August Novel Essential Information

Novel Title: No Alternative

Time Setting: 2019

Genre: Life

Minimum Word Goal: 90,000

Timespan: Late May–Early September

Location: Kamloops, British Columbia

Main Character: Drake Bradley

Background Information: 

The oldest of five children born to a chef and his baker wife, Drake has grown up around food and cooking, as his parents have both worked in the same restaurant for all his life.

His great-uncle ran the restaurant initially, but his love of good food and disdain for exercise caused him to die of a heart attack while Drake was still young; furthermore, his daughters weren’t interested in the restaurant, thus Drake’s father inherited the restaurant upon his death instead.

Since then, the restaurant hasn’t been doing the greatest. It still makes a profit, but the profit margin has shrunk every year. On top of that, the staff turnover rate as nearly doubled, as Drake’s father is very controlling — a behaviour fed by his uncle having considered him unable to do anything wrong and all of his ideas strokes of genius.

Although Drake learned how to cook at a young age and has always enjoyed good food, he’s never had an interest in the restaurant, but he knows better than to let that be clearly known to his parents because they expect him to take the restaurant over when they retire.

Drake, however, wants to become a pilot, and preferably a bush pilot flying people to remote locations throughout the BC Interior; in fact, seeing as one of his friends aspires to go into Search and Rescue, the two of them have plotted that maybe he would do the flying for the Search and Rescue team his friend would join.

To his parents, however, he is the dutiful son still learning more cooking skills from both parents — and receiving rave reviews from family and friends when they’re served his cooking — and working as a waiter at the restaurant on a regular shift, as well as in most any emergency situation.

Thankfully, though, the end is in sight. He’s graduating at the end of the school year and is looking forward to receiving some money from his parents toward secondary schooling, at which time he means to enrol in an aviation program and move onto living his own life and leaving the restaurant to be taken over by one of his younger siblings.