Behind the Page: A Conversation with Thriller Author Chuck Beckett

From military service and decades of solving complex challenges to crafting gripping international thrillers, author Chuck Beckett brings a lifetime of experience to the page. In this exclusive interview, he shares the inspiration behind his PJ Steele Thriller series, the personal journey that led him to fiction writing, and what readers can expect from his upcoming novels.

Interviewer: So, how long have you been writing fiction?

Chuck Beckett: (Laughs) Some would say I’ve been writing "professional fiction" for 25 years.

Interviewer: "Professional fiction?"

Chuck: Federal, State, and Commercial clients would have a massive operational problem and hire us to solve it. That required us to analyze their current environment, research the art of the possible, map out complex logistics, costs, benefits, risks, and constraints, and then present ideas that sometimes never existed before on paper. In essence: fiction. We then had to create a compelling, airtight narrative to persuade them to make multi-million dollar investment options.

Interviewer: Ah, I see. So you're saying "Professional Fiction" and "Entertainment Fiction" share the same DNA.

Chuck: Both demand rigorous, in-depth research, the ability to connect disparate pieces of complex data, and the engineering of a persuasive narrative. Proposing multi-million dollar solutions taught me how to map out intricate systems. I use those exact same structural skills now to write the PJ Steele Thriller series.

Interviewer: I see. But where did this specific character and these international storylines come from?

Chuck: My time in the service, especially meeting the Davis family when I was stationed in Turkey. Master Sergeant Clifford R. Davis, a Vietnam-era medic with four Purple Hearts, kind of adopted me. He taught me search and rescue and underwater navigation.

Interviewer: So, Master Sergeant Davis is PJ Steele?

Chuck: Not exactly, but his fierce dedication to saving lives, balanced against cold combat realities, became the direct inspiration for the core conflict inside the PJ Steele character.

Interviewer: But wasn't your military service decades ago?

Chuck: Yes, I’m a gray beard. About a decade ago, I had reached a major burnout level at my corporate job, put in my four-week notice, and left around May of 2017. I went over to our beach condo in Panama City Beach, and after only a few days of doing absolutely nothing, I started to write several chapters. I gave them to my son to read, he didn’t hate it. He is a far better storyteller than I’ll ever be, so "not hating it" was incredibly high praise from him.

Interviewer: Is that what became your prequel novella, Violent Luxor Transition?

Chuck: It was my first serious attempt at writing fiction. It was a "Storming & Norming" brainstorming session with not a lot of structure. I've really enjoy that creative cycle. So, I've actually used part of it in the Novella, some chapters are in Book 1 and some even made it into Book 2. Other parts have not been used yet and may never be used. The novella I fleshed out before book 1 was finished. I put it on my website now as a free gift for readers who want to see where the character's origins began. It's very raw and has never been professionally edited.

Interviewer: Understood, but 2017 is still almost a decade ago. Why the delay?

Chuck: I thought I was retiring and would have all the time in the world to churn out chapters, but my wife, kids and friends had different ideas. After several months, I was persuaded to go back to work which I enjoyed but then COVID happened.

Interviewer: COVID?

Chuck: Yes, we were all sent home, so I went right back to the beach condo for months. I wrote a massive amount of material, created timelines, researched events, reviewed trips and got into a rhythm while the world calmed down.

Interviewer: It sounds like you had a complete book ready back then. Why didn't you publish?

Chuck: Because I still didn’t have a final name for the character.

Interviewer: Yeah, "Pierre James Steele" is a rather unique, striking name. How did you land on it?

Chuck: Originally, it was slightly different. We had a new sales recruit join our office by the name of Patrick Steele. I thought that was an incredibly cool name, and he was a cool guy, too.

Interviewer: Why change it to Pierre James then?

Chuck: Well, I knew from the start that I wanted the character to go by the initials "PJ," partly because he is a former Air Force Pararescue Jumper, and those operators are universally called "PJs" in the USAF. I chose "Pierre" because it fit perfectly with his deeper backstory of having a French grandmother.

Interviewer: Okay, that makes sense. How do you come up with your plotlines, and how many more missions will there be?

Chuck: My travels both in and out of the service have taken me all over the world. The plots are heavily inspired by those real-world locations and headlines in the newspaper.

Interviewer: So how do you take a real-world headline and turn it into a thriller plot without it just feeling like a news report?

Chuck: I’ve been to Malta twice now and absolutely love it there. One time while we were there, a migrant refugee boat got into serious trouble. One of the commercial ships that responded to the distress call was named the Viking Orca. It was all over the news for about a heartbeat but it stuck with me.

Interviewer: Really? The Viking Orca? So what happened next?

Chuck: You’ll have to buy Book 2, Savage Tunisian Ambush, this November to find out!

Interviewer: Fair enough! Beyond the desert, what does the future look like for PJ Steele?

Chuck: Well, calculating how long it takes to write a book is tricky since the first one technically took me decades! (Laughs) But once the momentum started, the floodgates opened. I’ve already started writing Book 3, Hostile Icelandic Defection, following a recent trip to Iceland. Moving forward, I see a massive roadmap ahead. I have ideas and outlines for the next several PJ Steele missions, a few spin-offs, and even a historical fiction project set in France near the Gorges of Tarn.

Interviewer: A historical project set in France sounds like a fascinating pivot. How does that connect to your thriller universe?

Chuck: It connects closer than you'd think! A character named Pierre Beaumont bridges that gap, but you’ll have to read Book 2 to find out how.

Interviewer: This has been incredibly fascinating, Chuck. I hope I can interview you again when you get ready to release Books 3 or 4.

Chuck: I’d really like that.

Interviewer: Before we wrap up, what advice would you give to other emerging indie writers?

Chuck: As my son has shared with me for years, writing is truly a personal journey and incredibly rewarding. I’m lucky to have the time and the means to do what I love, and the old saying stands: do what you love, and you will never work a day in your life.

Interviewer: With Book 2 dropping on November 16th, where should readers jump in if they want to get started?

Chuck: The prequel novella is always free on my website. But to celebrate the launch of Savage Tunisian Ambush, I’m actually making Book 1, Deadly Colombian Extradition, completely free on Kindle from November 3rd to the 5th. It’s the perfect window to catch up before the new story drops.

Interviewer: Well, that has me thinking of a dozen more questions, but I’ll save them for next time. Thank you, Chuck, and best of luck with the November launch.

Chuck: Thank you, and thank you to all the readers out there for all their incredible support.

To learn more about Chuck Beckett and the adventures of PJ Steele, visit the official PJ Steele Novels website. Readers can also explore Deadly Colombian Extradition on Amazon and stay connected for book releases, behind the scenes insights, and updates on upcoming thrillers through Facebook and Instagram.