Know The Novel Take #1: Oh, The Lamented

All right, all right, since I want to be back at real blogging that means I'll be sharing more about my writing, and personally I've wanted to be doing more blogging about writing, personal life, baking, and just things I like in general. What do you think, sound like a good idea?

So, I am no longer doing NaNoWriMo. There are just way, way too much political crap that they are shoving down everybody's throats, and there's lots of kids involved especially in the junior or whatever NaNoWriMo, (yes, I consider up to 16-year-olds kids, but only in the fact that they're kids because my siblings are those ages and they're kids. And I don't mean kids as an insult ... They are more than their age and their youth has no standing except to make me want to protect them the same as my siblings.) I mean, come on! It's bad enough to do it on social media but it's supposed to be a fun and friendly environment safe for young writers, so no more NaNoWriMo, but I'm kind of signed up for four different alternate camps (overachiever much, you say? yeah...) and way better, lots of fun, and with wholesome beliefs and a lack of shoving politics down your throat and through your head till your ears bleed ... Yeah, so that's a lot of camps but they are on Slack and Discord. Anyway, that just means I'm doing Christain camps with friends and challenging myself but not on NaNoWriMo.

1. What first sparked the idea for this novel?

Man, I don't even really remember. It was back when my family was on a small trip. We were in the mountains of Tennessee, driving on roads that curved through deep valleys, up to hills that had you overlooking and under some of the prettiest views of mountain peaks, and I was texting with a friend about an old flash fiction I'd written the year before and forgotten about until then, that was the spark for Oh, The Fallen, what was supposed to be a single novella stayed that way until I realized I loved the characters and that the nameless SGT became Frisco in the final rewrites of Oh, The Fallen. I went with it, thinking maybe I'd write another novella after Oh, The Fallen was published but by the time Oh, The Fallen was releasing I had half of the backstory for Oh, The Lamented... Which grew into there being a story for each of the guys: Matt (Oh, The Fallen), Frisco (Oh, The Lamented), Sean (Oh, The Dwindling), Burns (Oh, The Slain), Ridgewell (short story Oh, The Hopeful), and then came two more ideas for Danny (Oh, The Fallen and now Oh, The Cherished) and her new hero who you'll meet in one of the novels and then another novella will end the series with the POV (point of view) of Frisco's big brother, Memphis (Oh, The Redeemed) and all of those plus a few short stories are what have become of one small idea while driving in the mountains while texting and writing in an old notebook... So, yeah, that's what led to Oh, The Brave.

And that's all on where Oh, The Lamented came from!

2. Share a blurb (or just an overall summary)!

I haven't gotten together a blurb or summary for the whole series of Oh, The Brave yet. but I think I might if only for myself, someday! For now, though I'll share the blurb for Oh, The Lamented:

He's a newly saved retired soldier looking for healing in his marriage and a chance to raise his child. Frisco gave over twenty years of his life to the Army and now knows that nothing he's done will give him the peace he craves.

A new faith has built in his heart but will he have the strength to let go and let God be God?

Trina Francisco gave up on many dreams as the years went by. Her heart broken by the past, her future uncertain, life has left her searching for an unreachable peace.

Trina swore never to let Christians hurt her again, but her husband returns home changed—for better or for worse?

3. Where does the story take place? What are some of your favorite aspects of the setting?

I don't really know... I know that the series takes place in a fictional town that is somewhat like a few of the towns I've been to in Tennessee but other than knowing the town is Chapel Creek (there's a fictional county too and other towns but we're only getting into the town of Chapel Creek right now.) and the other towns I've mostly set it in a setting like Tennessee. I'm leaning more and more towards it being like Tennessee. I love Tennessee and I am sad that we can't live there but it's a good setting for my town and I've come to truly love Oklahoma. But that's not what I'm talking about here... So let's get to know Chapel Creek a bit, shall we?!

Chapel Creek is the hometown of the Francisco family going back to the late 1700s-early 1800s (meaning, maybe even before Tennessee was considered a state.), they are one of the leading families of Chapel Creek.

They have a ranch, one of the eldest Francisco daughters, Savannah, is married to Tyler Grey, eldest child of the Grey family, the Greys have been part of the Chapel Creek for nearly fifty years though the current eldest Mr. Grey moved out of town and only returned to his family's old home when his children were in their early adulthood-late childhoods.

They own the diner/cafe in town, which is now run by Vannah, part time and she and Tyler homeschool their children often at the diner and at the church.

In Chapel Creek there's only one official church which I'll be touching on in the books so that's all I'm gonna say but like the church, well, there's only one bar.

Now, this is not me endorsing alcohol... It is just me saying that there will be a bar and that Oh, The Lamented has a scene or two in a bar... I do not show drinking in a good light in Oh, The Lamented and there are themes that show the issues with drinking, how it can affect a person, and more.

So, yeah, I'm going to be tackling hard topics in this series.

Now, my favorite place to write about in Chapel Creek would be the book store and coffee shop which aren't a big part of Oh, The Lamented btu in later books they will show up quite a lot!

There's also going to be a small part set in the hardware store that's been around since before WWII.

That's the first real intro and greeting from the fictional town of Chapel Creek, I can't wait for you to "visit" upon Oh, The Lamented's release.

4. Tell us about your protagonist(s).

Ahh, okay, there are three POV characters so far in Oh, The Lamented.

Frisco, of course, is the main lead! He's a husband, retied soldier, and recently saved Christian.

Memphis is his elder brother... The one who practically raised Frisco which I can't share much about now, but let's say these brothers are awesome and I can't wait to share their story!

Finally, Trina... Ahh, she's a hard one to get right. Her character is just so layered much like an onion, and she has so many things to heal from...

I won't be introducing anyone else right now but below are the core families of the whole of the Oh, The Brave series. Tell me in the comments who you think will be in the following books. Can you guess who might end up with who on the romance front?

5. Who (or what) is the antagonist?

Faith, well, okay, faith and having or having a lack of faith is truly the antagonist of this story... But I don't want to give anything away so that's all I'm gonna say here.

6. What excites you the most about this novel?

Getting to write about a military hero who is retiring, the fact that he and his wife are getting a second chance at being a family. The brother ties between the team that Frisco was part of before retiring, really everything is exciting to me about this novel. I am so excited to be writing it!

7. Is this going to be a series? standalone? something else?

All right, we talked about this being the first novel in the series, but another fact is that not only will there be the Oh, The Brave series but there will also be a sequel series which I am so happy to be making plans for as I write and publish Oh, The Brave and I have a slight idea for a sister series that is connected in the fact that it is set in some of the same fictional places that Oh, The Brave is too. But neither of those are firm facts so we'll see what happens and where God takes me with this series and if He really wants me to write The Meaning of Life and Ally's Hope series.

8. Are you plotting? pantsing? plansting?

Ehh, I'm a making this up as I go and sometimes writing out a few hundred words in plans that are a basic plan with light notes on what will take place. I'm a total mood writer and do not do well with structured writing plans.

9. Name a few unique elements in this story.

Hm, I don't know what exactly I can say is unique. I know that there haven't been many second chance romances with married couples, or that many books about a soldier retiring and either staying retired or going home unless they were horribly wounded. Really, everything about Oh, The Lamented is unique to me. 😉

10. Share some fun “extras” of the story (a song or full playlist, some aesthetics, a collage, a Pinterest board, a map you’ve made, a special theme you’re going to incorporate, ANYTHING you want to share!).

Ahhh, this is one of the questions I've been most excited to answer! I have a whole playlist with nearly 100 songs for Oh, The Lamented.

I also have a Pinterest board for the whole series, I love getting inspired by pins. It can be so much fun to also find ideas for writing prompts on Pinterest.

And that's a wrap, I hope you had as much fun reading this post as I did while

writing it!

See ya, booknerds!

Abigail