Promises Made

“Pete Flanagan’s cerulean gaze was as unsettling as that of the first OCA2 genetic mutant that rocked its homogenous brown eyed world 17,000 years before. Other lawyers described his penetrating courtroom glare as the ‘bolt out of the blue.’ It launched without warning from beneath slightly protruding superciliary arches, and furry brows that matched the ascendant pelt of auburn hair, glistening with Irish flecks of salt and pepper, that was worn long and loosely bound, but never tamed, in a ponytail. A glance from those eyes could be equally disarming or withering. From one moment to the next, both.

Pete, a narrowback laborer before higher education and a bar exam ruined him for all honest employment, remained rough around the edges and physically imposing, garnering him the nickname ‘the Celtic Neanderthal,’ but only in whispers over cocktails by the courthouse locals, and never in his presence.”

If you have followed these blogs you’ll have undoubtedly come across the name Pete Flanagan.

And you’ll know I made a promise to Pete F to make him a character in my next book.

https://thewisenovelist.com/lets-go-mets-this-ones-for-you-pete-flanagan/

This morning I woke up, spotted the prayer card pinned to the door of my office, and wondered how I would start such a book. It will be a stand alone, a palate cleanser, between The Claire Saga, and the spin off series I teed up at the end of WTLLM.

I’m thinking of calling it Free Radical. A legal thriller with a genetic twist.

Now this past weekend I gave a lovely young woman – Kat Smith – who I do expect will be a wonderful writer, some totally unsolicited curbside advice.

“Start with a character who you would really want to hang out with, and then just follow him around in a story.”

It’s really easy to dole out advice, especially if you are a lawyer by trade, and a writer by nature. In other words, completely full of shit. And I’m pretty sure the “Fool for a client” admonition frees me from taking my own advice.

However, since I am off the professional clock, I’m going to be honest. It felt really good dropping those few narrative lines, and I’m not really sure when I’ll actually start writing that book, but at least I have the basis for a character I really want to hang out with.

So, if provenance has other plans, I’ll at least have shared this cornerstone of the Pete Flanagan character, that I promised to create for a really good man, with my fine, five readers for posterity.

But the dawn is dancing on the eastern horizon, which means I have chores to do before I engage the legal world that while feeding the imagination, especially for a book like Free Radical, distracts me from sharing those fanciful thoughts, at least on paper.

Of course, if my weekend Tarot reading holds water, that will change everything.

Until then, let us all go out into the world and have a great day.

Speaking of friends named Pete, my prayers and condolences go out to the family of Pete Sheridan, who’s sister Ann Marie, unexpectedly passed over the weekend.

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