Author Pete Fleck discussed the writing process of his books “Angel Templar” and “Caged” on America Tonight with Kate Delaney.

Pete Fleck is an author who used to serve in the military for twenty-four years. With a love of martial arts, chess, piano, and standup comedy, Pete uses his skills to effectively tell his stories. In “America Tonight with Kate Delaney,” the author talks about his two books, Angel Templar and Caged.

Angel Templar follows a retired Army ranger and medic Kyle (Angel) Templar, who thrives on saving people. However, being a hero to these people comes with a list of horrible moments, which includes an active school shooting. Kyle strives to cope with the haunting of his ghosts through his small circle of friends, a new woman in his life, and his therapist.

Caged follows three different people: Michael, who uses cage fighting to cope with his anger issues, Courtney, who focuses on rebuilding her and her son’s life after a devastating divorce, and Steven, a rich guy who is trying to make amends for the horrible things he’s done. When their lives come to a crossroads, they are faced with a decision that could lead them to redemption or cost them everything they have left.

The Experiences that Helped Pete Discover a Passion in Writing

Kate Delaney started the interview by asking author Pete Fleck about how he came about writing his book Angel Templar. The author shared that the pandemic helped him explore different skills, such as Spanish, chess, and prison workouts. As the pandemic went on, Pete started writing. In eleven days, he finished the first draft of his book Caged.

“I put myself on this really strict regimen. Made myself read every day, I made myself write every day. I was doing prison workouts, was practicing my Spanish, was playing chess, was doing anything to self-improve. It was just 50 days straight, and that’s when I wrote ‘Caged’ and knocked it out in eleven days.”

After finding an editor for his first book, Pete got motivated to write his second book Angel Templar, which took him a long time to finish. He shared that he had a lot of fun researching.

“I kept hitting some walls, I go back, did some rewrites, re-edits, read this, read that. I think research in ‘Templar’ was a lot of fun. I got an apparition – a spirit – in there. And this is known in the common world known as the fourth man. It’s called the fourth man factor. ‘Templar’ has a lot to do with PTSD.

“The actual motivation for this book was what brought me into law enforcement. I came off of active duty the first time in 1990. I had a job as a site security supervisor at the city market in Indianapolis. My first day on the job, we had multiple shooting and stabbing. I spent my first day holding this lady’s hand while she’s vomiting blood up on me and everything. It really put a passion into me where I felt like, ‘You know what? Maybe I should spend my life trying to make things like this better or not happen at all.’”

The Third Man Factor and a Dedication to a Son

Kate circled back to Pete’s inspiration for writing his book Angel Templar – a phenomenon called the Third Man Factor. It is when people see another person saving them from harm during a very stressful situation that can affect their life. Other people will not see the person’s savior.

Pete Fleck used this idea as a drive to write and finish his book.

“It was an absolute joy and it was even more fun to read about it. I read this entire book called ‘Fourth Man Factor.’ I highly recommend it. It went over so many of those awesome stories.

“By the way, you’re going to find a lot of Kyles in my books. Kyle was actually my third child. He passed when he was six months old.”

The Takeaway

Author Pete Fleck hopes that his book Angel Templar can put some of the readers’ guilt out.

“I’m hoping they can put some of their guilt out. We all carry some amount of guilt, especially soldiers. I’ve met soldiers who did six combat tours and felt guilty they didn’t do a seventh. Felt guilty they couldn’t go back ‘cause they left their buddies over there. Everybody has experienced some form of PTSD, seen some horrible things, and dealing with PTSD and that guilt is mainly what I want the reader would get out of this.”

Readers can get a copy of Pete Fleck’s Angel Templar and Caged on Amazon and the author’s website: https://www.petefleckbooks.com/.