Shiloh Taken vs. Threatened by Judd

Comment:

Since my class had read Shiloh last school year, it was welcomed by all to continue reading Shiloh Season in the First Quarter.

We have a question for you as the Shiloh author. Why did you choose not to have Shiloh taken away by Judd for a conversion of his heart vs. constantly threatening that he would do so to Marty?

We have many potential authors in this class that are carefully watching your writing techniques.

We appreciate your time in answering our question, so we may become better writers like you.

Phyllis replied:

I really hadn’t planned to write a sequel to “Shiloh,” much less three more books in the series.  (No, there will be no more after “A Shiloh Christmas.”)  But so many students wrote to me absolutely hating Judd, and wanting something awful to happen to him.  I decided that I wanted to go into his background more, to explain why he is such a mean and miserable person.  If I had Judd take Shiloh away from Marty, then we’d be right back where we started, wouldn’t we?  With Marty trying to figure out how to persuade Judd to let him buy Shiloh.  But after the second book came out, I realized that readers would still worry that Judd would change his mind, and that there was only one thing Judd could do to persuade Marty that he would never hurt Shiloh…. (Read the 3rd book)