I’ve never written a love triangle before, and didn’t set out to, quite honestly. But then, I didn’t set out for NOW YOU DIE, the third book in the Bullet Catchers 2008 trilogy (and the sixth in the overall series) to be the book it is. When I proposed the trilogy, the three heroines were going to be three sisters, separated at birth in a black market adoption scheme.
Trouble started on the first page of the first book. A character, Jack Culver, was introduced, his role was to be the “glue” that held the trilogy story arc together. He was never meant to be a hero, never meant to rock my little series on its side.
But, damn, he was powerful. And the first thing that SOB did was torque Lucy Sharpe, the leader of the Bullet Catchers and reveal to me, the poor unknowing author, that those two had a chemistry galore. And conflict. And tension.
As I wrote the first two books in the series, the chemistry ignited and the conflict deepened and the tension got so thick….I changed the whole concept for the third book. In the process, I may have broken a few reader’s hearts, since Dan Gallagher, a fan favorite Bullet Catcher, was always sort of set up to be Lucy’s love, in whatever would be the final book in the series.
But my muse or my characters or my whatever the hell makes writers tick thought differently. NOW YOU DIE is a very different book than I first proposed. It’s Lucy’s book, but not the last in the series. It’s not the third sister of the missing triplets, but she’s in the story. It’s the first time I’ve had characters deal with a bit of a love triangle, and that’s not anything like what I expected it would be. Those surprises, I suppose, is why being a writer is a really fun job.
There are excerpts from the beginning of the book on my web site. For GBU, I’ve picked three of my favorite scenes, the ones that show, I hope, why these two couldn’t be anything but…together.
Enjoy!!!
It always fascinates me how characters evolve in an author’s mind. I love to read about the process – how they take on a life of their own and surprise even the author.
It’s like these “people” really live for a while.
And I really enjoy reading love triangles. Such luscious tension. The guilt for the happy couple is too fun.
This is probably the best love triangle I’ve read since Lois Lane, Clark Kent and Superman. I, too, was one who wanted Lucy and Dan to end up together, but once I began to read this last series and saw Lucy and Jack in action, I caved and joined the “Jack and Lucy Forever” club. And I must say you delivered superbly in NOW YOU DIE.