NEVER GIVING UP by author Chris Bedell

I'm pleased to welcome back author Chris Bedell on to the blog today to talk about his latest book and how it came to be! 
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NEVER GIVING UP
By Chris Bedell

Writers often get a lot of advice—some of it useful, some of it not helpful or applicable at all. But the most important writing advice is to never give up. The mantra is true despite sounding cliché. Although for the purposes of this blog post, I’d like to mention how that advice relates to shelved manuscripts and my recently published New Adult Thriller, BURNING BRIDGES.
 
BURNING BRIDGES has been five years in the making—I finished it back in the spring of 2014. I even sent out several queries, which were ultimately rejected. But here’s the thing. That version of BURNING BRIDGES was really bad. Sure. There were some good ideas and potential with the manuscript, but I needed to level up my writing craft and have a more concise plot.
 
Flash-forward five years later to the spring of 2019. I still couldn’t stop thinking about BURNING BRIDGES. I always knew I’d return to the novel—I just didn’t know when. And there was also something creative about it. I had never once read a book or seen a movie or TV show involving identical triplets.
 
In order to get the novel to the publishable version, I did a complete rewrite. Nothing survived the draft from 2014. But that’s okay. The rewrite was something I had to do to get to the real story. The revision involved going from 71k words to 61k words, and I added three more points of views (so four points of view total), in addition to using close third person point of view instead of first person. Using close third allowed me to make sure that the four voices didn’t sound the same while still having the close feeling that first person captures.
 
The novel still felt too niche for literary agents since they aren’t really taking much New Adult fiction. So, I put my querying emphasis on pitching legitimate small presses. I finally got an offer of publication when I was at the airport, waiting for my flight to Aruba at the end of June 2019. Accepting the offer happened less than two weeks later, and the book’s publication date was fast-tracked, releasing July 17, 2019.
 
Ultimately, many successful paths exist in publishing. However, I hope my path for BURNING BRIDGES will inspire other writers, because that weird, shelved manuscript might be unearthed someday. Anyway, if New Adult novels, thrillers, and LGBTQ characters interest you, I hope you’ll consider giving BURNING BRIDGES, GONE GIRL meets Sarah Michelle Gellar’s RINGER, a try (…the book is available on Kindle Unlimited!).

They've always said that three's a crowd...

24-year-old Sasha didn’t anticipate her identical twin Riley killing herself upon their reconciliation after years of estrangement. But Sasha senses an opportunity and assumes Riley’s identity so she can escape her old life.

Playing Riley isn’t without complications, though. Riley’s had a strained relationship with her wife and stepson so Sasha must do whatever she can to make her newfound family love and accept her. If Sasha’s arrangement ends, then she’ll have nothing protecting her from her past. However, when one of Sasha’s former clients tracks her down, Sasha must choose between her new life and the only person who cared about her.​

But things are about to become even more complicated, as a third sister, Katrina, enters the scene...

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​Chris Bedell's previous publishing credits include Thought Catalog, Entropy Magazine, Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, among others. BURNING BRIDGES is his first New Adult novel. Chris also has other books--published and soon to be published. His debut YA Fantasy novel IN THE NAME OF MAGIC was published by NIneStar Press last October. Meanwhile, Chris has three forthcoming novels. A YA Paranormal Romance novel DEATHLY DESIRES and a YA Contemporary novel I'LL SEE YOU AGAIN from Deep Hearts YA while Magnolia Press is going to publish his YA Thriller I KNOW WHERE THE BODIES ARE BURIED. Furthermore, Chris graduated with a BA in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 2016.