As an author, I’m aware of the fine balance between not telling readers enough and telling too much. Beware of spoilers! Since there have been some requests to share what comes next, I’m delighted to write this post. I’ll try not to overshare! TMI, as my sons say:)
This past November I turned in novel 11 to Revell. My head editor gets the manuscript first before passing it inhouse to the rest of the team. She has loooonnnng experience with books and is very considerate of an author’s vision and story. When she waves the rare red flag, I take note. We agreed that the heroine’s name didn’t suit the hero’s very heroic name or the strong secondary female character’s name. I’d never been quite comfortable with calling her Paisley though her family hails from Paisley, Scotland. So, after asking readers for help on my FB Author Page, a very worthy heroine’s name was found. I hope it delights you like it does me. Names are such important things, even in fiction!
This novel is set in what is now present-day West Virginia, so incredibly historic and the perfect backdrop for a frontier story. Think Indian captivity theme and the settling of that very picturesque area along the Buckhannon River. My favorite scene is taken straight from the region’s pioneer history. Titling and cover art have now begun! On shelves January 2020.
I’m nearly halfway through writing this Jamestown novel, 1634. Or as they said back then, James Cittie. The 17th-century was an oozing mass of unrest as the new world collided with the old. And I now have new respect and also disdain for those first Virginia settlers. I’ve also learned that not much of what we have been taught about Pocahontas and her people is true. I hope to breathe more fact than fiction into this story inspired by her. On shelves January 2021.
Can you tell I love talking books?
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Please feel free to ‘overshare’ anytime. Especially since it relates to you writing more books :-).
Always a joy knowing you see these posts first, Amy. You’re always such a bright spot! Can’t believe we’re almost up to novel 13 though the publishing process takes a lot of time before reaching readers. Hats off to the great fiction line-up for us all in 2019!
Making my eyes water with anticipation of two more books. Both of them sound great so far and will look forward to seeing more about them in the coming month.
Beth, Oh, I’ll take that eyes watering with anticipation 🙂 My only lament is I can’t write faster. My dream is to turn out a book a month but that is truly dreaming! At least I wish that from my favorite authors. Thank you for taking time here. It’s so fun to share what’s next. Standalone novels are wonderful that way, each unique!
Always such a treasure to hear of upcoming books, Laura! Your books are too in depth and detailed to share too many spoilers 😉
Hugs in shared excitement of your upcoming book babies! ❤️
Nicki, Oh, love the word ‘treasure’ – so happy I’m in your reading corner 🙂 You’re such a gift. My hubby just informed me I need to add a villain to this Jamestown story. He hasn’t read it but is reading another book with an exceptional villain. So back to the drawing board I go 🙂 Bless you for being here. Your encouragement means so much!
How exciting! I can’t wait! I just want you to know that you are my favorite author and I share with anyone who will listen, lol. I now have my momma reading your books. Thank you for sharing with us!
Oh, Jenn! Such wonderful words to hear this wintry morning 🙂 I can’t thank you enough for reading, enjoying, and also sharing! So hope your mom loves them like you do. If you have a favorite, I’d be happy to know that, too. I’ll try to keep doing more of what brings you back to my books. Love your gracious heart!
Ohhhhh this sounds wonderful, Laura! So exciting! Praying for you as you write!
Oh, wonderful to see you here, Savanna! Mutual cheering on as you write away, too, and wear all the hats you wear so well! Thank you. Prayers needed and appreciated. You have mine, too:)
I so look forward to your books .I have every one of them on my keeper shelf.God bless you Laura.I receive your monthly news letter at my email and really enjoy it.
Dear Diana, Your faithful heart means more than I can say. Knowing my books have meaning to you and you keep them on your shelf goes a long way in times of personal discouragement. Thank you so much. Also, I’m so happy you read my newsletters! I’m working on a new one and have almost finished it, ready to press send next week. Bless you for being such a light!
Love the preview! Thank you! Can’t wait to enjoy these books in person. 🙂
Oh, Karen, it means a great deal you take time for my work in the midst of your own. Heartfelt thanks. I love talking books. Just wish we could all gather in person. My dream is to do that, maybe at Boone Tavern in Berea one day, even for just a day! Hope your sunglasses are on, my KY sistah 🙂
It is always such a delight to find out any little tidbit from your next books, Laura! The (your) American pioneers have my heart. 💛
Andrea, I think you are going to love this next frontier heroine when you meet her! She is no shrinking violet but is truly full of pioneer spirit 🙂 I had such fun with her character and that of her equally sassy, very elderly aunt. Really blessed by your heart for my books. I’ll keep writing if you keep reading! Thank you, thank you.
I agree with Amy – please overshare whenever you want! 😉 I just finished listening to “A Bound Heart.” I must say, I’ve not gotten much writing done, which is probably a good thing since I would be writin’ in a Scottish brogue! You ken? Oh. My. Goodness. So, so good!! Bless you for sharing your talent!!
Oh, love your heart for my books and those Scots 🙂 Truly, their speech is like candy! Thank you for listening to the audio – Aimee brings it to life in fresh ways, much like theater. Hope you’re home and enjoying that clothesline weather! And heartfelt congrats on your latest release! Happy it’s in my stack!
A good friend of mine’s husband and relative of Pocahontas wrote The True Story of Pocahontas: The Other Side of History. I recommend it. The author has died but because of Lin’s role in the tribe, he was in the best position to know the truth.
Janet, You are wonderful confirmation. Thank you. I have it right here beside me. Dr. Linwood and Angela Daniel have helped me sort truth from fiction. Sadly, fiction is what our whitewashed history has labeled truth. I often wonder how God could bless a nation when so much of it was based on sin and deceit. But then I think of Godly leaders like George Washington and others whose faith enabled them to accomplish herculean things which must have kept us from sinking under the weight of all that deceit and ungodliness. The 17th-century paints a grim picture of human nature. Wish we could sit down together and talk books over a cup of tea in CW. Or some peanut soup:) You are a wealth of history and information. Thank you so much.
My history loving heart is steeped in these areas of your next books. Ancestry.com reveals I am related to Pocahontas (as are thousands of others) as well as the West family of Williamsburg. Isn’t it true that your sins will find you out, which is true of historical figures. Writing fiction tiptoes through the good, the bad, and the ugly. But you do it with grace. Can’t wait.
Celia, Your history loving heart sure shines through. It’s a small miracle you found my books in the mountain of historicals out there. So true that writing fiction tiptoes through the good, the bad, and the ugly. It’s an ongoing lesson in the truth that the wages of sin is death. That’s what I find so fascinating about Daniel Boone. I’ve never unearthed anything remotely negative about him. Also, nothing taints George Washington though he was a slave holder, something common in his day but his will and manumission surely speaks to his conflicted feelings. I often wonder, too, if one’s legacy doesn’t pass down to the homes they inhabit. I’ve had history lovers tell me that they get an entirely different feeling when they go to Mt. Vernon vs. Monticello. I don’t doubt it.
I’m always excited to hear about what you are working on!! Both of these stories sound delightful!!! I can’t hardly wait to get to read and enjoy them!!!! Cheering you on as you write and explore history. I’ve learned that quite a lot of what I was taught in Elementary school about the early beginning of this country was inaccurate, especially when it involved the Native Americans.
It’s so good you’re right there with me as Revell unrolls these next books, Trisha. I’m really blessed by ALL you do for me and others when a book releases and also your ongoing, faithful support between books. If my FB page is ever able to access that elusive ‘Top Fan’ feature, you’ll appear right at the top, I know 🙂 But it’s not really needed as I know you’re there anyway. If I remember correctly, you have Cherokee ancestry like I do. It’s so important to deal with history truthfully. Atrocities were committed on both sides but the Natives really did attempt a peaceful start then could only fight back. A heartbreaking part of our history. I hope you love this Pocahontas-inspired story, especially.
Go down the rabbit hole, Alice!!! Is my view on book spoilers 😊😊😊 Laura anytime you write you make history come alive and inspire us all to keep pursuing the One who truly authors it!!!
Oh, one of my favorite elements of ALICE 🙂 And I do think you have a writing bone because I wish I’d said what you just did ~ “make history come alive and inspire us all to keep pursuing the One who truly authors it!!!” Amen! You’re heart for Him & books is a pearl of great price and I don’t say that lightly. <3
Hello Laura! In my humble opinion, you just can’t write fast enough. I loved A Bound Heart, and look forward to the new one coming n 2020. I’m excited that you gave us this little preview! Have read all of your books, and if you keep writing, I’ll keep reading. God bless you! ~Karen Q
Dear Karen, So glad you came over and decided to read my preview. Heartfelt thanks for the blessing of your encouragement. Just when I become discouraged or go through a valley of some sort, often unrelated to writing, reading friends like you make good medicine. Thank you, my friend!
Oh my, both of these sound amazing! Oh happiness to know that the next two years will each have a Laura Frantz novel!
Make that three years and 3 more books, Beth 🙂 I should have posted about novel 13 set during the French and Indian War. Woohoo!
Oh, Laura! You warm my heart when I get to read about these lovely upcoming treasures to read. Thanks so much for sharing with us. These two books are set in a couple of my favorite areas. Love that history! I can hardly wait.
Mary
Oh, Laura! You warm my heart when I get to read about these lovely upcoming treasures to read. Thanks so much for sharing with us. These two books are set in a couple of my favorite areas. Love that history! I can hardly wait.
Mary
Dear Mary, I’m so glad these sound appealing to you, too 🙂 Your opinion means so much. You’re one of the avidest readers (is that even a word lol) I know! I must be doing something right as you want to keep reading! I omitted novel 13 set during the French and Indian War. The hero in novel 11 is elevated to hero status during that particular war so it has sparked my interest. Might be time to rewatch The Last of the Mohicans. Thank you for being so faithful!
At least two more books yay. Looking forward to book 11. Love that the heroine is Scottish American. I’ve never read a book set in what is now West Virginia. Though I’ve read plenty of books set in Eastern Virginia Compared to the states surrounding it West Virginia is a “young” state. Not becoming a state till 1860s after it broke away from Virginia when they didn’t want to secede from the union.
Also looking forward to book 12 as well. Though I’ve never read a book set in Jamestown. Though I still remember being that kid in my elementary school class telling my teacher while we were watching Disney’s Pocahontas how historically inaccurate it was, I was the student every history teacher dreaded as I had a habit of proving a lot of them wrong. Or at the least point out the stuff they left out.
Carissa, Love that you know that WV history 🙂 I’ve always been a bit shocked that it didn’t become a state till the Civil War. But then Washington State didn’t become a state till 1889! And Alaska even later. Such young history compared to those centuries old Scots. When I was over there last time a Glaswegian as I think they call themselves in Glasgow said he or at least fellow Scots in his circle think of Americans as rebellious teenagers as our history is new and we’re quite impudent and rebellious, taking on King G. I laughed at that and do think there is some truth in it.
So glad you are a defender of the true story behind Pocahontas and her people. You must have scairt your history teachers lol but you make this author proud!!!
I read The Frontiersman’s daughter recently and thought it was so great, so much historical detail and a very good story. I finished The Lacemaker yesterday – one of the best books I have read this year – truly a unique love story and insight into the beginning of the American Revolution. I look forward to reading all your other titles, and hearing about your upcoming works with great anticipation. Thank you for sharing your gift of storytelling with us..
Janet, Thank you for stopping by here – I’m overjoyed you’ve been with Lael in her wild woods:) It’s quite different from my others being a coming-of-age novel and having 2 heroes, or so many readers tell me. Thank you for taking the time. It’s so encouraging you found me in the midst of so many books on shelves these days. Very thankful. That’s the wonderful thing about discovering an author you enjoy who has a backlist of books. You don’t have to wait a year for the next one! So glad you enjoyed The Lacemaker, too. I was doubly blessed that it won the Christy Award recently. Keeping that founding history alive is so important to me even in a small way through my books. You are a kindred history-loving spirit. Thank you so much and happy reading!
“A Bound Heart” is waiting next to my favorite chair!! But since I do like time to soak in the depths and details of a book, I will not pick it up until I have time to do that! Usually on a Sunday – because once I pick it up, I am lost to the present!! One of the reasons I love reading Historical Novels is to learn, understand and apply the lessons in my life here and now. So take your time Lauren. We appreciate the research and energy it takes, and exactly that transports us away!! Hugs to you!
Dear Mena, Love that cozy word pic of book and chair 🙂 I’m currently in my chair by the fire enjoying a foot of snow! Your appreciation for all the little details and nuances that goes into a novel makes it that much more enjoyable to write. Thank you for taking time for ABH whenever you have that pocket of time. Sunday are delicious reading days, yes. Love how you say that once you pick a good book up you are lost to the present. Thank you, kindred spirit reading friend!
Hello Laura! Your books are like good friends, I always hate to see the end of the visit. And then it is such a long wait for the next one. I am always revisiting your older books (old friends) to tide me over until the next new one is available. I am a native of West Virginia, so I have even more reason to anticipate the next novel!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful gift of story telling with us!
Dear Connie, Oh, what a wonderful thought that my books feel like good friends! Thank you for that. I’ll keep it close as I work on these next books. My hope is that someday I can release 2 novels a year. To wait a whole year seems too long even for me 🙂 Now that our nest is officially empty I may be able to do that. Love knowing your West Virginia history. Such a beautiful state with such rich roots! Bless you for being here. You’ve made my Friday extra sweet:)