher informs him that they are not impressed with Adam's project, but that they are very interested in Nick's art. Making him an offer to illustrate a brand new novel by best-selling author Jared Covey, Nick hesitantly agrees.

Nick and Adam have a bit of a falling out, but the latter eventually comes to accept his failings. In the meantime, Nick begins reading "The Night of Chills," which he readily admits is not particularly well-written. However, this does not seem to halt the growing sense of dread that he begins to experience as every day goes by while immersing himself in this manuscript. In fact, it becomes so terrifying that he cannot seem to tell the difference between fiction and reality.

Will he complete the illustrations for the novel? Or will the novel kill him first?

Industry Reviews


Two aspects give The Illustrator potential for future recommendation: The occult, and the ménage à trois of the characters Nick, Adam and Staci. But instead of exploiting these themes and weaving them into something engrossing to the story, the writer remains stuck in unnecessary, repetitious dialogue and scenes that do not go anywhere in particular. This leads into a climax that, while well-written, is poorly executed due to the lack of characte...

Peer Reviews

First let me say that I am a horror fan for a very very long time. I like the premise and the story. Take a pass for editing one more time because it needs a tiny revision because you have Nick passing the videos to Nick, it should be the video guy passing the videos to Nick. Editing sucks of course and it's my own personal challenge I hate doing too; I think we all do.
As to the ending I would end it at the first scenario that happens and cut...

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