Blog Tour: Star Dwellers by David Estes

Today it is my total and complete pleasure and honor to welcome author David Estes to my blog to celebrate his blog tour for his most recent publication The Star Dwellers (The Dwellers #2)!

I was completely floored with David's first attempt at a dystopian novel, The Moon Dwellers (The Dwellers #1) and, needless to say very anxious to get my hands on the second book! What a surprise when I was honored with an Ecopy ARC of this book to read and review.

Title: The Star Dwellers (The Dwellers #2)

Publication Date: September 30, 2012

Publisher: David Estes

Buying Links: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

After rescuing her father and younger sister, Adele is forced to leave her family and Tristan behind to find her mother in the cruel and dangerous realm of the star dwellers. Amidst blossoming feelings for Adele, Tristan must cast his feelings aside and let her find her own way amongst the star dwellers, while he accompanies Adele's father to meet with the leaders of the moon dwellers and decide the fate of the Tri-Realms.Will Adele be able to rescue her mother and make it back to the Moon Realm before the President and the sun dweller soldiers destroy her family?Can Tristan convince the moon dweller puppets of the error of their ways?Was Adele's lost kiss with Tristan her one and only chance at love?In her world there's only one rule: Someone must die.

Early praise for The Star Dwellers

“Estes´s creative genius continues to shine in this installment. We get quite a few questions answered and more are raised.”

Author Christie Rich

“This is easily becoming one of the best dystopian books I've read.”

Lolita  Goodreads

The Star Dwellers surpassed all of my expectations and more. I was just completely amazed and thrown back into this fantastic world and left dying to know what will happen next.

Kayleigh Goodread

Early praise for the author

“David Estes you are a genius! This book kept me on the edge of my seat. I felt such intense emotion to the main characters and their cause.”

Tina Donelly Goodreads

“Another fantastic book by David Estes that had me gripped straight away”

Adele Goodreads

Of course this blog post would not be complete without two things: my review of this awesome book and David Estes answering some of my pressing questions!

So, the question is, which do I do first? Hard choice, but I think that Mr. Estes really trumps my review, so let's hear what he had to say to me!

Welcome David, so great to have you here with me today!

Did you always know you wanted to be a writer or did you want to be something else?

First off, I want to thank you, Brooke, for inviting me to come on your blog and answer some questions. It’s truly an honor to be here!

Awesome first question. Like so many others out there, I’ve LOVED reading my entire life, more than any other activity. In the back of my mind, I always wanted to write my own books, but I always managed to come up with an excuse—either I’m too busy, too lazy, or I just don’t have good enough ideas—to not do it. Perhaps it was a fear of failure, I’m not really sure. But for whatever reason, I drifted along, reading, but not really writing.

Then I met my wife, Adele, a sweet and beautiful Australian, who encouraged me to put my dreams first. So, while I had a few weeks off before a new desk job, I started writing a book using the first idea that came into my head, one about angels and demons that evolved from humans. Six weeks later, Angel Evolution was born!

I’d officially caught the writing bug, and so I kept writing, averaging 2,000 words a day, and slowly moving up to 3,000 words. I finished my first children’s book, Nikki Powergloves, 4 weeks later. Then I wrote Demon Evolution in another 6 weeks and followed it up with a middle grade book called I am Touch, which I have yet to publish. Finally, 10 months after starting Angel Evolution, I completed Archangel Evolution. So I had 5 books written in 10 months, but hadn’t published any of them.

So I just went for it! The rest has been a whirlwind adventure in which I’ve written 11 books in less than two years, 9 of which are now published. I became a fulltime author in June of 2012, making what started out as a dream become a reality!

How long does it take you to write a book from start to finish?

It really depends on the length, but for a full length YA book at around 90,000 words (like The Moon Dwellers), it takes about 30 days at my standard 3,000 words a day. That doesn’t include the 6-8 weeks of rewrites, beta reader feedback, and copyediting that I put in before publishing. A 40,000-word children’s book (like Nikki Powergloves) now only takes about 13 days. I almost never take a day off from writing when I’m working on a project, which allows me to utilize 7 day weeks to finish books very fast.

How do you come up with themes for your stories?

In terms of book ideas, who knows? From thin air sometimes! To be honest, I generally come up with new book ideas when I’m writing—I guess that’s just when the creative juices are flowing. I usually just jot them down and save them for later.

However, when it comes to themes, I tend to stick to those that are closest to my heart, like loyalty, honor, family, friendship, and love. You have to write about things that bring out emotions in yourself, and then hopefully translate those into emotions in your readers. With every book I write, I feel I’m better able to accomplish that. My wife has definitely caught me crying or laughing while writing several times, which is how I know that I’m writing with emotion.

Do you have a schedule of when you write?

I used to. When I was working fulltime, I had to take advantage of every spare moment I had, so I wrote for a half hour on the ferry ride every day, an hour at lunch, and then a half hour on the ride home. It was good because it kept my on a regular schedule.

Nowadays I really have to self-motivate myself, because I have the flexibility to write first thing in the morning, after lunch, before dinner, or late into the night—and everything in between of course! Luckily, I’m completely OCD so motivation is NOT a problem. I frustrate Adele sometimes when I get stressed because it’s early afternoon and I haven’t written a word yet. Thankfully, she’s very patient with me and always gives me the time and space to get back on track. Most days, however, I’ve hit a word count beyond my quota before lunch.

How are you able to balance other aspects of your life with your writing?

Well, when I was working fulltime, it was extremely difficult. There just wasn’t enough time in the day to do everything I wanted to, so I had to prioritize. Nowadays, with slightly more time on my hands, I make sure I include plenty of time spent with Adele (which I LOVE every second of), as well as time for friends, exercise, and food!

What elements do you think make a great story line?

It’s interesting, because a lot of writers these days rely on a really interesting concept to bring attention to their books, myself included. However, when it comes down to it, a concept alone won’t get you the word of mouth marketing that you need. There has to be more. Likeable characters, who you actually care about, in the midst of serious struggles that they may not make it through. Twists are also HUGE these days (think The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare, which is chock full of twists), which I’ve embraced in The Dwellers Saga. You’ve got to keep a reader guessing, which naturally keeps them in suspense.

Equally important to the likeable characters are the characters you love to hate. The bad guys. Those that are causing the protagonist problems. Sometimes writing these types of characters can be just as fun, or more fun, than writing about the characters that readers love.

What was the hardest thing about writing a book?

 For me it’s keeping everything straight in terms of the consistency of the story, order of events, and character development. I hate outlining and taking notes, so many times I have to go back and reread large sections to ensure I’m not straying from the direction I’ve started in. One day maybe I’ll learn, but for now I’ll keep writing off the cuff and without an outline!

How many books have you written so far? Do you have a favorite?

11 books in exactly 2 years, 9 of which have been published, 1 (The Sun Dwellers) that will be published in December 2012, and 1 which I’ve put on hold for the moment. I plan on writing and publishing another 4-5 books in 2013.

My favorite so far is the sequel to The Moon Dwellers, titled The Star Dwellers, which I just released on September 30^th. I think I managed to keep up the breakneck pace of the first book, while significantly developing the characters, further building my underground dystopian world, adding key backstory elements, and twisting the reader in directions they probably never saw coming. There are many more twists coming in The Sun Dwellers too!

I also want to give a shout out to Nikki Powergloves, as the feedback from the 6-10 year-olds who have read it has been INCREDIBLE. I couldn’t be happier, because one of my goals when I started writing was to help young kids get excited about reading by writing fun stories that capture their interests while challenging them to learn new words at the same time. So far, it looks like I’ve at least captured their interest!

Do you have a favorite character?

This is like making me choose my favorite child! (even though I’m still childless at the moment :) But if you had to make me choose, I’d go with Tristan from The Moon Dwellers. While Adele is funny and badass (I’m referring to the character, not my wife here, although my wife is both of those things too!), being a guy, I tend to relate better to Tristan. He’s a bit nerdy, likes cheesy metaphors (which some of my readers have pointed out), but is a truly loyal, good, and romantic person. His bromance with his best friend, Roc (who has become a fan favorite), has my readers clamoring for more banter between the two 

Where do you write? 

For me, this is a funny question, because it’s easier to ask where I don’t write. I don’t write in normal places like in an office at a desk. Because Adele and I are currently travelling the world while I write, I end up writing in all kinds of crazy places. In Hawaii I wrote primarily at the beach (Yep, I fried one laptop so far this way, the Hawaiian sun is ridiculously hot!) or in various stores (including Forever 21 and Victoria’s Secret) while Adele was shopping. Now that we’re in Pittsburgh visiting my family, I’ve been writing at various cafes while Adele goes to the gym. I also like writing on soft surfaces, like laying on the couch or in bed. What can I say, I like being comfortable when I’m working!

When deciding on how to publish, what directed you to the route you took?

I’m assuming by this question you mean Traditional vs Indie or self-published. I would love to be traditionally published and I queried literary agents relentlessly with my early books, but without success. Nikki Powergloves came the closest by making it to the final round of reviews by the editors at Walker Books. Eventually, however, I knew I just wanted to get my books out there so readers could enjoy them, and so I could start getting feedback and building a platform.

Six months in I realized that there were so many benefits to being an Indie author that I stopped querying. The success I was having was also a factor. Being able to quit my day job to write was a clear indication to me that I could publish on my own (thus retaining control of my books from start to finish) and still gain enough readers to make it a career. I also love that by cutting out the publisher I can keep my ebooks at a low price for my readers, generally between $.99 and $3.99. Which means people can afford to read more of my books which I LOVE!

Finally, I love that Indie publishing allows me to stay closer to my readers. Via my many social networking platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, my blog, and my all-time favorite, Goodreads (go to the end of the interview for links), I’m able to interact with my readers and fans on a daily basis in a nice, informal environment. I love getting comments, messages, and questions from readers and other self-published authors, and I take the time to answer each and every one individually, which takes up at least half of the time I allocate to being an author.

Have you gotten feedback from family about your book(s)? What do they think?

Ahhh, the family’s reaction—always interesting. I’ve received awesome feedback from my family! My mom, who’s a huge reader, always reads my books before I publish and provides constructive feedback. My dad, who’s NOT a huge reader, likes the Nikki Powergloves series the best. My brother, who rarely reads, has read and enjoyed The Moon Dwellers. My sister was the first one to buy my children’s books when they came out on Kindle! And, of course, my wife, Adele, is my ultimate fan and beta reader. She and I go through every aspect of my books, as well as every piece of beta reader feedback, individually and make a team decision on what changes to make. She’s the most incredible woman I’ve ever met and without her, I would not be where I am today, living my dream.

What kinds of things do you like to do outside of writing?

Read! I love reading, and whenever have spare time you’ll find me with a book in my hand. I’ve posted a few photos where I’m reading in funny places, like Victoria’s Secret surrounded by pink. Adele calls me Brick after the reading-obsessed boy from the TV show The Middle. Like Brick, I’ll sneak in a few paragraphs whenever possible!

What kinds of advice would you give to someone who wants to start writing?

The three key pieces of advice I wish I knew when I started writing are:

·         Write every day.  Even if it’s only a couple hundred words, it keeps you in your story and makes it easier to pick it up and continue writing.  Plus, you’re less likely to forget something and change the storyline or details partway through.

·         If you can’t afford a copyeditor (which I couldn’t when I first started), get a few eagle-eyed people to review for silly errors.  Read it yourself at least five times too!  No one likes a book they paid for to have a bunch of typos.

·         Use independent beta readers!  This is something I didn’t do for Angel Evolution and now wish I did.  I asked friends and family to read and provide feedback and I made some good changes from it, but it wasn’t enough.  Make friends on sites like Goodreads and ask people to read your unpublished manuscript to provide feedback, particularly around character development, the beginning, the ending, what annoyed them, etc.  I wish I would have done this so I could have avoided some of the negative reviews from my readers.

I love answering writing/publishing questions and I get a ton of them, so I encourage anyone who’s interested or who is new to writing and wants to learn more to contact me with their questions.

What is your favorite book? favorite author? Do you have an author that inspired/inspires you to write?

I have so many favorite authors, but to mention a few: J.R.R Tolkien, Dean Koontz, Suzanne Collins, Maggie Stiefvater, Lee Child, Veronica Roth, James Dashner, and Cassandra Clare

Some of my favorite books/series are: The Lord of the Rings, The Hunger Games, The Scorpio Races, Harry Potter, Odd Thomas, Divergent, The Maze Runner, Unearthly, and The Mortal Instruments.

Dean Koontz inspires me to build suspense into my stories, while Suzanne Collins and Veronika Roth inspire me to spend LOTS of time on world building, creating a new place where my readers can really visualize. Cassandra Clare has taught me everything there is to know about twists, and Maggie Stiefvater has shown me the importance of making books easy to read with natural dialogue.

Do you have any go to people when writing a book that help you with your story lines as well as editing, beta reading and such?

Every writer needs help, that’s a fact. Hence, most books have at least a page of acknowledgements, mine included. My team of 12 beta readers is INCREDIBLE, and I rely heavily on them to poke holes in my stories, tell me when they hate a character, highlight aspects of characters or the story that are annoying or frustrating, and most importantly, help me get the beginning right! Each and every one of them brings something different and valuable to the table.

My copyeditor (who I was referred to by well-known Indie author Lizzy Ford), Christine LePorte, is amazing, helping me improve my sentence structure and grammar to ensure an easy reading experience for my readers.

My cover artist, Tony Wilson, at Phatpuppy Designs takes my stories and puts them onto the covers in a way that is artistic as it is beautiful. He also does all the custom font and jacket design.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my versatile and enthusiastic marketing team at ShareARead, Nicole Passante and Karla Calzada. Without them, I’d be lost in trying to get my books in the hands of my readers!

Are you working on anything now?

I’m always working on something! Having just finished the third book in The Dwellers Saga, The Sun Dwellers, I’m working on editing and revising it and getting it ready for publishing. At the same time, I’m working on the first book in my sister series to The Dwellers, titled Fire Country, another YA dystopian novel that will eventually connect with the underground world of the Tri-Realms.

That’s all! I just want to thank Brooke again for having me on her awesome blog. The Moon Dwellers and The Star Dwellers are now available everywhere ebooks are sold or in print via Amazon.com (links below).  Also, I pledged when I started writing to always respond to my readers, and I love getting comments and questions, so please contact me using one of my favorite social networking sites below.  As always, happy reading!!

David, it has been such an honor having you on my blog today. I have thoroughly enjoyed having you answer my questions! As for the Nikki Powergloves series, well, you know how my son feels about those, so I am so honored he was able to beta read them for you!

Now, let me tell you what I thought of David's newest edition to his writing collection:

I want to thank the author, David Estes, for providing me with an ARC ecopy of this book to read and give an honest review. It has been a pleasure to know David and to watch his writing grow and progress! I was super excited to be able to read this book early as I really loved the first book!

I love the alternating view points in this book, as I did with the first book. I have to be honest that at times I tend to get confused when this type of writing is used, but David did such a great job of making each character so unique, you know exactly who is speaking without even having to look at the chapter titals! The characters continue to be as interesting as they were in the first book. And the characters are even more well developed with more interesting characteristics noted throughout the book.
Adele continues to grow. You see sides of her that are new and sides that were revealed in the first book. She becomes even more strong, if that's possible, and she is totally and completely kick ass! What I really love is that, even though she is drawn to Tristan and wants to be reunited with him very badly, this is not what consumes her world. She is set on finding her mom and helping the resistance unite the lower realms. She is smart and sassy. And she is not totally trusting of everyone, although at one point her trust does get her in more trouble than she could have bargained for!

As for Tristan, he continues to swoon over Adele. What I find interesting is, unlike other YA novels, it is the male character that is more obsessed than the female character. Tristan is constantly thinking of Adele, constantly talking about when he will be reunited with her and how she makes him feel. I find it fresh and new to see this from the male character. It is as if Adele is the "swoon worthy" character in these books.The one thing that is driving me nuts is that Tristan has something he keeps wanting to tell Adele, but we have yet to find out what that is!
Roc continues to be one of my all time favorite characters. He's funny and witty. He's loyal and believable. Although, I do find his relationship with Tristan a little more on the femanin side, meaning I feel like it is something I would see more between two female characters as opposed to male characters. Yet, I really love that he and Tristan are so close. And you certainly find out more about Roc in this book. Things that you did not see coming that make you cringe, and things that make you happy for him.
Tawni is an awesome best friend. She is so supportive of Adele. She stands by her throughout this book, as she did in the first book. It is like they are connected in some unspoken way.
As for the other characters, Elsey is really cute, although I do find her way of speaking annoying. But I understand that she tries to act older than her age and was pretty much forced into being like that because of the circumstances of how they live. I love Adele's dad, Ben. I love how he's so open with Tristan and how he accepts Tristan without questioning his motives. Adele's mom, Anna, is hard to read. I am not sure where she stands. I am interested to see if we learn anything further about who she is in the next book. And the other ancillary characters, Ram, Trevor, Brody, certainly help make the story more interesting.

As for the storyline, is is definitely all out dystopian. This book kind of reminded me of Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3). Without giving any spoilers away, let's just say that politics continue to be involved, including the president. He certainly reminds me of President Rose from The Hunger Games. I love the action of this book, it keeps you wanting to read. I really didn't want to put it down and was annoyed when I had to stop in the middle of a chapter. It took me very little time to finish this book.

Davids writing is really quite flawless. i am completely impressed with the lack of issues in grammar and other editing faux pas I often see in books. I think I found one grammatical/spelling error throughout the entire book. I love that he is so through with this, it's a big pet peeve of mine. And David's writing flows flawlessly. There are no awkward pauses or misunderstandings in the writing. It just goes and goes and goes until you finish a chapter and want more.

I am floored by how much I am really enjoying this series. I have to say that David has done a spectacular job in creating a world where his characters are real, his descriptions make you feel like you are in that exact place and his action scenes make you want to keep reading to find out what happens.

4 out of 5 stars from me! Excellent job, Mr. Estes!