Plan B by Patricia Bradley

Writers have complete control of their stories. Right?

If you answered yes, then you’ve never had a character refuse to cooperate, or a story you have plotted out (Justice Buried) take a detour. Most of the time when this happens, I go with the flow, but with the plotted out story, I had a potential disaster on my hands. You see, I kind of left heroine Andi Hollister hanging in the first book of my cold case novels, Justice Delayed.

She had a problem with pain medication and at the end of that first book I gave her a superficial recovery. I planned to further address her addiction to pain pills in Justice Buried (which releases September 5, 2017), with a subplot. But that’s when things went awry.

The heroine and the storyline of Justice Buried didn’t cooperate. I did make a few references to Andi in the story, but I never could work it around to flesh out her story. And it kept bugging me.

And in case you’ve ever wondered how writers decide what they’ll write next, an unfinished storyline might be an influence. When Jan Thompson asked if I wanted to be a part of The Kill Zone: Ten Deadly Thrillers anthology, I quickly said yes! Writing the novella turned out to be the perfect answer.

Writing Andi’s story in the novella also freed me to write the third book in the Memphis Cold Case Novels without trying once again to work Andi’s subplot into that book.

And most people think writing is easy.  

Which brings me to the second part of my post. Why didn’t I finish Andi’s story in the first place? Because life happened.

Andi’s story, Justice Delayed, was due in November. I was working diligently toward that deadline when my nephew had to be airlifted to Memphis. I spent the next month off and on at the hospital with him and my sister. A lot of authors can write through difficult situations, but I’m not one of them. Not in the creative phase of writing, anyway. Editing, yes.

When my wonderful editor offered an extension, I gratefully accepted. My nephew remained critically ill in the hospital until a month after I turned the book in, so it was still difficult to focus. I spent a lot of time on my knees (figuratively since I have bad knees) praying for him and writing Justice Delayed, asking God for the next sentence, next paragraph, next page. I honestly don't know how any author writes without God’s help. I turned Justice Delayed in at midnight the day it was due, knowing it wasn’t quite finished.

With Revenge, Andi’s story is now complete, and you can read it in The Kill Zone: Ten Deadly Thrillers when it releases October 3, 2017. Later it will be available as a stand-alone story on Amazon.

And now you’ve had a peek into this writer’s life. I’d like to say Justice Buried went off without a hitch, but of course it didn't. Life happened again, and my nephew ended up in Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis where he coded three times before finally turning the corner. But that’s a story for another time. I will say he is home now and improving every day.

Have you ever experienced a time when the story wouldn't come the way you anticipated? What did you do about it?

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I love connecting with readers on my blog every Tuesday where I have a Mystery Question for them to solve: www.patriciabradleyauthor.com/blog

Twitter: @ptbradley1

FaceBook: www.facebook.com/patriciabradleyauthor

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Winner of the 2016 Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award in Suspense, Patricia Bradley lives in North Mississippi with her rescue kitty, Suzy. Her romantic suspense books include the Logan Point series and the Memphis Cold Case Novels. She also has written sweet romances for Harlequin Heartwarming available as ebooks. 

Giving Our Characters Our Hobbies by Patricia Bradley

After I read Shadows of the Past and learned that the author's hobby was pottery, I asked Patricia Bradley to share about adding personal hobbies to our stories. -- Sandy

Patricia: He has filled them with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, or by a weaver—by any sort of workman or skilled designer. Exodus 35:35 ESV

Thirteen years ago I had a character for a book, but I didn’t want her to have the same old-same old occupation. When I closed my eyes and brought her to mind, I saw her sitting at a potter’s wheel, outside under a spreading Oak. Occasionally, she would look up from her work and gaze in the distance. That was in January 2001.

I loved it! But there was a problem. I didn’t have the first clue how to use a wheel or clay. In fact when I was in the seventh grade my art teacher brought her wheel to class one day. After I had my try, she shook her head and said, “You’ll never be a potter. Get up and let someone else try.”

In May of 2001, I went to a Women’s Conference and one of the sessions featured a potter. After an awesome presentation, I asked where she learned to use a wheel, and she gave me the name of her instructor. I called him and signed up. And became this great potter.

No. The instructor did say he’d never seen a person so determined to learn how to throw on a wheel. That’s the way potters talk about working on the wheel. Throwing. You see, you take a ball of clay and throw it on the wheel then try to keep it there while the wheel is spinning 90 to nothing.

*Sigh*

But I was determined. I bought a wheel, clay, even a kiln. And sat down and practiced. And practiced. Remember the throwing bit? I occasionally threw the clay…out the door. But I kept at it. I think that’s the secret whether it’s writing or pottery or anything you want to get good at. About that time, I began working in the abstinence program in Mississippi, and I used the wheel and clay to show how to build a good foundation for your life and how to reclaim your character when you didn’t build that foundation.

It was seven years before I wrote the book that had a potter in it. In that time, I became quite accomplished at making vases, bowls, and mugs. I even began fashioning jewelry from my porcelain clay. While I don’t have time right now to play in the mud, I am itching to get back to it. But first, I have a third book in the Logan Point series to write. And guess what? My subplot character is a potter…creating beautiful things on the wheel is how she regains sight of who God created her to be.

Have you had an experience similar to Patricia's? Has your character inspired a personal hobby or have you given your hobby to a character?

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Patricia Bradley lives in North Mississippi and is a former abstinence educator and co-author of RISE To Your Dreams, an abstinence curriculum. But her heart is tuned to suspense. Patricia’s mini-mysteries have been published in Woman’s World, and her debut novel, Shadows of the Past, is the first of three set in Mississippi and will release February 4, 2014. She presents workshops, her most recent is Writing 50,000 words in 30 days, at the Midsouth Christian Writer’s Conference in Collierville, TN on March 8, 2014. Her tag line on everything is: I asked God to teach me patience and He gave me a book to write. And when she’s not writing, she likes to throw mud on a wheel and see what happens.

Back cover copy:

Psychology professor and criminal profiler Taylor Martin prides herself on being able to solve any

crime, except the one she wants most desperately to solve—the disappearance of her father twenty years ago. When she finally has a lead on his whereabouts, Taylor returns home to Logan Point, Mississippi, to investigate. But as she is stalking the truth about the past, someone is stalking her.

Nick Sinclair pens mystery novels for a living, but the biggest mystery to him is how he can ever get over the death of his wife—a tragedy he believes he could have prevented. With his estranged brother the only family he has left, Nick sets out to find him. But when he crosses paths with Taylor, all he seems to find is trouble.

Connect with Patricia Bradley at:

www.patriciabradleyauthor.com
www.facebook.com/patriciabradleyauthor
https://twitter.com/PTBradley1

Links to buy book:

Available at CBD: http://ow.ly/qIx2k and Amazon: http://ow.ly/qIx90 and B&N:

http://ow.ly/qKdSL