Surviving “The End”: How Broken Trust Came to Be

One of the most common questions any author gets asked is, “Where did you come up with that idea?”  Well, that might be second only to, “When are going to bed?”  But the truth is each idea comes from someplace new.  The number one source for my short stories is the dream realm.  But oddly enough my novels never come from the things I dream.

Broken Trust is no different than my first two novels, in that small ideas slowly grew into something larger than life.  But Broken Trust is very different in one key way, the world in which it happens.  I spent more time working on the world of Broken Trust than it took to write it, edit it, send it to beta readers, edit it again, and have my editor fix it.  That is something that was new for me.

You see I am a “seat of my pants” writer.  I don’t outline, I don’t plan.  I get the ideas in my head, formulate a story line, put the character into the box, and I let them play.  It isn’t the easiest way to write, I know plenty of authors who cringe at the thought of no outlines.  I even know many authors with giant cork boards used for plotting out their epic novels.

But, Broken Trust did have a little planning in it.  But it happened by accident.

Let me back up to beginning. I started a short story, I never finished it.  The story was about an ex-cop who survived a recent mass extinction event.  The event was caused by the over use of antibiotics leading to a super bug that devastated the human race in a short amount of time.  Anyway, I began to write about this man and what he was doing.  Eventually the goal was to lead him along to the end of the story in which he discovers a group of humans trying to rebuild some resemblance of a society.

And that sparked a thought in my head.  What would the rebuild be like?  So I started planning that aspect of the story.  I wondered about the whole world.  And I started to craft all these different population groups, with different government structures all around the world.  The world grew and grew.

And, well it out grew a short story.  It even outgrew the story I had originally planned to tell.  I decided that I wanted to focus more on the world several years after the apocalypse after many in the world were starting to shift from survival to rebirth.  And that was the initial start to what is now Broken Trust.

The story evolved even more since that point.  It became very much about how damaging to would be on people to survive in a situation like that.  It became about people taking on roles in life they never thought they would, and do things they never wanted to do.  It became about friendship, love, and very much a story about people. Characters who were supposed to be background and secondary characters jumped up and demanded more attention. And, as my characters often do, they took the sandbox I gave them and built a wonderful story.

The story is a lot like my other stories, in that it follows a three main character format.  The story has heavy romantic overtones, and has some of my trademark action sequences.

Be sure to check it out.  The book is available for preorder from now until May 28th.  You can get it for up to 50% off the cover price.  Preorder the paperback and I will sign it too.  It releases worldwide on Amazon May 29th.

Here is the book blurb:

Earth is no longer teeming with human life. After a major mass extinction event, the world is no longer able to function as it once had. Governments have collapsed and those that survived are left to figure out what is next for the human race.

Liam Fisher never wanted to be a leader. But after finding survivors, protecting them, and founding the city-state of Lagoon Hills; the people demanded he be their leader. Instead, Liam agreed to sit on a Council with four other leaders.

Together with Talya Brooks, the person who saved his life after the collapse, Liam runs the militia of Lagoon Hills. And though it was tough early on, the people of the city now live in relative comfort and safety.

But Liam is fighting his own personal demons: The loss of his wife and unborn son. Rachel, a past lover he never really got over, has suddenly arrived at the city gates. And the mounting stress of a neighboring city-state threatening war.

The people of Lagoon Hills are counting on Liam for their safety. Can he keep himself together and be the leader everyone wants him to be? Or will the people closest to him be the greatest threat of all?