Today, I'm featuring author Brianna Campbell. Thank you for joining me as we get to know more about this newish author.
1) Who is your favorite comfort read author?
Allison Tebo, her fantasy retellings are so sweet and fun. Very light, comforting, family-friendly reads. Definitely my go-to for that kind of read.
2) What do you most like about this genre that you are writing in?
I am/will be a multi-genre author. However, I generally write stories led by social issues and emotions, which could make most of my writing literary fiction (but I've never read enough to understand it as a genre lol, but I've been told my stories sound like literary fiction and that focusing on social issues and emotion more so than plot is a large part of it)
I most specifically enjoy simply writing any story that allows me to understand people more. I love the opportunity to write in whatever genre my imagination gravitates to at the time, through stories that let me explore the world through someone else's perspective. I like grappling with how their beliefs influence them, how their struggles may end up mirroring my own, but from such different roots, and how the truth changes people. I love to go through the whole ride of emotions and come out loving more and growing in grace toward people.
My published book, Moments Late, I generally say is contemporary (ish...it starts over 30 yrs ago...), and my WIP to be published October 2026 is non-magical fantasy.
I enjoyed writing Moments Late in a normal modern setting, as it made it familiar and easy to navigate the world while I explored many heavy and difficult topics. The truth was simple to implement as it is the truth that already exists in our world. As I write my current WIP, though, I have to explore how this other world works and how God may reveal Himself in this fantasy realm, and what truth this world highlights and how the setting and atmosphere can affect that theme, which are things I didn't consider as much with my contemporary book.
3) How do you develop your setting (a photo, a trip, a random comment)?
In Moments Late, it wasn't given as much thought as my current WIP. Most of it just takes place in each characters' home, with a few outings where I just went with the first thought that fit. Most of the homes are roughly modeled after different houses I lived in throughout my childhood which I didn't even notice till I was done writing lol.
For my WIP, I knew from the start I wanted to pay more attention to setting, especially with it being non-magical fantasy, the world itself has to have something about it that sets it apart. I knew I loved flowers and generally wanted a landscape filled with life. I saw a picture of a glowing flower on Pinterest, and that started my worldbuilding inspiration. A world where, at night, instead of stars, the fauna and wildlife glow. I wanted it to be part of the rhythm of my world, where this light comes after a period of total darkness that draws people into prayer and rest as they await the light. Then I had to consider if they get light from plants, how might they use that to naturally illuminate their homes rather than use fire (they still use fire for cooking and when necessary, but it's far from a preferred means) so it influenced the way I designed their homes—hobbit like, built into the landscape, and inside the roots are trained into patterns, around or between the stonework and other plants may be planted inside, skylights and windows for daytime illumination, with lots of flowers at the sill. It's been very fun to design.
4) Do you have a favorite author that you would recommend?
I have way too many favorite authors...but I'll go with Brian McBride. I love his books. His contemporary works specifically, Every Bright and Broken Thing and Song and the Sea and Everything in Between, helped shape how I handled difficult topics in my own works.
5) Who is your favorite character in your book?
That is so hard...cause there are a LOT of characters in Moments Late (being a series of short stories and all lol) and I love them all... but I especially loved writing the characters that grew up throughout the series. There's a few kids that appear and have their own stories. Kathie first appears at 5 years old in her father's story, and she is so sweet. She has her own story when she is 15, and appears in the background of at least one other story in the series as an adult. There's just something more moving about seeing how much one story impacts the other, and loving her through every moment of it, rather than just the moment of her own struggles, and how her life and choices go on to change others. Michael and Milli were also a lot of fun, their banter as kids is adorable, and is part of my favorite scene in the entire series.
In my WIP, though, it is Deklan. The main character. Who, for the first through drafts, I struggled so much to understand and was really frustrated with, but as he has begun to come to life, and I finally understand what he wants and fears and believes, he makes for a very fascinating combination. He is so kind and gentle, yet fierce. He fights for what he believes, even if that belief seems to destroy him. He has strong ideals, specifically about marriage, which is also one of his greatest fears. He wants nothing to do with it...because of what he believes. At first glance you would wonder, why wouldn't he want to pursue those things if thats what he believes? But as I understood his true fear: that he is incapable of living in the way he believes and that God will reject him when he fails, it makes sense why he would try to run as far away as he can from the idea...and yet when pushed into it, he tries so, so hard to do it right (and constantly finds himself broken by his own inability to live up to it...in his own strength.)
6) Is there a specific line or scene from Moments Late that you feel directed the entire book in a specific direction? That is, if it were not in the story, everything would have changed?
A lot of Moments Late is caught up in the small moments that change everything. It hinges on what appears to be tragedy. And in most cases...none of the series could exist if just one small detail changed. It's hard to actually list any of them cause most would be spoilers lol Their actions tend to have multiple generations of impact.
So I don't think there is a specific line or scene in Moments Late that in and of itself changed everything (Though I suppose the central story "Before my Eyes" is the story that without it, the second half of the series wouldn't make as much sense. It is what poses the question, and ushers in the second half of the stories.)
But, there was one significant thing that caused the whole chain of stories in Moments Late to come to life, and it would have been...very, very different without it. Moments Late started with a short story called Dandelion. Dandelion is a tragedy I initially was required to write for a high school literature class. So many people loved that story. But I hated it...cause it was tragic. I loved Clay, and I wanted him to have hope, the hope his daughter had, the hope that would be ripped from him before he could even consider it.
Then I was told by a friend (now my husband lol), "You're the author, write a different ending."
So I did. And as I wrote it, other characters that appeared in the story started whispering their own.
And that is how all of Moments Late tumbled into being.
We almost had a single hopeless story...now it is 17 stories all intertwined to tell one truth: there is always hope. Even if it isn't the way we expect it. Even if it doesn't take away the pain or struggle. Even if nothing is changed and the world remains broken...there is a hope stronger than all of that.
7) What one question would you like to be asked, and how would you answer it? What is a moment in your writing journey that has been impactful? (or something like that idk how to word it? lol)
I'm not the type of writer that adheres to the old saying about writing, "Write what you know." I tend to believe more so, "Write what you are willing to take the time to understand." this often takes me places that are uncomfortable and frustrating at times.
While writing Moments Late, many of the stories pushed me to learn a lot. But A Future of Lost Lullabies, was especially challenging. Each draft I wrote, I struggled to understand the characters (who had two very different personalities from my own) and to rightly capture the issue they were struggling with. Each time I finished a draft, I prayed for permission to skip the story. I had so many other stories in Moments Late. I didn't need this one. It was very far outside my sphere of knowledge (I didn't have any relatives who struggled with this, and I was unmarried at the time I was writing it. Many people kept saying, why write that? just wait till you're older, and I very much wanted to agree with them.) but every. single. time. God said keep going. In very obvious ways.
First time I tried to give up, and prayed that He would let me lay it aside for now, all my friends spontaneously started telling me and sharing on social media about their struggles with miscarriage or infant loss. So I drafted again with this new knowledge...and asked again to just let the story go. Then it was National Miscarriage Awareness Month. I drafted again...and was still stuck, so I again prayed to just let me put the story on hold. Then I very randomly stumbled across all these different websites that explained how certain personalities worked together and showed the dynamics of my couple, and just...made them finally make sense...so I drafted again. Things started to actually add up and make sense. And I kept going and getting feedback, until it is now probably my favorite story in the series. If I'd given up on them, the series would be so different. If they didn't exist. One character would have died, and if he died he wouldn't have spoken the truth that another character needed to live. There wouldn't have been help for a different character...and as a result one character would remain in a terrible situation, and another character wouldn't exist and wouldn't impact the two characters she impacts. All the stories intertwine. Even if small. And their story probably has one of the largest ripple effects on the series, affecting nearly every story. And I wanted to give up on it.
Writing has frequently pushed me to rely more on God, and trust His lead. To grapple with my own beliefs and lies, and go outside of my comfort, and rely on His understanding and faithfulness to bring each thing into completion. Even in things I do understand...there's so much I don't know. Small things can make a situation so different from my own experiences. Even now, as I write my current story, I have to grapple again with the feelings of being incapable of expressing the heart and meaning of this story. I sometimes want to give up on it. But I know that this story is the one I am supposed to be writing right now. Just like I knew it with Lullabies and the rest of Moments Late. Even if I don't understand yet, I know that God will provide the tools and wisdom needed to write the story with the grace and truth and love that it deserves, and make it into something beautiful.
Thanks for allowing us a chance to get to know you, Brianna.
Thanks for the interview opportunity!
About the Author:
Brianna Lynn Campbell is an author and artist with a heart that is easily broken by the world around her. Brianna finds she cannot shy away from subjects that are painful and often ignored. Like many, she has wondered how there can be hope when evil and pain run rampant, and she strives to face this darkness with truth. Brianna lives in Arizona with her husband, Scott Campbell. She enjoys playing board games and cards with her husband and siblings.
Follow her on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0BHC22SQR/?ccs_id=30e52d41-4f1c-44a7-8f2a-6f4853b0e77f
