NK Chats To… Jaime P. Bradley
Hi Jaime. Thank you so much for joining me today and for inviting Novel Kicks onto the blog tour for Reasons To Act. Can you tell us a bit about it?
Reasons to Act is the third novel in my 3000 Reasons series. It’s about Olivia, a Marine who is unexpectedly made the military consultant on the set of an action movie starring Chris Blackstone, who has private reasons for needing the movie to be a success and doesn’t trust a newbie like Olivia on his set. They butt heads immediately, but of course sparks also fly. Ultimately, this story is a romance but it’s also about acceptance and respect. (Think the movie Fall Guy meets The Hating Game)
What are the challenges of writing a book within an established series? What’s been the best part?
Reasons to Act is actually a great example of the challenge of a series because it wasn’t supposed to exist, but then this fierce character Olivia came along as I was writing Reasons to Risk and she wouldn’t leave me alone. After I accepted that I’d have to give her a story, it was supposed to be an offshoot novella, but I found in the writing process that I needed more space to do them justice, so it became a novel. It’s difficult to be flexible, but I think it’s most important to give the characters their due and make the romance believable, even if it wasn’t part of my original plan or the characters don’t fall into the structure I originally imagined. At the same time, one of the most fun and wonderful things about writing a series is returning to characters over and over. They’re like friends and watching them interact as each one gets their own story is really rewarding.
What’s your typical writing day like? Do you have any writing rituals – coffee? Silence?
I’m an early bird with four kids, so my typical (ideal) writing day starts with a workout session followed by copious amounts of coffee, farm chores, more coffee, and getting the kids off to school. Once they’re out of the house I sit at my desk or in a comfy chair and do about an hour or so of email and social media, then I change gears and get into the manuscript. I usually listen to music, but it depends on what kind of scene I’m writing and what kind of mood I’m trying to get into. Often instrumental pop works, but I have playlists for steamy scenes or those with more energy. When I feel stuck—or the dogs want to go out—I’ll often take my phone and dictate as we walk around our fields. Sometimes the change of scenery, movement, and nature sounds will help me through a difficult scene. When the kids come home I try to quit for the day, although I often keep notes and ideas for dialogue on my phone or in a notebook as they come to me and put them in the manuscript the next day.
What was your route to publication and what advice do you have for someone looking to follow a similar path?
I initially queried with agents and tried the trad route with an early version of 3000 Reasons to Stay and had some interest, but ultimately no takers. I ended up doing a massive rewrite once I found my developmental editor, Jen, and decided to indie publish because the trad route takes so long and by that point I was antsy to just prove to myself I could publish. In hindsight, that wasn’t the best marketing decision (wait, I’m supposed to have an ARC team? Get reviews? Tell people about my book?) But Stay turned out well and I’ve learned SO MUCH since putting it out there. I like being in control of my product and revenue, though it’s a lot of work and I don’t rule out pitching a future series to a trad publisher. However, the trad route is incredibly slow and I’m not sure I have the patience for it! With all that said, my advice for new authors is, Don’t Rush It! Learn the process, the business, build a platform and get to know other published writers for advice. There are tons of people and places willing to share their knowledge, often for free or minimal cost. Take the editorial process seriously, and if you’re writing series romance, have a couple books finished before you put the first one out. Be patient and don’t quit!
What’s your favourite word and why?
I’m not sure I have a favorite word, though I do appreciate a very thoughtfully placed swear. Maybe that’s because I write military and former military characters (and my husband is a former Marine) so a well dropped curse can really set a scene.
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NK Chats To & Extract: Noah Christopher
Hi Noah, thank you so much for joining me today. Can you tell us about your book, The Confessor?
Absolutely! I’ve always had in the back of my head that it would be fun to write a book one day, and after years of thinking about it “one day” finally became “today” and I just jumped in. My favorite author has always been John Sandford ever since I first read Rules of Prey many years ago. I love the alternating POV chapters between hero and villain, so I knew I wanted to use a similar concept while still making the book my own and something truly unique.
That eventually became The Confessor. The book started when I came up with the concept for the killer, a man who is tired of all the injustice in the world and starts making people confess to their crimes before he kills them. Then, as I wrote on the dedication page, I wanted our hero to feel like a distant cousin of Lucas Davenport from Sandford’s Prey series, with a healthy dose of myself thrown in as well. Those were the building blocks, and everything else fell in around them.
The hero and the killer, oddly enough, start to feel like two sides of the same coin, and the line that divides them starts to blur towards the end. It’s a book that weighs some pretty deep questions of morality and justice…and who gets to make those decisions. My goal is that it’s fun to read and takes you on a wild ride, but then sticks with you a bit after you’ve finished it.
What are the challenges when writing in a series? What are the most important things you need to consider?
The first challenge wasn’t writing a series—it was figuring out how to write a book in the first place! I’ve always been a writer by trade in many different mediums, but I’d never written a full book. The whole thing was a massive learning curve. I just had to learn as I went, and as I wrote, I gradually found the rhythm of the book and became much more confident in what worked.
I also have the first six chapters of Book 2 in the series written, and I may be biased, but I think it’s even better than Book 1. Now the challenge is keeping the continuity straight, advancing the characters and raising the stakes while still making each book satisfying on its own. I’m learning and growing as I go, and that’s half the fun of it.
What is your typical writing day like? Do you have any writing rituals like needing coffee before you begin? Needing silence to write—that sort of thing?
I had to learn and develop this as I went too, but eventually the pattern I fell into, which I really enjoyed, was working in 2-3 hour blocks about two or three times a day. Any longer and I found I needed to clear my head, but any shorter and I found it hard to really get into the zone and hit a creative groove.
I like to go for a run or walk or swim in between, and those are often some of my most creative times. More ideas for this book came to me while out on a run or while swimming than at any other time. I often found I couldn’t put the book down, couldn’t get it out of my head, so while swimming I’d constantly be trying to solve dead ends I had reached, or figure out how to shift the plot in the direction we needed to go in a realistic way.
And yes, I need pure silence to write. I am definitely not one of those background-noise people, and I could never write somewhere like a Starbucks. It’s home in my quiet office for me. My final routine came at the end of the day. After I’d worked on the book, I would put it down, clear my head, go for a walk, eat dinner, do whatever else was going on with the family, and then, after I’d fully reset and cleared my mind, I would read with fresh eyes the new section I’d produced that day before going to bed. That was always a real treat. Then…rinse and repeat the next day until the book was finally finished.
What’s your favourite word and why?
by NK Chats To… Andrea Goyan
Hi Andrea. Thank you so much for joining me today. Can you tell me about The Catalyst and what inspired it?
The idea began over twenty years ago when I taught clients Pilates in their homes. I drove all over Los Angeles every day, listening to the radio. One day, I heard a story about advances in DNA testing, and I was struck by both the good and potentially bad ways the advances could be used. I pivoted to how eventually they’d be testing anything organic and fining people for all kinds of silly infractions. I wrote a piece about a detective who had to use her DNA device to locate the owner of a dog who’d defecated on a neighbour’s lawn. My writing group loved the piece and the detective (who is no longer a detective). They encouraged me to write more, and I spent over a year writing, and then reading the first draft at that table.
What were the challenges when writing a novel like this?
I needed to do enough research that I could use some scientific terminology when I needed it. Since this novel was written, subbed, rejected, put away for ten years, rewritten, put away again, and rewritten again for this final draft, I forgot all the research in the interim and needed to dig back into it again. I also struggled with finding the right voice for Kat, ultimately discovering it when I switched her POV chapters from third to first person. That immediacy made her come alive.
What’s your typical writing day like? Do you have any writing rituals?
I don’t have rituals. I start my day with coffee, but that’s true whether I write or I don’t. I either just sit my butt in my chair and write, or I procrastinate and deal with the rest of life’s demands. There are always dogs to walk.
What’s your favourite word and why?
Hmm, I don’t have a favourite word, but ruminating while I sit here, I’ll say “yes.”
Yes, because it has so much potential. When I performed improvisational theatre in my twenties, “Yes, and…” was the golden rule.
Which fictional world would you like to visit, and which fictional character would you like to meet?
by NK Chats To… M W Arnold
Hello Mick. It’s so wonderful to be welcoming you back to Novel Kicks. Thank you so much for inviting me onto the blog tour for The Lumberjills Take A Stand. Where do we find the cast of characters at the beginning of this new book?
Hi Laura! I’s wonderful to be with the Novel Kicks blog once again. After the first Lumberjills book had been written, I wasn’t sure if I would be writing anymore, having begun the book as a standalone. However, it turned out that people seemed to like the story. The girls are still in the same village, still at Wipers Farm, only they’ve just received notice to move, not an unusual thing for the real girls. The girls themselves are alright with this, though not everyone on the farm is, with young Harry (Harriet) particularly upset. For one of the girls, there is the excitement of finding love and a possible future, once the war is over.
How has your writing routine changed since your first novel? Do you have any writing rituals?
Not too much has changed. I’m still more of a punster than a planster, though once I stumbled across the central story regarding the segregation between white and black soldiers enacted by the USA during WW2, that’s where I found myself being even more careful than usual with getting things right. Yes, I am still mostly writing with my laptop on my lap, usually with Gus (one of my Romanian Werecats) hogging the majority. I end up holding him on with one hand, so I reckon about 70% of this book was written one-handed.
How do you approach the research and editing processes and what advice do you have for each? How do you know when you’ve done enough?
by NK Chats To… M.D. Dixon
Hello. Thank you so much for bringing the blog tour for IKONA to Novel Kicks. What’s a detail, theme, or clue in your book that most readers might miss on the first read—but you secretly hope someone notices?
I hope someone notices that whilst the present-day chapters and future chapters are chronologically ordered forward in time, the chapters set in the past (early 20th century Siberia) move backwards in time, so that the earliest chapter timeline-wise for the past chapters reaches a climax at the latest period time-wise for the other chapters. Truthfully, there are many other details that might be missed but which astute readers will catch: recurring motifs, the recursive nature of the story, how Gutov’s chapter 26 is also IKONA’s chapter 26, for example.
When did this story or idea “click” into place for you—was there a single moment you knew you had to write it?
This story first came to me in 2012. I planned the structure and journeys for years before I sat down to write it. I knew from the moment I got the first few pages and the title that it would be my most mature work. It is my fourth novel, but my first published novel. It was a persistent inner voice which never left me no matter how many twists and turns my life took in the interim. I wrote it in 2022.
Which character or real-life person surprised you the most while writing this book, and why?
Finley Minor’s journey evolved in a way I didn’t expect. No spoilers so I will just say that his arc deeply moved me, and I was unprepared for my own emotional reaction.
If your book had a soundtrack, what three songs would be on it and what scenes or moments would they pair with?
by Book Club
