Third Wheel
Richard R. Becker
Copywrite, Ink. (2023)
ISBN: 979-8985381184
Richard R. Becker is an award-winning, best-selling American author. His debut collection of literary fiction and psychological thrillers began as a project to write one story a week for 50 weeks. It broke into the top 100 literary short story collections on Amazon for three consecutive months. It also won first place in the ABR Book Excellence Awards, Spring 2022 BookFest Awards, 2023 Book Excellence Awards, and was a finalist in the IAN Book of the Year Awards. His debut novel was released August 21, 2023, to overwhelmingly positive reviews.
Richard was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and raised by his grandparents after his father was killed in a car accident. They were poor and his grandmother suffered with cancer. These difficulties, along with Richard being afflicted with club feet, contributed to many early social and educational challenges.
Before his grandmother died, Richard was relocated to live with his mother and her new family in Burnsville, Minnesota, and later Las Vegas. Richard navigated these transitions and worked a variety of jobs (fast food, retail paint, muralist, stage foreman, and convenience store clerk among them) to earn an education. He attended Whittier College in California and then the University of Nevada, Reno. It was there that Richard transitioned from psychology and art to journalism, with an emphasis in advertising.
Richard graduated during an economic recession. With no openings related to his field, he started freelancing as a journalist and copywriter. He wrote hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles, with his byline appearing in the Denver Post, Los Angeles Times, and publications for Simon & Schuster and Paramount Communications. He also scripted a documentary produced with PBS and contributed to five books related to marketing, public relations, and management.
His freelance career quickly led to the foundation of Copywrite, Ink., a 30-year-old strategic communications and writing services firm with publishing experience. While Richard serves as its president, he has concurrently held several senior management positions with other organizations. He also taught at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for 20 years.
In addition to his work, Richard serves as a city council-appointed volunteer commissioner on the Las Vegas Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission. He has assisted more than 60 nonprofit and professional organizations as a consultant and board member. He has also been featured as a speaker for a variety of organizations, including Wizard World Comic Con, G2E World Gaming Expo, National Recreation and Park Association, Regis University, and U.S. Small Business Administration.
Aside from writing, Richard has a broad range of interests, including travel, hiking, parks, fitness, coaching, illustration, photography, and spending time with family. He is married and has two children.
Welcome, Richard. Before we dive into “Third Wheel,” can you tell us a bit about your writing journey and how you got started?
I began my literary career with a project to write 50 stories in 50 weeks at a pace of one story a week. I shared them on a social network until the project took shape as a cross-genre short story collection called 50 States. Each story was set in a different state. The collection took off, landing on the Amazon best seller list for three consecutive months and winning four literary awards. I followed 50 States up with a 10-story companion collection called Ten Threads, which is where I discovered a spark for my debut novel.
Aside from fiction, I’ve worked as a copywriter, journalist, and strategic communication professional for more than 30 years, writing stories about other people. I also taught marketing and public relations writing courses at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for 20 years. When I retired from teaching in 2020, I finally found time to write my own stories!
For those unfamiliar with the book, can you briefly describe what “Third Wheel” is about?
Third Wheel is a coming-of-age novel set in Las Vegas, 1982. It follows 14-year-old Midwest transplant Brady Wilks as he attempts to navigate life without clearly defined role models or a stable home. He eventually forms a brotherly bond with Mick, an older teenager who lives next door. The friendship provides some stability until the dynamic of their friend group is changed by a drug-dealing troublemaker named Alex. Alex pushes the group toward harder drugs, inviting them to join him in making a heroin deal with a drug cartel.
At its heart, the novel is about belonging, betrayal, and breaking away, but the action, suspense and criminal elements drive the plot by elevating the stakes. The choices Brady is forced to make, even though he is not equipped to make them, have life-threatening consequences for him and his friends.
What inspired you to write “Third Wheel”? Were there any specific events or experiences that catalyzed the story?
While Third Wheel is fiction, Brady and I do share some life experiences. Like many writers, it’s not uncommon for me to borrow altered bits of life and infuse them in the stories. I went a little further with Brady in that his initial framework mirrors my childhood.
The years are slightly different (Brady is older) and he hails from Ohio, not Wisconsin as I do. But we were both raised by grandparents, endured a challenging home environment, and were relocated to Las Vegas. I suppose this is what drew me in to start writing my debut novel instead of writing more short stories. Brady’s story was one I felt compelled to tell.
The time period, the 1980s, was filled with its own unique challenges and cultural dynamics. How did the socio-political landscape of that era influence the story and character interactions?
Third Wheel takes place in the summer of 1982, just months before President Ronald Reagan declared a ‘War on Drugs.’ And in Las Vegas, there was another war of sorts taking place. Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal’s car was bombed in the fall of 1982, which some might remember because of a scene in the movie “Casino,” which was based on the true story.
The car bombing is one of many pivotal moments when the Mob was losing control of Las Vegas. There was a power struggle between the Mob, law enforcement, corporations, cartels, and feds during the 1980s. There were stories in the newspaper and on the nightly news regularly. None of us were surprised by it in Las Vegas. It was a tiny town in a big city envelope. We went to school with their kids and didn’t think twice about it. There are plenty of old timers who lament that the change ever took place.
Brady and his friends brush up against the fringe of it, much like other socio-political issues of the time. As a whole, the U.S. was trying to recover from a hangover that defined the late 1970s — double-digit inflation, rampant drug use, political upheaval, ineffective answers to racial integration, and the loss of American prestige. I don’t address it all head on, but its serves as the backdrop for the challenges Brady and his friends face.
Brady’s desire to belong is palpable throughout the novel. Can you discuss the development of this character trait and its significance to the plot?
Brady’s desire to belong is a primary plot line and everything else are obstacles that keep him from belonging. This works exceptionally well in Third Wheel because Brady’s intention is largely innocent, but the obstacles in his way are disproportionately high. And in some ways, he is never given any clear path to what he wants. He is only given clear paths to what he doesn’t want.
As a kid with an under-developed sense of self, and a home environment that demands he sacrifice what little identity he has, Brady is ill-equipped to deal with what is being asked of him. But that is what makes him such a good transformative character. We don’t know if he can figure it out. And even if he does, we don’t know if he can figure it out in time.
Brady’s interactions with his mother are filled with tension and emotion. Was it challenging to write these scenes, and how did you bring authenticity to their strained relationship?
I had five beta readers read Third Wheel before sending it off to my editor. At one point, one of them emailed me to say she found several stories Brady shares about his relationship with his mother unbelievable and suggested I tone them down. I took her advice and toned them down, but not before sharing that some of those stories were my stories.
Ernest Hemingway and John Updike are two of my favorite authors because they are committed to writing straight, honest prose about human beings. When I committed to Brady Wilks, I promised myself not to hold back, wherever the story took me. It wasn’t easy, especially compounded with some real-time challenges happening while I was writing it. But I did it.
Alex’s character shifts the dynamics within Brady’s circle of friends. How did you approach creating a character that was both an antagonistic force yet pivotal for Brady’s growth?
I’ve always believed that adversity is often the key to growth, at least in my experience. Alex is the personification of such adversity.
There is absolutely nothing Brady can do to win Alex over, and yet, Brady is forced to placate him throughout the novel. They both want what they don’t have, but their intentions are polar opposites. Brady wants to belong, whereas Alex wants control. They may have learned something from each other had Alex not already drifted so far down his rabbit hole.
“Third Wheel” navigates the treacherous world of drug cartels and the mob. Can you share some insights or unexpected facts you discovered during your research for these plot elements?
I didn’t expect to be surprised because I grew up as a teenager in Las Vegas, but I was, at times. I knew that there was an uncomfortable relationship between the Mob and cartels, but I didn’t know about the complexities. On one hand, Mob-run casinos were catering to cartel bosses as big fish gamblers. But on the other, the Mob didn’t want them moving into the city.
As the Mob influence was being challenged on multiple fronts, cartel drugs were beginning to come in through the back door into Las Vegas via teenagers just like Alex and, more than likely, some people with dual loyalties. The change wasn’t confined to Las Vegas either. There were stories all over the Southwest and West Coast.
Aside from all that, there were two interesting facts I appropriated. There were some members who were influenced to join after seeing the movie “The Godfather.” And there is a minor connection to the Church of Satan, which I included in Third Wheel for two reasons because of Alex’s fascination and because of another story in the works.
The term “Third Wheel” is heavy with implications of feeling out of place. How does the title reflect deeper themes within the story?
Brady feels like a “third wheel” in all his relationships. Mick is his best friend, but Brady feels challenged any time kids who are closer in age to Mick are around, especially Alex. He feels like a “third wheel” at home because he’s a relative newcomer within the household. He feels like a “third wheel” in his relationship with a girl who is four years older than him.
These feelings underscore the plot. Brady wants to belong but never feels like he does, anywhere. He is the odd man out. He is the third wheel.
How did you decide on the narrative structure of “Third Wheel”? Were there certain narrative techniques you deliberately employed for this story?
Brady may be more honest with readers than anyone else, but he isn’t a reliable narrator. He isn’t even always honest with himself and other characters are not honest with him. By presenting the story as a first-person, limited narrative, it’s told through his filtered thoughts, feelings, and experiences, which is important because he influences how we feel about him and others.
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced while writing “Third Wheel”? Were there any scenes or character arcs that underwent significant revisions?
In the initial draft, some of Brady’s narrative was non-linear. He would tell part of the story in order of importance as opposed to the order of events. It proved to be too challenging for some of the beta readers to keep everything straight so all of those chapters were rewritten. I wasn’t sure I could manage it at first, but those rewritten chapters were better for it.
After finishing “Third Wheel”, what do you hope readers will carry with them or reflect upon?
At its heart, Third Wheel is about perception and the human condition. It’s about our desire to belong, and what happens to those of us who are betrayed by the very people we need the most. I’m not sure anyone will find the answer in Third Wheel, but they will find out what that means for Brady Wilks.
Aside from that, I hope they know it’s never too late until it’s too late. If you are with the wrong crowd, in an abusive relationship, or stuck in self-destructive behavior, get out. It’s not too late. It’s not too late until those circumstances are fatal.
What kind of feedback have you received from readers? Did you hear anything that offered a perspective on the story you hadn’t considered or that surprised you?
Several readers cautioned me that it takes too long to like Brady. This wasn’t intentional, but it is by design. Brady doesn’t like himself at the start of the novel. But that’s what makes him a remarkable, albeit challenging, transformative character. He’s not a good kid. He does bad things. But as he grows to understand himself, most readers will grow right along with him.
Are there parts of “Third Wheel” that resonate with your personal experiences or memories?
I understand Brady in that I know what it’s like to move from one trauma to the next. I grew up with a perpetual identity crisis. I always worked hard to propel myself forward but it was always under a cloud of uncertainty and confusion.
My grandmother wanted me to emulate my father, who was killed in a car accident when I was two years old. After I was reunited with my mother at the age of ten, she thought it was in my best interest to alienate my perception of my father and the foundation my grandmother provided. When kids don’t have structure or acceptance at home, they tend to find it in places where the price of admission in a friend group is as easy as passing a bottle of whiskey around.
Looking ahead, are there upcoming projects you’re working on or is there a continuation planned for “Third Wheel”?
My next novel is a psychological thriller with a literary fiction bent that takes place in Maine. I’m three chapters in, with two of those chapters already published as short stories. I have another idea after that, but it is also safe to say that there is more to the Brady Wilks story than Third Wheel.
Is there anything else you’d like to add today?
Two things.
Stay tuned because I’m currently working with Emmy-award winning voice actor Brian Callanan to produce Third Wheel as an audiobook. I’ve already listened to several chapters and he has done an amazing job!
And thank you so very much. I found your questions provocative and truly enjoyed sharing my answers. Reader Views is a new favorite!
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