FUN ‘N GAMES BEHIND THE DIVIDED NATION | BLOG TOUR, DAY 3

The Divided Nation is currently ranking high at #245 on Amazon. We’re super close to bestseller so the sale will continue today (in case you missed my newsletter, Alex Thompson, my Aussie character, hacked my account and put the book on sale. He changed the password. I can’t get in to fix the pricing yet)! Share the word, y’all. And maybe help me guess the password? But anyway, BIG THANKS to everyone who snagged a copy, it means the absolute WORLD to me. If you’ve read The Divided Nation, now is the perfect time to review it on Amazon!

THE DIVIDED NATION

The Divided Nation (The Infidel Books, #1)

WHEN THE NATION DIVIDES, THE INFIDELS MUST RISE.

The United States has fallen. Three years after the 2024 presidential election and the declaration of martial law, the nation is at war against itself. Gangs battle, civilians struggle for survival, and officials of the United Nations  thrive. West Johnston, heir to the most powerful ganglord in the country, refuses to continue the family legacy. But, in order to defeat his father, he must become him: bloodthirsty and willing to do whatever it takes for control.

West gains control by helping fellow gangsters, Nate and Simon, when they form an alliance with one of the last remaining townships in America. After years of surviving and winter fast approaching, Springtown is in desperate need of supplies from the two teenagers. When the town leader’s daughter, Rene’, is kidnapped by an unknown rival, Nate and Simon risk their reputations to save her and the town they now love. But without help from West, their rescue mission will fail.

Told in multiple bold, abrasive narratives, THE DIVIDED NATION steps into a future where brotherhood bonds must be stronger than iron to survive a broken world, and faith without courage is dust in the wind.

Goodreads Amazon

 

GIVEAWAY

US shipping only. If an international winner is drawn, they will receive an ebook only.

1st place: hardback copy of The Divided Nation. A custom mug with a quote from the book, bookmark, and an exclusive snippet from The Infidel Books.

2nd place: paperback copy of The Divided Nation, bookmark.

3rd place: ebook copy of The Divided Nation.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

SCHEDULE

 

August 12th

Author Interview @ Taking Up My Cross

Book Spotlight @ Unicorn Quester 

TODAY’S STOP | August 13th (RELEASE DAY)

Author Interview @ Coffee, Classics, and Craziness

I had a BLAST being interviewed by my dysto loving pal, Eva!

Author and Character Interview @ HauntingGhostTown

Shine is a delightful interview and I think y’all will like the answers to these questions… 😉

Character Interview @ Imperial Scribis 

Merie is a fantastic friend and I ADORED watching Gideon respond to her questions. Chaos ahead!

Character and Author Interview @ FaithLaneAuthor

Another FANTASTIC interview, though I’m not sure if the character isn’t still traumatized… *spoilers*

August 14th

Book Spotlight @ The Writer’s Song

My dear friend (and I met her at Realm Makers and we had a BLAST) shared about TDN on her blog! Give her a follow!

Guest Post @ Jaye L. Knight

I had the honor of guest posting for Jaye L. Knight. I met her at Realm Makers and she is officially a huge inspiration, y’all.

August 15th

Book Review @ Kaitlyn Krispense, Author

August 16th

Book Review @ We’ve Got Pockets 

Book Review @ Bella Putt: Writer. Reader. Follower of Christ.

August 17th

Author Interview @ Gabriella Slade

Book Spotlight @ Stories by Firefly

Book Review @ Scribes and Archers 

August 18th

Author Interview and Guest Post @ Tangled Up In Writing

Guest Post @ Read Write Breathe

August 19th

Book Review @ Reveries 

Book Review @ Just Writing

Author Interview @ Allison’s Well

Book Review @ Books, Life, and Christ

 

FUN ‘N GAMES OF WRITING THE DIVIDED NATION

News flash: I did not spend every moment of writing The Divided Nation fighting it or crying in pain. Surprised? So, in the spirit of excitement, let’s have some FUN. I’ve written some heavier posts in short doses already but The Divided Nation wasn’t all blood, sweat, and tears. It was also fun, laughter, and rejoicing. So while this post will be a bit random, I hope you enjoy it.

From the start, music has been a huge inspiration for this series. While both playlists are SORELY lacking from updates (I could have hundreds of songs on them, I just fail at doing so), I have Youtube and Spotify playlists for these books. It was SO much fun to turn on the music, sit in my bed, surrounded by blue Christmas lights, and write about the characters last winter. Music made things way more enjoyable (and creepy).

I enjoy TV and movies. Sadly, about the time I started writing The Infidel Books, I lacked a lot of TV shows and resorted to movies. The movies gave great inspiration (American Assassin, The Patriot, Hacksaw Ridge, Logan) but I missed my shows, like Jericho, Hawaii 5-0, and others. Obviously, the right way to deal with the loss was to write something close. Which I did, in fact, do, by promptly creating a character named Kona (take a wild guess who he was based off of… ha) and writing some drabbles with him. While my big teddy bear Hawaiian man has YET to enter the series, I cannot wait till he does.

I like accents. A lot. And lots of them. Not surprising, since I have one, but I didn’t want to go overboard with anything in the series. Most readers don’t like being bogged down by heavy accents while reading. So, since Alex Thompson, one of my characters, is Australian, I wanted to get it right. I chatted with my Australian friend (thanks, Jane!) and Googled tons of Aussie slang. But here’s the funny thing. Once I researched Aussie slang and all, it was really easy to substitute things, myself. Gas station mentally became servo. I got lazy when typing so instead of “definitely” or the dreaded “def” I switched for the Aussie middle ground “defo”… Yeah. Writing dark, gritty dystopian can get wild, y’all.

I get ahead of myself. Lots of people notice the cast of The Divided Nation isn’t small and it took lots of work to keep things reined back. I’ve got so much in store for this series… But my notes aren’t always helpful. “HE IS A NAVY SEAL OFFICER AND DESERVES LOVE” and “HE WILL BE A REALLY GOOD COOK AND MAKE PEOPLE CRY” is probably in my character notes, somewhere. The fact is, it isn’t too hard for me to keep them all straight, since they’ve bothered me for years.

I had a dream about two of the characters and it made me laugh, still makes me laugh, to this day. I can’t tell y’all what the dream was, but I’m curious if anyone else has had dreams about their stories. And if you’re like me, where the darkest book you’ve written gives you funny dreams.

Research can be violent and fun. I’m a karate-ka, a green belt in Wado Ryu, and was before I began writing this series. Basically, I get lots of compliments on how I write action and fight scenes, and my biggest tip is go do some of it yourself. Join a self defense class or dojo. I’m a firm believer everyone should have some basic self defense knowledge and if you’re a writer, it comes in handy, too. Believe me. It’s always amusing watching my sensei drop someone and mentally going “I’ve gotta write that in somewhere”.

I’ll stop here for the day (there will be more of this fun talk on my live Facebook video, which I can’t schedule yet…) but yes, this book was bundles of fun to write, along with the pain and tears. I hope you enjoyed this fun insight.

God bless,

Angela

 

4 thoughts on “FUN ‘N GAMES BEHIND THE DIVIDED NATION | BLOG TOUR, DAY 3

  1. Faith Thompson says:

    This is awesome xD I know I’ve had dreams about my books but I don’t currently remember any of them? Oh well.

    <3 Thank you for the shoutout!!! It truly was so good seeing you at Realm Makers and SO MUCH FUN AGH

    Reply
  2. Merie Shen says:

    Now THIS was a fun post. :))) I adored Alex’s accent and had to grin each time something Aussie showed through. And dreams about your own books are the strangest, but also most hilarious, things ever… especially when they feel a tad bit too real. :0

    Reply

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