The biggest problem was creating distractions for the savvy readers so they couldn’t guess who the actual bad guy or girl was too early in the book. Different threads, clues, and reasons must be sprinkled throughout the story to keep the reader guessing and flipping those pages anxious to learn the answer and not miss any of the story.
Charles Breakfield and Rox Burkey – 22 December 2024
The Back Flap
Jo and JJ Rodreguiz finished their vacation dream home in Magnolia Bluff. To celebrate their accomplishment, they invite the town residents to their housewarming.
Emails are sent. Lily offers to provide all the side dishes to complement the barbeque. Chief Tommy Jager bartends until the last guest leaves. The teenagers act as servers. Guests dance outside until the wee hours. Toasts are made to honor JJ and Jo’s dearest friends. Max the Labrador will clean up the crumbs.
After the last guest departs, JJ finds a housewarming gift addressed to Jo. She excitedly opens it and gasps with dismay. Someone left behind not a present but a blackmail letter. Jo crumbles into tears, fearing they must sell and never return. Her outraged husband swears to kill the wretched blackmailer. Unfortunately, the Chief of Police cannot unhear the threat.
- Two days later, the police find JJ unconscious next to a dead man.
- Who will help her navigate this investigation?
- Who knows the blackmailer?
All the world’s problems rest on her shoulders as her greatest love lies in a coma.
About the book
When did you start writing the book?
We began drafting the outline of Ransom Enigma as Burkey was dodging cars at high speeds on the highway to a book signing for Texas authors. Breakfield took notes on the thoughts and ideas they bantered back and forth to frame the new story, between Burkey’s barking tirades at poor drivers who had the nerve to cut her off. Having recently finished and published The Killer Enigma in 2023, it was the perfect time for creatively outlining the next book featuring our favorite characters in Magnolia Bluff.
How long did it take you to write it?
It took roughly six months to get The Ransom Enigma cozy mystery ready for the first round of editing. Then, we had the genre editor and beta readers provide valuable feedback. When those changes were completed, we reread it to find any missed issues or story flaws. By the eighth month, we had worked through cover design and interior branding with our graphic designer, Rebecca Finkel. Then, we worked with Josh Trant on our trailers while completing the marketing materials and finalizing the back cover. By month ten, it was ready to upload to Ingram Spark and Amazon and be out for pre-order editorial reviews before its release. It was released on time in August of 2024.
Where did you get the idea from?
We are not as experienced in cozy mystery as technothriller writing, but we wanted to complement the other Underground Authors contributing to the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles. We wanted something a little more edgy than the usual cozy mystery whodunit, so we brainstormed about using unusual angles, stealing, to a degree, ideas from current events to expand upon. It allowed us to produce some unexpected yet realistic twists and turns in the storyline. We’re storytellers and enjoy coming up with different ideas for stories.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
The biggest problem was creating distractions for the savvy readers so they couldn’t guess who the actual bad guy or girl was too early in the book. Different threads, clues, and reasons must be sprinkled throughout the story to keep the reader guessing and flipping those pages anxious to learn the answer and not miss any of the story. There are some surprises that readers won’t see coming yet will be satisfied to find them.
What came easily?
Using favorite characters who are developed and endearing to readers. We find this process easy to use and yet tricky as we don’t like cookie-cutter stories that sound the same from book to book. The problems they face and how they resolve them make multidimensional characters fans enjoy and talk about. In our case, our characters often tell us exactly where to go and what to do.
Are your characters entirely fictitious, or have you borrowed from real-world people you know?
To be completely transparent, these are fictitious characters with known attributes of real people we’ve met or known. You might also spot bits of Breakfield or Burkey in many of our characters. Breakfield claims his markers in the evil geniuses, like dressing up for a costume party or playing a part on stage. Burkey lends her tough-minded female with a high-moral ground attitude and her martial arts skills to bring justice to the story. As she says, ‘A girl can dream.’
We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?
Burkey loves J.R.R. Tolkien and his Lord of the Rings work. Breakfield is a fan of Kevin J. Anderson and his work on the Dune series. These authors are some of the best storytellers and are easily the prized benchmark for other writers.
Do you have a target reader?
Our best target readers are anyone who wants to lead the fight against injustice. We tend to write for mystery fans who are young adults or older.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
We typically sketch out the new book’s first ten to twenty chapters. These are captured in a spreadsheet for tracking and organization. We use our patent pending writing technique of literary ping-pong to bat the freshly created chapters back and forth to each other electronically for story-smithing and character polishing. We quickly shift and move chapters if needed as new chapters are added. We aim to have a finalized novel that sounds like a single voice wrote it.
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
Yes, a high-level outline is where we begin. Sometimes, chapter content gets spawned too quickly, ending up out of sequence from dreams or ideas that appear from the left or right field. There are times when we write in fits and starts which leads to extensive repair efforts. Inspiration may whisper in one of our ears resulting in the four most terrifying words in our vocabulary “I have an idea…”. But that is what makes writing fun for us.
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
The simple answer is yes. We work together on writing, but editing is critical throughout the process. However, we give our draft manuscript to the first-round editor when we believe we’re too close to the story to identify the flaws quickly. You know, that forest for the tree’s thing.
Did you hire a professional editor?
We use our first-line editor to catch things like missing words, wrong words, mixed tenses, etc. Burkey types fast and has the form/from an issue where spell check doesn’t alert to an error. During our process, we send to a genre editor and beta readers who haven’t read any portion in advance for a fresh set of eyes. We do the final read after all the changes before we stick a fork in it and call it done.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
No, we both prefer the quiet of the early morning for creating content.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
Breakfield & Burkey publish through ICABOD Press. We still shop our books and screenplay into competitions being graded by agents and producers.
What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
We originally published with Auerbach Press, but those were nonfiction technical manuals. When we approached them to publish our first technothriller, they declined. We boldly decided to become independent authors. It has been a rocky road, but we have learned a lot along our journey.
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?
We initially tried doing our covers but realized our books would die of the loneliness of obscurity on shelves if we didn’t get a professional graphic design master to do our covers. Rebecca Finkel of F + P Graphic Design, FPGD.com, does our covers and interior designs. We work with her every step of the way to design the right cover for each story and to maintain our branding. We have a marvelous collaborative partnership and have won more than one cover award.
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
Each book has a marketing plan, ad campaign, video trailers, and social media blitz built for it. If we are releasing an audiobook, as with our technothrillers, this is done as a separate announcement with its own press release and social media blasts. We invite your readers to visit our YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@TheEnigmaSeries, to find some awesome videos about our stories and us.
Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
Don’t give up the day job. Being an Indie Author is difficult, but you will meet some dedicated people who can help provide you with tools and ideas in the ever-changing marketplace of books. Keep writing and get feedback. Don’t skip professional editing at some level. Don’t just have family provide feedback; they love you too much and won’t tell you the truth. Make it your best story.
About You
Where did you grow up?
Who said we’ve grown up? 😊 Nothing in the writing manual says we have to.
Where do you live now?
We are both Texans.
What would you like readers to know about you?
How about some fun facts about us?
- Burkey’s stepfather was a metallurgist who worked on The Manhattan Project during World War 11. He later became a major contributor to the Atomic Energy Commission, the forerunner to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
- Breakfield’s father was a fighter pilot who served as an officer in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. This activity interested Charles in flying, which is why many references to flying are in the books. It is also why Charles is outgoing.
- Burkey loves to sew and once made the formal dress for a Miss Texas Teen pageant. The burgundy gown was in the finalist lineup, a delightful moment. She has also created costumes for her kids.
- Breakfield was introduced to competition skeet shooting at an early age. By the time he was 17, he placed second overall out of 1,500 shooters in the U.S. Armed Forces competition in Europe in 1970.
- Breakfield and Burkey have been known to pick up broken pieces of cast-off old antique furniture left on the side of the road. Odd, but the refinishing results bring the old back to be better than the new. They learned upholstery, webbing, wood refinishing, and proper metal springs attachment.
What are you working on now?
We are working on the third book in the Enigma Heirs trilogy, Enigma Jewels, which will be released in early 2025.
End of Interview:
For more from Breakfield and Burkey visit their website and check out their Youtube channel as well as follow them on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Get your copy of The Ransom Enigma from Amazon US or Amazon UK.