Ask the Author: Andrew Bridgeman
Answered Questions (3)
Andrew Bridgeman
The first seed of FORTUNATE SON came out of a childhood memory—a miserable day when I was 13. I was bullied at school. I didn't make the baseball team. A teacher embarrassed me in front of my classmates. My mom had been cruel. I remember staring out my bedroom window, wishing that someone would ring the doorbell and tell me that there'd been some mistake. I was in the wrong place and they'd come to take me to a different school, a different family, where I'd fit in and everything would be great. It was an odd recollection to have in my 50's, but it started something. I played around with that idea. What would have brought them to the door? Switched at birth (boring)? Was it a long-ago kidnapping they'd just solved (interesting)? What kind of kidnapping? Well, I write thrillers so it would have to be the Crime of the Century, right? And then, I spent a long time thinking about what it would be like if my character was a shy guy in his mid-twenties, living a smallish life when the FBI came to him and told him everything he believed about himself was a lie. That's when the story started rolling and unfolding in crazy and surprising ways right before eyes! Thanks for the question.
Andrew Bridgeman
I'm excited about the release of FORTUNATE SON at the end of this month. It's my debut novel, so there's a lot of joy in finally seeing that land in the reader's lap. The second book, A NOBLE SIN, is with the publisher now. That should release at the end of May (2025). So, what am I working on now? I have to come up with the next book in the Emma Noble Series. I'm thinking Book #3 might take place in Florence, Italy. The working title is A NOBLE KILL. I haven't written a word of it yet, and I'm feeling the procrastination anxiety of that!
Andrew Bridgeman
Good question. If you're a writer you're sure to experience the dread of 'what comes next.' What I've found is that, in my writing, it's usually a symptom of a problem that is behind me, not in front of me—something I've written has boxed me in. In those situations, I back up and find the last place where things were humming. Did I make the story turn down a dead-end road? If I did, I scrap everything past that spot and turn the story in another direction. This isn't always the case with writer's block, but it seems to be the most likely issue when it happens to me. Thanks for the question.
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