Nuggets
Excerpt From the Book - Retribution | Chapter 1
They had witnesses, and over a course of days, put every one of them on the stand to tell one horrid story after another. They had a motive. The prosecutor never even flinched at the defense attorney’s objections. And finally, they had Susan, who had done a pretty good job of convicting herself before the trial ever began.
What Motivated Me to Write | Retribution
I always start with a character. The motivation for Retribution was no different. Shawn Daniels was my focus. He was a bastard from the start, and it was rather easy to create a story around him. His claim to fame was his college sports celebrity. That established his cockiness and skill in seduction. All of which went straight to his head to feed his over-inflated ego and lack of self-awareness. It was his natural business savvy, however, that caught the attention of the local business community. And that’s where I began building the story.
Right out of college, I gave him wealth and a thriving business. I made him a forever bachelor and made sure he knew he could have his choice of women. It can be a daunting task for someone like Shawn to deal with such privilege, and he, of course, failed miserably. I baited him with the one woman he couldn’t add to his list of conquests, the woman he would actually have to commit to. And that’s where things got interesting. Retribution was not born of a profound idea I had. It is a simple story of a woman scorned, humiliated, victimized, and repeatedly, needlessly put in harm’s way. She had no choice but to fight back.
Of course, things were not as simple as this sounds. There are twists and turns that keep things interesting. Even the victim, Susan, at times, leaves the reader with a love-hate vibe. Did she go too far in the end? I think it will surprise you.
Scene from the book | Retribution
So this was a really important scene. If there are any prologue skippers in the crowd, you may not want to skip this one. This is the scene that set the stage for the entire story. In fact, it was the vision of the room which prompted to me to write the story. This is Shawn’s bedroom. It was an unusually dark night. There was a monster storm outside that had knocked out the electricity. The lightning felt so close she sometimes thought it was in the room with them. She looked up as a bolt came blasting through a window and she thought for sure it hit her. As she glimpsed herself in a mirror, she noticed all the blood on her clothes. She looked back to see Shawn on the bed, engulfed in lightning. But she didn’t care. She was there on a mission, and the manner in which Shawn died wasn’t of concern.
What I’m not showing here is the mental state of the woman at the window. Nor do I explain why she’s there. I, of course, won’t tell you who she is. If you’ve seen excerpts on other areas of the site and think you know, you’re probably wrong.
I enjoyed writing this scene. I had put it off for a while because I was busy with other projects. Once I started, it was easy to bust out the first few chapters. If you get a copy of the book, don’t skip the prologue, or you won’t get the ending.