06/18/2006

'Deadstream' begins to flow from Chicago's Writer's Loft

Novel is first in planned trilogy

By Bob Darrow

bdarrow@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Brad Platt spent five years honing his writing in gritty, urban Chicago, but he couldn't get northern Michigan out of his system.

The author's memories of local landscapes are splashed all over the pages of his first novel, "Deadstream," published earlier this year.

The title swamp is located just west of Houghton Lake, where Platt grew up.

His inexperienced FBI agents, alcoholic cops, drug-smuggling brothers and revenge-minded young fishermen hardly stop to breathe as they chase each other around Roscommon County, trade bullets at the Mackinac Bridge and even swing through Traverse City.

"I've been told it's a fairly dark story," Platt said of the novel. "I just have a really overactive imagination."

Writing has always been one of his hobbies, Platt said, but he didn't pursue it seriously until he moved to the Windy City. In Chicago he found direction at The Writer's Loft — a sort of cross between a fiction-writing workshop and a support group for aspiring authors.

After fleshing out the plot of "Deadstream" for the better part of five years, Platt spent much of the last year writing and rewriting nights after he finished work.

"The part that kills you is editing and rewriting and polishing," he said. "There was a point where it was like, 'Oh my gosh, get me a martini.'"

In the process of completing the novel, he sought out the advice of a professional editor in Chicago and his wife, Julia Lilley.

"It had to be a weird experience, because she definitely saw a different side of me," Platt said.

Lilley, who admits to having no qualifications other than being an avid reader, said the editing process went smoothly.

"I think he thought, 'I hope she likes it,' and I thought, 'I hope I like it,'" she said. "We were both surprised by how well we worked together."

Platt, who moved to Traverse City with Lilley in January and opened a Century 21 real estate franchise, decided to publish the book himself through the online service Xlibris.

"I'm not going to let rejection letters not let my story out there," he said.

He said he has already sold more than 600 copies of "Deadstream," and the book recently received an honorable mention for the Great Lakes region at the 2006 Independent Publisher Book Awards.

"Deadstream" is just the first of a trilogy of novels, Platt said, but he plans to take his time finishing the next two.

Lilley, for her part, has no anxiety about dusting off her editor's hat.

"As soon as he's ready to show me, I'd love to read it," she said.

The book is available at Borders Books & Music, 2612 Crossings Circle, and at www.deadstream.com.