Episode 99: Ali Brady, author of The Beach Trap
The Beach Trap has been hailed as “an enchanting, heartwarming story” (NYT bestseller Ali Hazelwood), and “the ultimate vacation read” (Colleen Oakley).
Author Ali Brady (aka Alison Hammer and Bradeigh Godfrey) join us to share how they co-wrote such a winning novel.
Alison and Bradeigh share where they found the idea for The Beach Trap, and how it wasn’t the first book they worked on together. Also, insights on how they became co-authors, their process for writing and editing together, and their best writing advice.
Books Mentioned:
The Beach Trap by Ali Brady (Bookshop.org / Amazon.com )
The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E. Smith (Bookshop.org / Amazon.com )
How to Fake It in Hollywood by Ava Wilder (Bookshop.org / Amazon.com )
Four Ways to Wear a Dress by Gillian Libby (Bookshop.org / Amazon.com )
As Seen on TV by Meredith Schorr (Bookshop.org / Amazon.com )
Imposter by Bradeigh Godfrey (Bookshop.org / Amazon.com )
Connect with the author:
Transcript:
** Transcript created using AI (so please forgive the typos!) **
Lainey 0:00
This is Lainey Cameron and Ashley Hasty. And the reason we thought it'd be fun to do it together is we have our first author who is actually two people with us. Ali Brady, is a combination of Alison Hammer and Bradeigh Godfrey. So we've never done this. This is gonna be a bit of an experiment to do a four person interview, but what the heck, you guys are very special being a two person author. So why the hell not?
Let's start with where are you joining us from? I think you're in the middle of your book tour, right?
Alison Hammer 0:29
We are one week into our two week bookstore at the moment. We are in Destin, Florida, where the book takes place at my dad's house. We're outside. It's a beautiful day. And we're getting the beachy vibes for sure.
Lainey 0:40
Ashley, over to you.
Ashley Hasty 0:41
Well, this book just came out last week. Oh, we all have our copies here. For those readers who have not yet read the book, can you tell us a little bit about what it's about?
Bradeigh Godfrey 0:52
Sure. So we initially envisioned this book as sort of a twist on The Parent Trap. So we have two girls 12 year old girls meeting at summer camp and becoming best friends. But then by the end of the camp, they've learned that they're sisters, they share a father. They're half sisters, and this family secrets in there. So this shatters their friendship. They don't speak to each other for 15 years until their father leaves them a rundown beach house in Destin, Florida.
Alison Hammer 1:19
So they, you know, get together again, 15 years later, after having not spoken and they get this house and they each want different things. One of the sisters wants to keep the house it's a place where she has special memories. The other one needs money. And so she wants to sell the house. So instantly, they're at odds, and then they spend the summer they agree to work on the house that needs a lot of renovations. So they work together repairing the house and their relationship over the summer. And they both have they each have a love interest, a sister story, but it's also two romances for the price of one.
Ashley Hasty 1:50
And this is the first book you've written together. And I know there's a pretty cool story about the inspiration behind it and how it sort of came to be. So can you tell us that?
Alison Hammer 1:59
We started out as as critique partners we met, the story goes that I did a little light stalking of Bradeigh, we are both members of the women's fiction writers Association. And I read like a 250 word snippet of her writing. And I was just like, oh my gosh, she is so good. I want to be her friend. And there was an opportunity, I think almost a year later to trade pages. And we traded pages and really liked each other's writing style and critique style. And it it went from there. I remember the day that she called me her CP, which is her critique partner and like going steady for riders. So exclusive or exclusive, no one else. So that's kind of a little bit about how we met and then do and talk about how we like made a jump and whether Ali Brady came from.
Bradeigh Godfrey 2:40
Sure, it was spring of 2020. And we're in lockdown, like the rest of the world was and we were just chatting about book ideas. And I remember I was sitting at the at the dining room table with my kids. They were homeschooling. Right, everybody's homeschooling, Allison was working from home. And we were chatting about book ideas. And she was telling me about an idea that she's had, I said that actually goes really well with an idea that I've had, what if we put them together and write a book together? And that's how it happened.
Ashley Hasty 3:04
So can I ask what the two ideas were that kind of merged into The Beach Trap?
Bradeigh Godfrey 3:08
Sure. And that's it's not The BeachTrap. In fact, so
Alison Hammer 3:11
this is we're you know, we've had this experience as solo writers. And also as a duo, it's very common that your first book doesn't sell. And for us, the reason our first book didn't sell we it will find its way out into the world, it took place in the pandemic, it's called Shelter in another place. And editors thought that it was just too soon to do something with a pandemic, but they loved our writing they loved like kind of our do bonus. And we'd given a paragraph. So really like the beach trip started, like Grady Lee said in the beginning that it started as a twist on the Parent Trap. And from there, it just grew. But our editor saw that and she's like, that's a book that I would like to read. And so we worked really fast. And we put together a five chapters and then an outline. So the origin story, I guess, of Ali Brady was for another book.
Lainey 3:54
I love that. And I know that Alison, you write really detailed outlines, it always amazes me. I've had the joy of being a critique partner in little, tiny ways as well with you. And I'm actually amazed that you have a similar style, right, that you're able to do those detailed outlines. And I want to ask you more about that. But before I do, because I'm fascinated on how you write a book together, I'm sure I'm sure that Ashley has to like, I can't even get my head around how you do this. But before I do, I want to say a couple things about the book because like you said, I was lucky enough to read an early copy, too. It's a beautiful book. Oh my goodness, the conflict that you ramp up in this book between the two sisters, like they have every reason to want different things and it works. So well. This book has got so much juicy conflict, but it's sweet and it's beautiful. And oh my goodness, I had a book hangover. I was genuinely sad when it was over and I was like, I want to go back. I want to like I want to go back into their world that's a skillful a skillful writer or in this case, para writers. You can create a world that you want to plunge back into the second you turn the last page. So congratulations. And I'm gonna read one quote from Ali Hazelwood who people might know as The New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis, and I think this captures it so well. She said, an enchanting heartwarming story about the families we're born into and the families we choose for ourselves full of beauty and hope and reminders that it's never too late to roll up our sleeves and rise above the mistakes we made. I cheered, I cried, I swooned while reading about blatant waking cats, their journeys to finding love to finding themselves and to becoming the sisters. They were always meant to be. Take this book on vacation with you and let its heart and humor sweep you off your feet. What a beautiful endorsement from I mean, I would say the Ellie's like a rom com writer, right, like, like, or would you call her women's fiction? Where would you slot her?
Alison Hammer 5:34
Yeah, she's rom com, and stem and we just adore her. She's brilliant. Her books are amazing. And she's an incredible human.
Lainey 5:41
Absolutely. And I love that it's romcom writer who wrote you this review, because I do think this book I actually wrote my own review has serious rom com vibes. I mean, it's women's fiction that does fit sister story. And there's just that beautiful gooey tone of a rom com in it as well. And I think that was really nice to get that into, like a serious topic around sisters dealing with conflict, but you've got that beautiful tone, you feel warm and gooey and just want to stay in the world, like I said, so I can't wait to ask you. How did you write and edit this book together? Because, you know, it's hard enough to write one book by yourself and edit it maybe with the help of an editor. But you guys have gotten to writers, to agents to different, you know, approaches, maybe tell us how that worked.
Alison Hammer 6:19
You kind of hit the nail on the head with the big outlining, I think in the writing world, there's plotters who plot everything out. And there's Pantsers we tease that we share brain sometimes, but we don't share brain is so much that we can't plot it out and do a lot of work in the beginning and a lot of outlining to make sure that we're all on the same page. And then I also think that because we spent so long as critique partners, we really work the way we work works well together. And so that was really natural. But do you want to talk about the details?
Bradeigh Godfrey 6:48
Sure. So like Alison said, we do a really extensive outline. So we know exactly what's happening in each chapter, we've mapped out the character arcs, we know where the conflict is hitting our typical schedule is we each write one chapter a week, and then we swap at the end of that week and let the other one read and edit the chapter. And so each chapter, it was drafted by one of us, but then the other one edits it. And then of course, as we revise, we just go through it over and over and over again, smoothing it all out. The goal is that it should feel like it's been written by one person.
Lainey 7:19
I'll tell you that I know Allison's writing. I'm actually excited to read Bradeigh's writing because their own thriller, thriller, right, that's coming out later this year. I'm so excited. I'm on the Net Galley list, it's gonna be mine. It's gonna I'm gonna have my fingers on it since I know Ali style. And it's really interesting, because I will tell you that I couldn't tell. So I like had a theory or hypothesis and who wrote which chapter, but then I would see touches of the other person in the other chapter. And I'd be like, I thought I thought I knew it. But now I see Allison, in this chapter that I thought was written by Bradeigh. That's so clever and funny. I think that's pretty, but it's a me Allison chapter. So you really couldn't, it's almost impossible, at least for me. And I know, you know, at least one of your writing pretty well. So well done.
Alison Hammer 7:54
And let me tell you, I love getting texts from people who are reading it. They're like, I think your cat Oh, wait, maybe you're like, Oh, but I think your cat and it goes back and forth. That's our goal like Brady's we want it to feel like it was written by one person that's been such a like a fun experience having people try to guess
Lainey 8:10
when you edited it, was there? Was there anything that is really different than where it started that readers who are loving it now, but be surprised to hear changed along the way? Like, did you ditch any characters? Or were there significant changes? Or was it because you did this outline? Was it pretty close to where you started?
Bradeigh Godfrey 8:27
It was pretty close. I mean, we worked a lot of that out in the outline phase, I will say that we amped up the spiciness level of the love scenes at the last moment. So last moment, when we were doing copy edits, like the last chance you get to really make any significant changes. And we amp that up quite a bit. It was like you know what people have read this book, people are reading this book, they're rooting for these characters. They're rooting for the love interest, let's just give them a good finale to be you know what I mean? Like, like, they want to feel it. So let's give it to them.
Alison Hammer 8:58
So in Funny story, so Brady did that with her the chapter that she wrote the sex scene she wrote, and it was so good and she upped the steam. I'm like, that's not fair that your character has a better experience of mine. So will you do that to mine so she up the steam in mind, and I made a couple of tiny tweaks to get it just a few tiny tweaks. But she's really good at
Lainey 9:19
Bradeigh, you've got kids, right? Do you do you like hide away when you're working on your sexy scenes? Or how do you manage that?
Bradeigh Godfrey 9:25
Yes, funny story. The very first like open door steamy scene I ever wrote was for that first manuscript we wrote, and I was started writing it at the table with my kids that were homeschooling. And I was like, Nope, no, I just shut away. But usually, yeah, I mean, now. Now we've written a few. So it's feeling like not like such a big deal anymore. It was at the beginning. I really like writing them and I've hopefully, I mean, no, my kids are too young to read them. But hopefully when they are old enough, they'll have grown up in a home that makes them feel like you know, everybody deserves to have great sex. Let's Just put it that
Alison Hammer 10:00
way. Yeah. And I think we usually tell each other when we're writing that scene. And then like, it's usually Bradeigh's more comfortable with it than I am. And she's really good at it, too. So it's one moment where I'm really happy to have a co author. I know
Ashley Hasty 10:13
you both worked really hard to get to this place, both on your solo careers and as your career as Ali Brady. So I want to know, what advice do you have for aspiring authors?
Alison Hammer 10:25
Good question. There's so many things, I'll pick two. The first one is something that I always need a reminder of, and that Brady's really good at reminding me is that the first draft drafts job is only to exist as writers. At any level, we're all really hard on ourselves, it's supposed to be hard. Like, if it was easy, anybody could do it be easy on yourself on that first draft. And the other biggest piece of advice is to find your people. I've had writing groups for every level every step of the way, when I was queering, I had a group of other queering writers, and there's nobody else your family and friends can like empathize with you. Nobody else who hasn't been through it knows like the joy you can get from getting a rejection. Because it's better than silence. Every step of this process. Publishing is so difficult. And every step has its own challenges. So find your people because writing is not a solo sport. And there's an amazing community that's super supportive. Just find your people.
Bradeigh Godfrey 11:17
Yes, I agree with both of those. And I'll just add finishing is really important. You've got to finish, if you're going to write a novel, you need to write it all the way to the end, you need to revise it, and then you need to start submitting it. And then you need to start writing something else. You want to have a career at this, you need to continually be writing, editing, submitting, writing, editing, submitting, and just get into a rhythm because that's what you're going to do once you hopefully have, you know, book deals, you're going to be continuing to do it. So just getting in the habit of doing it, always finishing and then my opinion is move on to the next thing, instead of getting stuck on the same thing, working it over and over and over 10 different ways.
Lainey 11:53
And so talking of writers you admire or books that you enjoy any good recommendations to make for us on the reading side.
Alison Hammer 12:01
Oh, so many do you want to go first? Yeah, so
Bradeigh Godfrey 12:03
I have a couple of things I'll recommend. I recently read The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E Smith, and I really loved it. It's a father daughter story. They go on a cruise together that the mother was supposed to take with the Father, but she passed away dealing with grief and loss and finding yourself there's a little bit of a love story in there. But that's not the point of it. And I just I really loved it. And then I'm also going to shout out a book that had the same pub date as us It's called How to Take it in Hollywood by Ava Wilder. It is much deeper than you think going in because a fake dating about between two Hollywood stars, movie stars, but it's much deeper than you think. And they go through a lot. They fight through a lot to get their happy ending I really loved it.
Alison Hammer 12:42
Were kind of might call us nerds. We just finished listening to our own audiobook they did a really good job on our audio. We've been flying a lot until you've been sharing iPad, air pods and listening to the audios the audio book has been good. But two other books that I would love to give shout out to one is Four Ways to wear a dress by Gillian Libby. It is like Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants all grown up plus like sort of self serve culture. So like a little gadget vibes. And I just absolutely loved it. And then another one I'm almost finished listening to is As Seen On TV by Meredith Schorr. People who loved book lovers by Emily Henry would love it. It's very like Hallmark movie versus reality. And it's really great.
Lainey 13:21
So I always love to ask if there's anything we missed. And I also want to make sure that we hear that Bradeigh's book that's coming in the fall. If you're willing to tell us a little bit about it. Why don't we start there? Tell us a little bit about the the one that you're also bringing it in the fall.
Bradeigh Godfrey 13:35
Sure, yeah, this is coming out in September. It's called impostor. It's a psychological thriller. And interestingly, it's also about two sisters that very different vibe than The Beach Trap. So in imposter, these two women have not talked to each other for three years. They've been estranged, they had a big falling out. The younger sister reaches out to the older sister and wants to get together again and says I have a matter of life and death to discuss with you. But on their way to the restaurant for dinner. They get into a car crash in the middle of a snowy night to get into a car crash. And the younger sister ends up in the hospital with a brain injury can't communicate with her. And the older sister is pretty certain that there was somebody following them before the accident. But it wasn't really an accident. It was a crash that they were hit. And so she really wants to figure out what was my sister going to tell me who was following us. And what's the secret that my sister is keeping for me. So it's twisty. It's fast paced, and it was a lot of medical fiction weaved into there and psychiatric issues as well
Alison Hammer 14:30
is really good and the medical stuff Bradeigh's a doctor, in addition to being an author with Ali Brady and her own, but it's very, very good.
Lainey 14:37
Awesome. And it's coming out in September that one right, I think so. You have one last question here.
Ashley Hasty 14:42
I have one question before the question that you are expecting but Bradeigh asked me this at the Chicago book launch event whether I identify more with Blake or cat and I said I particularly felt like I was more Blake with like, touches of cat in there. So I want to ask both of you how you feel? Do you identify with one character more than the other?
Alison Hammer 15:05
That's a good question. You know, and it's interesting in, in nonfiction people are looking for a lot of readers look to see things that are not true because it's supposed to be true. And in fiction, people kind of look for things that are true in the authors. And I think that we both put pieces of ourselves into the characters, but I don't think that you know, they're definitely not us. I feel like I've got probably more pieces of cat and me, I'm not handy at all. But I've got probably a little bit more cat than Blake, but I probably have a little bit of Blake to what about you?
Bradeigh Godfrey 15:35
Yeah, I agree. They're really not us. Blake is quiet is more of an introvert, which I think I am as well. But she's very handy. And she's very practical. There's some times when she, you know, maybe responds in a way that may seem more immature. And sometimes as readers, we like to call that out in characters and say, Oh, why can't she you know, just resolve is like an adult. But like, even we're real adults. And we sometimes don't resolve things like adult. Like we sometimes act like teenagers for a minute before we you know, before we kind of get over it, but it's normal, like people don't always act with maturity every minute of the day in real life.
Alison Hammer 16:08
I don't know what you're talking about.
Ashley Hasty 16:12
Maybe what about you? Did you identify with one character more than the other?
Lainey 16:15
So cat in the book is a social media influencers? And she's definitely at various points, feeling the pressure of like, what are you like, to the external world versus what's going on in your own personal life? And so I identified with that, like, there are moments where I'm posting pretty pictures on Instagram, but I'm feeling not well, physically. And I don't always want to be on there saying like, I'm having a bad day, I don't feel good. And so yeah, I identified with that kind of almost disingenuousness sometimes feeling like you, you want to just tell it like it is. But maybe that's a bit too much oversharing on social media. And so definitely I identified with an element of cat. But I also identified with kind of the pragmatism of Blake, I'm a pretty pragmatic person, I think. And so I think Blake was a bit more on the pragmatic, just like the world isn't always perfect. Get it done. kind of said, I thought they were both fabulous characters. And I related to both of them, really.
Ashley Hasty 17:02
So where can we find you on social media?
Alison Hammer 17:05
We are everywhere, probably the most active on Instagram, we are @alibradybooks.
Lainey 17:11
And we'll put all the links on the website at www.bestofwomensfiction.com as well as the links to all of the books that you've recommended.
Alison Hammer 17:17
Yeah, thank you.
Bradeigh Godfrey 17:18
Thank you so much.
Alison Hammer 17:19
Thanks for having us.
Lainey 17:21
Oh, you are so welcome. And it's so fun to have friends on as Ashley and I were lucky enough to go to two of your book tour events in different locations.
And so this is Lainey Cameron
Ashley Hasty 17:30
And this is Ashley Gasty,
Lainey 17:33
and we're wrapping up for the season.
Ashley Hasty 17:35
It's our last episode. And I think I counted correctly. This was our 99th episodes, I think our next one needs to be something special.
Lainey 17:42
Yeah. And so we'll be back in the fall with a special episode number 100 for the podcast. And also, I want to point out that if you are listening, and you have recommendations of authors of women's fiction that you think are among the best of the best, and we haven't had them on yet, feel free to send a little note or message to Ashley or myself. And if you're an author, and you're listening, we have a forum on the website where you can request to be considered for the podcast. It has become quite competitive, we get hundreds of people requesting to be on but we love to feature in particular diverse books that tell stories that haven't been told. So you'll see on the forum, we actually asked you that question, we asked you why you would be a great pick for the podcast. And we're very thoughtful and we read every single submission. So I do encourage you if you think that you might be a fit for the podcast, please go ahead and submit that form. We'll be going in about a month through all of the submissions for the fall. And I'm so excited that we got to end this season with Ali Brady. Thank you so much, guys for joining us.
Alison Hammer 18:38
Thanks for having us.