We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bradley Caffee a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Bradley, thanks for joining us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

As a writer of YA dystopian fiction, I have tried to set myself apart in a couple of ways from the market. Firstly, dystopian fiction often ends with hopelessness and despair. Often the resolution at the end of the story is bleak and unsatisfying. However, I believe readers of dystopian are looking for something different. As such, every story I write has an element of hope. Showing how light can invade darkness is one of my passions and is something with which I believe a lot of people resonate. We want to believe there is hope, no matter how dark our circumstances may be. This sets my stories apart. Secondly, my writing is clean. I never want a parent to feel they have to hesitate before recommending my book to their child or another parent. Young Adult fiction has slipped into an unfortunate “how much adult content can we slip in before crossing the line” balancing act. I believe compelling stories can be written without adult content, and I have chosen to keep my books clean of language, gory violence, and sexual content. The response I have received from parents for doing so has only reaffirmed my choice to keep my stories clean.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I never set out to be writer. Actually, my first career was as a minister, and I had intended it to be lifelong. Due to some unfortunate circumstances, I suffered from pastoral burnout, which is becoming an epidemic among our ministers today. Leaving my career rocked my world for several years. I had no direction and no plan B. A diagnosis of depression followed. It was in this darkest of seasons that I found my love for writing.

Having awoken from a vivid dream, I was inspired to convert that dream into a novel. I was all talk about the idea until a life coach challenged me that the “only time he saw me smile was when I talked about writing this book.” So…I set out to write. I had no idea what I was doing. I knew nothing about the publishing industry. I simply had an idea and a glimmer of hope that this might bring me joy in a time I had none. It is one of the main reasons why inserting hope into dark stories is my passion. I lived it.

With the support of my loving family, I finished my first manuscript. Unintentionally, I had written much of my own journey from depression to mental health into the main characters, and I discovered my debut novel was accidentally my own story in print. The years that followed involved attending conferences to learn the industry. It is there I found my first agent, who got me my first contract. Six years after sitting to start my novel, my debut was published by a small publishing house. The second and third in the series were published the following year. Inspired to keep going, I wrote and published my fourth novel, a standalone, independently in 2023.

I love the act of creating story. I love seeing characters taking on a life of their own. Often, I don’t know where the story is going and find myself following along, allowing the story to write itself.

Even more so, I enjoy seeing my readers resonate with the struggle of the characters I write. I love hearing their thrill to read the satisfying endings. I’ve had readers laugh and cry and even throw the books across the room because they emotionally reacted to the characters. That is the power of story. It speaks to us in a way nothing else does. Somehow, story grants us permission to lower our guard and address the reality of the human condition. While writing began as the pursuit of joy for me, now I write to continue helping others to address their inner struggle through characters to whom they can connect.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

While I run a business as my ‘day job,’ it comes with the necessary ‘have tos’ that do not require any creative function. Menial tasks, data, and financial transactions are all necessary to run a successful business and put food on the table. However, my mind aches to stretch its creative muscles.

Writing is my outlet. Writing in my time to lose myself in an alternate reality…to insert myself into the shoes of another and help them with the power of words through their struggle. Yes, my imaginary worlds have taken on futuristic oppressive governments and fanciful technology that takes over humanity, but the underlying struggles of identity, self-worth, and finding our place in the world are very much grounded in reality.

Translating those struggles into an approachable medium gives me the opportunity to invent new ways to bring these topics to the surface.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I nearly gave up on the publishing process. I was not the traditional candidate for representation or a publishing contract. I had no degree in writing or language. I had zero knowledge of the publishing industry. I was a guy in his 40s with a manuscript searching for someone to take me seriously.

Closed doors seem to meet me at every turn.

When I found my first agent, it was from an appointment I almost didn’t take. Her bio in the conference program made it sound like she was looking for anyone besides me and what I’d written. However, we met and hit it off right away. A few hours later, she sent me a request to see if I could adjust a character. I’m not sure if this was some kind of test or a real request, but I made the choice to be humble and made the adjustment. Something went right because an offer of representation followed, which turned into getting a publishing contract.

All because I didn’t give up.

If I had believed my own assumptions about that appointment…if I’d given into the ‘imposter syndrome’ that told me I didn’t belong…if I’d listened to all the naysayers that said my book was not marketable, I would have missed out on this incredible journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bradleycaffee.com
• Instagram: @bradleycaffeeauthor
• Facebook: @bradleycaffeeauthor

Image Credits
Carolina Portrait Designs Corrie Huggins Creative