Local author didn't take 'no' for an answer

Brandilyn Collins has faced a lot of rejection.

We're talking a whole lot.

Like, 10 years of it.

An entire decade of pouring her passion and ideas into manuscripts, shipping them off to agents, eagerly awaiting their replies, and then reading a long series of heart-wrenching responses.

"I got back, 'No,' 'no,' 'no,' 'no,' 'no,'" Collins ticked off with a laugh, sitting outside her Coeur d'Alene home two weeks ago. "I wrote three novels, I wrote them over and over, learning each time."

It's when the opposite response comes back, Collins said, that makes it all worthwhile.

And it's not as unreachable as many scribblers might think, she added.

Currently tracking word counts on her 24th book, the suspense novelist is suspending her idea generating this Saturday to divulge secrets of the trade from 1-3 p.m. at the Hayden Lake Friends Church.

Kind of a big deal for the small venue, said Sandy Wild, church ministry coordinator.

"We're just so excited," Wild said, adding that many in the area are familiar with Collins' Kanner Lake series, the setting based off Coeur d'Alene. "It's a great opportunity for any fledgling writer."

The church chose to host the writer because of a push from local fans, Wild said, herself included.

"I think she's a great writer," Wild said. "We are just thrilled to have someone of her caliber living amongst us and willing to share her story with us."

The lifelong writer didn't start out so beloved, said Collins, who splits her time between her homes in Coeur d'Alene the bay area in California.

Her baptism into fiction occurred when she decided that writing marketing materials and annual reports for a living wasn't enough, she said.

"I really, really wanted to write fiction," said Collins, originally from Kentucky. "In 1990, I said, 'I'm going to do it. I have to learn how to do this.'"

But it wouldn't come easy.

See, Google hadn't advanced enough then to provide all the answers in a 20-second search, Collins recalled.

So she used other resources. She read and wrote religiously. After dropping her kids, Ryan, Brandon and Amberly off at school, she took in movie matinees.

"In two hours, you can study story structure quicker than reading a novel," she explained.

She labored over manuscripts, refining and tweaking and retooling.

Looking back, Collins said she is grateful for the writing boot camp she put herself through.

She needed that experience to fall back on, the 54-year-old said, because once she did start selling, publishers kept demanding more.

"I thought, 'I have to write so many books!'" she remembered. "I started to sell books I hadn't even written yet."

It hasn't overwhelmed her yet.

Sticking to her scheduled weekly word count, Collins kicks out a novel in about four months, she estimates, with a few months afterward slated for recovery.

She has developed a large following for her "seat belt suspense" novels, which she promises take off with intrigue and danger from page 1.

"It's the ultimate drama. As the story progresses, the character is in worse trouble," Collins said of why she chose the suspense genre. "Besides that, I have a warped mind."

She watches true crime shows for inspiration she said, and sometimes snags plot points from incidents she observes around her.

She modeled a book series setting after Coeur d'Alene, for instance, because an idyllic small town harbors so many possibilities for well-hidden secrets.

"This is paradise," she said, waving her hand at the view of downtown from her porch. "I figured, 'How can I wreak a little havoc in paradise?'"

Besides her novels, Collins has also written about the writing technique, and occasionally speaks at conferences.

Her advice to aspiring authors is to join writing groups, research tips online, and be patient.

"If you start this journey, understand it will be a long, arduous, frustrating journey," Collins said. "I don't say that to discourage them, but to encourage them."

Her children are now grown, with Amberly and Ryan living in California and Brandon in Washington. Collins' husband Mark is a headhunter in the health care field.

After all these years, Collins still reads to improve her own work, she said.

And despite all the novels behind her, sometimes she still has to stare at her computer monitor and ponder the next twist.

"I've never said writing is easy," she said. "In my next life, I'm a gardener."

If you go

Suspense novelist Brandilyn Collins will speak about her craft from 1-3 p.m. this Saturday at the Hayden Lake Friends Church, at 251 W. Miles Ave. in Hayden Lake. The event is free.