If you’ve read any of the Bullet Catcher novels or novellas, you know there is one constant in the series: Lucy Sharpe, the leader of the Bullet Catchers, who is known for her world-class control, her singular beauty and elegance, and her tendency to manipulate people and situations to get what she wants. Since starting the series, I’ve heard from a great many readers, and the most commonly asked question is “When will Lucy get her book?”
I’m happy to answer that one! Lucy’s story, Now You Die, hits stores on August 26, 2008.
Her path to a happy ending wasn’t an easy one for Lucy or her author, and since I’ve had so many questions about this character, and such strong opinions about what man could be worthy of her, I decided to let my readers in on a secret so that you can truly understand how and why Lucy’s love triangle was resolved. It should come as no surprise that she dictated the outcome and I merely did her bidding.
You may think Lucy was born in the Micronesian island of Pohnpei, but, in truth, Lucy Sharpe took shape on a treadmill, about five years ago. I was working out, listening to music, and thinking about the series idea that I was about to pitch to my publisher. On the MP3 player that day, an old Rod Stewart collection blared in my ear, including a little-known track called “Cut Across Shorty.” The catchy chorus starts with the line, “Cut across, Shorty, cut across, that’s what Miss Lucy said….”
The name “Miss Lucy” danced across my imagination, and by the time I’d finished my five miles, Lucy Sharpe was already fully formed. Tall, exotic, elegant, waist-length black hair with a mysterious white streak down the left side. CIA. Structured to a fault. A practitioner of yoga with a weakness for rare antiques and dark red nail polish. A brilliant woman with a secret pain in her past. Lucy Sharpe was all things bold, fierce, and fine. She would be the spine, the heart, and the soul of my series.
When I sat down to write the first page of the first book of my first series (Kill Me Twice), I instantly started writing in her point of view, drawn to the idea that every Bullet Catcher book might start similarly, with Lucy doling out an assignment and the reader learning what the challenge will be for the hero. I don’t always have characters fully formed when they appear the page – the discovery of who they are is truly part of the fun for me as a writer. Lucy hit the page with total control. By her third line, I started to sense that this woman would allow no one to run over her, and the nickname “Miss Machiavelli” would become one I knew her men would use.
Not too far into that book, I introduced other members of the Bullet Catcher team, including Dan Gallagher, a green-eyed, quick witted former FBI agent who from his first scene seemed to have a special relationship with Lucy. He was the only one bold enough to openly use her other nickname, “Juicy Miss Lucy,” quickly shortened to “Juice.” Their interactions had a warm, comfortable quality to them, and I tucked that away with the hope and certainty that if and when Lucy had a book, Dan would be her man. During the first three books (Kill Me Twice, Thrill Me To Death, and Take Me Tonight), this particular story arc continued. I even imagined that Lucy’s book would be the last in the series, closing the Bullet Catchers with a “friends to lovers” tale that would please everyone, including Lucy.
Then I started to write First You Run. And this is when I discovered Lucy had a different story arc in mind.
I’d proposed the trilogy within the series to my editor with the idea that each of the three books would feature a different one of the “triplets separated at birth” as the heroines and three different Bullet Catchers as the heroes. It was accepted and contracted that way. As I wrote the opening scene, with Lucy in the lead, of course, I introduced not only the hero of that book, Adrien Fletcher, but also the character who would act as the glue to hold the trilogy together – the person with the motivation to find these missing ladies and ultimately save their mother who was dying in jail. For that role, I created Jack Culver, and to give the story a little added conflict, I made him a former Bullet Catcher who left the company under a cloud.
Jack walked into Lucy’s office, opened his smart-ass mouth, grinned his bad boy smile, and torqued my girl in a way I’d never seen before. By the end of that scene, I had to sit back, stare at my computer screen, and wonder…what just happened? Those two had chemistry.
I continued to write and every time Jack and Lucy shared a page, the electricity sparked more – some of which I included in the story, some I held back and only alluded to, not at all sure I wanted to accept this particular jolt to my series.
Lucy kept nudging my muse and getting more scenes with Jack, threatening to steal the book from me. By the time I finished First You Run, I knew Jack had hero potential, and might possibly get his own book some day. I also knew he’d shared at least one turbulent night with Lucy Sharpe, and that his feelings for her ran very deep. And Lucy, that manipulating monster, breathed in my ear and demanded more page time with him in the next book, Then You Hide.
Halfway through the second book, I couldn’t sleep. Not because Wade and Vanessa’s story wasn’t cooperating – on the contrary, that one was probably the easiest to write. But Lucy and Jack….
Lucy and Jack??? No, not Lucy and Jack! It’s Lucy and Dan. Friends to lovers? Final book in the series. Right?
Wrong, Lucy whispered in my ear.
Hey, who is the author here and who is the character? And how would Dan feel – not to mention all those readers who’d written and cheered him on for Lucy? Dan appeared in the trilogy, too, and each time, it became clearer he was most unhappy with this latest development. He hated Jack Culver, and not just because he could see that Lucy changed when he’s in the room. The guy almost killed him with a stray bullet! Jack had been fired for lying about an injury to his trigger finger. He was a former cop, and Dan was a former FBI agent and we all know about that particular oil and water.
The truth was, Dan and Lucy are friends. True, life-long, trusted friends. Their romance lacked the one thing I need to keep my pages turning – conflict. But Lucy and Jack…oooh, boy. Conflict galore.
The idea took hold slowly, insidiously, and constantly. What if Lucy was the Bullet Catcher of the last book in the trilogy? What if Jack was her hero? What if they had to work together, forcing them to face their past, their demons, their chemistry…and losing the fight that I could no longer deny? These two wanted each other – bad. I reworked the concept for the last book, staying true to the original trilogy, but changing the fate of the third sister. It felt right and real. It felt like Lucy was pulling my strings. Hah. They don’t call her Ms. Machiavelli for nuthin’.
I proposed the change to my agent, then my editor. The response was quick and not really unexpected: go for it.
And so I did. The result in Now You Die and I couldn’t be happier. So’s Lucy. But, don’t worry, Dan Fans. I’m writing his story now and it’s up next, the first Bullet Catcher book out in 2009.
It’s 3:00 AM as I write this essay, a sleepless night not unlike the ones Lucy suffers from when the book opens. For fun, I just googled the lyrics to “Cut Across Shorty” because the chorus was playing in my head, and I can’t find the CD. How’s this for irony? I swear, I didn’t remember the story of the song. I didn’t remember the loser in the love triangle was Dan. Jack’s no “Shorty” – but he certainly has “that something, boys, that can’t be found in books.” And, no surprise here, Miss Lucy fixed the race.
Now a country boy named Shorty
And a city boy named Dan
Had to prove who could run the fastest
To wed miss Lucy’s hand
Now Dan had all the money
And he also had the looks
But Shorty musta had that something, boys
That can’t be found in books
Chorus:
Cut across Shorty, Shorty, cut across
That’s what Miss Lucy said
Cut across Shorty, Shorty, cut across
You know its you that I wanna wed
Wait a minute
Now Dan had been in training
About a week before the race
He made up his mind old Shorty
Would end in second place
You know Dan with his long legs flying
He left Shorty far behind
Shorty heard him holler out
Miss Lucy that you’ll soon be mine
But Shorty wasn’t worried
There was a smile upon his face
Cause Miss Lucy had fixed the race
And just like that old story
About the turtle and the hare
When Danny crossed over the finish line
He found Shorty waiting there |
