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Friday, May 14, 2021

My Story Inspiration for Choosing Bravery


By Jacqui Nelson

What inspires a Western Historical Romance Adventure story? History and love combined with adventure is my favorite mix, but I also adore iconic or intriguing settings. And the story I'm sharing with you today takes place on—and inside—a mountain.

Last month I shared my Story Inspiration pages (the page I've included in the back of all of my books) for Between Heaven & Hell and Following Faith. Today I'm sharing the Story Inspiration page for the story that follows chronologically...

Choosing Bravery's Book Cover

CHOOSING BRAVERY 


Story Inspiration page ~ from the back of the book

While writing Following Faith and watching six-year-old Élodie Rousseau become such a fundamental part (even while mostly off-screen), I knew my next story had to be her grown-up adventure. I also knew she needed a larger-than-life man to match her big personality. 

A decade or more before, I’d met someone with the surname Bravery and tucked it away for future use. The right story hero never appeared to claim the name. After writing Following Faith and watching The Revenant, I knew Élodie’s match would be a legendary almost mythical mountain man. A man who’d been brought low by a bear, but could be lifted high by Élodie and her mountain home. A man named Bravery. 

When my research led me to Oregon’s Cascade Volcanic Arc, Newberry Volcano, and lava tubes, I knew the majority of their story would be underground—a challenging place to describe. When travel isn’t an option, a writer relies on pictures. I created a Pinterest board to help me visualize the story. For links to Choosing Bravery’s picture board and boards created for my other stories, visit my website JacquiNelson.com.


She's French American. He's Scots Canadian. They're a match made on a mountain.

CHOOSING BRAVERY

The Cascade Mountains, Oregon – 1868

When legends collide, will the sparks ignite their love or drive them apart?

After her parents vanished in the wilderness, Élodie Rousseau found a home with an Osage warrior and a logging camp schoolmistress who joined forces to return Élodie’s beloved spirit horse. With them as her teachers, she became the legendary mountain guide, Yellow Feather. She knows everything about surviving and thriving in the wild, but something is missing.

Legendary Far North fugitive tracker, Lachlan Bravery, is tortured by his failure to find the one person who mattered most—the mentor who taught him everything he once held sacred. Driven to repay a dead man, his hunt for a notorious band of outlaws brings him to Élodie’s mountain where they must join forces on a final quest deep inside a cave with the power to destroy not only their unexpected love but their lives.

Brave the wild. Bury the past. Choose your destiny.

Click here to read an excerpt on my website.

Book review "a sweet love story of two beautiful souls"


THE LONESOME HEARTS SERIES 


Choosing Bravery is book 3 in my Lonesome Hearts series, which follows the frontiersmen and women who meet on the Oregon Trail and afterward. Each story includes one or more of the characters from the other books but is also a standalone read.



Hope you enjoyed my writing inspiration and that you have a fun Friday full of...flowers! ❤️💐

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3 comments:

  1. Elizabeth ClementsMay 14, 2021 at 3:49 PM

    Armchair is wonderful for inspiration as well as a substitute for not actually being there. Bravery's story sounds wonderful as well as an intriguing setting. This is a series I'd love to read. Excellent post, Jacqui.

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  2. Elizabeth, awesome to hear you were intrigued by my setting and would love to read my series! Looking forward to one day traveling to your wonderfully inspiring corner of the world. I'm keen for a Canada road trip :)

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  3. Isn't it the best when the right character at the right time shows up. What a gift to you and now to your readers. Doris

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