Student Spotlight: Benjamin Bradley

Benjamin Bradley, a Redbud alum, recently published his book What He Left Behind, a mystery novel set in Oak Hill, North Carolina. When a stranger is found murdered in a field, Detective Grace Bingham must reunite with Sawyer, an old flame who broke her heart and left town years prior. As the town turns against them, the two must work together to piece together enough evidence to convict the killer and evade the threats of the town’s powerful Dockery Family, who will stop at nothing to hide their secrets. You can read more about Ben’s book and purchase it at CamCat Books. 

Our intern, Shelby Weisburg, a graduate student in NC State’s MFA Fiction Writing program, recently interviewed Ben about his time with Redbud. 

Can you start by introducing yourself as a writer? 

I consider myself a mystery writer, and I recently published my novel, What He Left Behind, and, beyond the synopsis you can find online, this book is about what happens when a person who has traveled around, been part of lots of different communities, encounters someone who has deep roots in a community. Sort of the tension between deep roots and wide branches, if that makes sense. The title of my book means many things, but it pays homage to that primary theme of the novel. Outside of writing, I work with a national nonprofit organization that helps homeless service providers connect people experiencing homelessness to healthcare and public health services.

How did you hear about Redbud, and what made you decide to take this class?

I can’t exactly remember how I heard about Redbud, but I decided to take the Fiction I class at Redbud to refine the first what would become What He Left Behind. I knew that I especially wanted to work on the first couple chapters of my novel because that’s what publishers and agents read when you begin querying. I read a lot of mystery novels, and I’d learned the tropes and structure well enough to think, “Hey, I think I can do this.” I’d taken a previous class with Mystery Writers of America, but I wanted to keep working on my book. 

Can you walk me through the timeline of your book publication? How long did it take for you to revise and successfully query after completing the Redbud course? 

When everything was said and done, my novel went through nineteen drafts, which is wild to look back on. I started writing the book in 2021, and I came to workshop with a full first draft. It took me about a year and a half to query, and during this time I was told I needed to cut 15,000 words from my 100,000 word manuscript. Very challenging! But I was asked, what story do you actually want to tell in 85,000 words? And I think my novel is better for it. 

How did the class you took at Redbud influence your craft as a writer? 

Arshia, my instructor, was great. Everyone’s heard the phrase “Kill your darlings,” but one of my biggest craft takeaways from this class was “Keep some of your darlings.” In other words, there’s parts of your manuscript that are there for a reason, that you should be proud of and keep. For example, I have a line, in the first couple pages in my book: “I could hear the cheese going stale.” At the time, I wasn’t quite sure what the line was doing. It felt sort of silly. But people in my Redbud workshop encouraged me to keep it because it revealed something about my character, and it was one of the lines that did not get cut during my 15,000 word clean-up. 

How did the community aspect of Redbud impact what you took from the class?

We had writers from all different ages, careers, and backgrounds. Some people were starting from scratch; some people were working on compiling their materials to apply for MFA programs. Even though I’m a genre writer, it was helpful to learn from a variety of writing styles and genres. I got lots of different perspectives and craft tools to use for my novel, which is why I think that my novel turned out to be just as much character focused as it is plot driven. It was also so helpful to be in a local class to refine the southern aspects of my book. While I don’t regularly keep in touch with anyone from the class, there were lots of people who told me, while I was working through the novel, that I should tell them when it gets published. Everyone was so welcoming and encouraging. Generally, I would say that my novel probably would not have been published without help from folks that were part of the class, as well as the Redbud community. 

Would you recommend that other aspiring writers take courses at Redbud?

I would recommend taking a class at Redbud because it is just a great environment to start and learn. You get a sense of your strengths and weaknesses in a place where you won't feel embarrassed of your weaknesses but that you have room to grow. Being in a room with a bunch of people who are supportive and learning fosters a sense of community, and I think that's really key.