Romance and Dystopia

Originally posted on Boricuan Bookworms

I write dystopian novels. I write dystopian novels with romance. Does that make you cringe or make you smile? I’ve heard a million opinions on the matter, some who say dystopian novels should be completely free of romance, because “Who’s thinking about love when the world is crumbling around them?” Others say romance is important in all settings: it’s what gives people hope, something to live for, and perhaps something to die for.

In the explosion of dystopian novels, we’ve seen all kinds of romance. Some series, like Chaos Walking and Gone, have just a touch of romance set amongst harsh worlds where people do terrible things. But romance is far from the focal point. Others, like Delirium and Matched, put romance and love triangles at the forefront of the story, making it every bit as important and captivating as the plot and world building. All four of these series are popular. So which authors made the right decisions? Or did they all choose right, in their own way?

Well, I’m sort of in the middle, which I’ve tried to reflect in my combined Dwellers/Country Saga (7 books, starting with The Moon Dwellers and Fire Country in each series). I personally believe that humans will find a way to love, even in the darkest, most corrupt worlds, but that doesn’t mean they’ll obsess over “the way the sun hits Simon’s sparkling blue eyes even as he swings his sword at the demon-zombie.” I believe there has to be a balance and that the “romance” needs to take a back seat to the more important aspects of dystopian novels.

So what are those aspects? In my opinion, dystopia should be more focused on 1) world building, 2) plot, 3) character development (villains in particular), and 4) twists. Those are the elements, which, if done well, make for a good dystopian novel. So that’s what I focus on in my dystopian novels. However, I do include a touch of romance in each of my novels, because, well, because my characters are only human and they have the need to be close to others, to care, to grab hold of their feelings and clutch them to their chests and never—not ever—let go. They fight for those they love. Love gives them purpose, gives them strength, and sometimes, gives them terrible sorrow.

For me the key is realism. The love should feel real, natural, not forced, not included just for the sake of including romance. That either means it needs to develop slowly over time, or be there from the start because the characters have a long and powerful history. In Fire Country, for example, the protagonist, Siena, and her best friend, Circ, have known each other their whole lives. Although they aren’t been romantically involved at the beginning of the novel, their bond and connection has been growing for years. It’s time to take the next step...but only after they go through the harsh trials that their world requires. But…and this is a big BUT…the romance NEVER gets in the way of the story, never BECOMES the story, never takes precedent over building the world. It simply exists amongst the threads of the story’s fabric. And for me that’s what makes it real.

Am I right? Am I wrong? Probably neither. I’m just one opinion amongst thousands. So what’s your opinion? Do you love romance in dystopian novels? Hate it? Are you indifferent? I’d love to hear your thoughts by commenting below, and I hope you enjoy my dystopian novels as much as your other favorites!

Happy reading!
 

Ice Country ON SALE for only $0.99!!

For those of you who have been waiting for the chance to get Ice Country (the sequel to Fire Country) on sale, now's your chance! From now until January 23rd, Ice Country is ON SALE on Kindle and Nook for only $0.99 (regularly $4.99).

Get Ice Country on Kindle!

Get Ice Country on Nook! 

Thanks for all your support and ENJOY!!

And for those interested in the entire Country Saga (a Dwellers Saga sister series), check out all three books!

Dream Big!

I feel so blessed that 2013 was the best year of my career so far. I reached so many milestones in 2013 that at one time I NEVER thought I'd reach, and it really taught me an important life lesson: to Dream Big! No dream is too big and reaching for the stars is something we all should do. If you say "I can't" it only hurts you. Cross out the negative words and keep the positive ones.

 Everything in the image above, which was created for me by the talented and creative book blogger, Dre Wolf (Sporadic Reads), shows the milestones I thought I'd never reach, but reached in 2013, with the exception of the last one, to get a publisher. I've told myself a million times that I'll never get a publisher, but recently I've stopped saying that. I've started saying I'll get a publisher, and I now truly believe that 2014 will be the year!!!

So Dream Big, Never Give Up, and Remove Negativity From Your Life!!!

Welcome Susan Dennard, Author of Something Strange and Deadly, to my fan group!

GO TO THE Q&A HERE!

I'm THRILLED to welcome the awesome author, Susan Dennard, author of Something Strange and Deadly, to the David Estes Fans and YA Book Lovers Unite group on Goodreads!

Susan will be around to answer questions from Jan 20 to 23, so think up some creative questions that you've always wanted to ask a major published author :)

Enjoy and I can't wait to see your questions and Susan's responses!

Note: You must be a member of the group before you can ask a question--Goodreads rules, not mine.

The Seven Doors

Originally posted on Mommy's Reading Break

What a unique topic today! The topic I’ve is: You find yourself in front of 7 identical doors. A voice from above tells you: “These 7 doors lead you to 7 places, Narnia, Neverland, Wonderland, Camelot, Middle Earth, Hogwarts and Westeros.” Which door do you go through? Why? What happens?

My first thought when I got this topic was: OMG! Why? Because it’s freaking hard! Those are all pretty cool/scary doors to have the opportunity to go through. I can almost see: Captain Hook’s…well, his hook…jammed into the door to Neverland; a roundish, and most certainly small, hobbit door for the entrance to middle earth; and a weird, multi-layered flap of a door that ruffles when you walk in, like a shuffling deck of cards (all hearts, of course) for the passage to Wonderland. (I considered going with a rabbit hole or a looking glass for Wonderland, but I figure that’s been overdone.)

I know, I know, just decide already! I’m purposely delaying because I don’t know. I really don’t know. First, let me strike Narnia, I was never a huge fan, sorry C.S.! And Camelot’s gone, too, I prefer watching Merlin to participating in Arthur’s Kingdom. And bye, bye Westeros, you’re a little too dark for me. Hmm, although I wouldn’t mind seeing the decidedly insane Hatter up close and in action, I’ll have to pass on facing off against the particularly witchy Queen of Hearts, so see ya Wonderland!

That leaves Neverland, Middle Earth and Hogwarts. Neverland, against most company, would stand a pretty good chance (who doesn’t want to stay young?), but choosing it over Middle Earth and Hogwarts would be like choosing a stranger’s child over one of my own children (or at least my future children since I don’t yet have any). So Neverland’s out too. That leaves Hogwarts (oh my gosh I would love to meet Dumbledore!) and Middle Earth (my favorite, favorite, favorite…did I say favorite?...series of ALL TIME). I’d give my left…let’s go with left pinky toe on my left foot…to visit the elves, yeah, just like the honorable Mr. Samwise Gamgee! Hmmmmmm…decisions, decisions! I really need someone like Carson Daly on The Voice telling me “David, you really have to make a decision. We have 30 seconds.” in that calm and unflappable voice of his.

OK, Middle Earth it is! *stepping through the red-painted hobbit door marked with a scratch from a wizard’s staff* *nearly hitting head on VERY low doorframe*

Whoa! Yeah, whoa! I didn’t end up in a hobbit hole sitting down to tea with Bilbo and the dwarves. No, nothing like that at all. I’m in the middle of the battle of Helm’s Deep, Gimli and Legolas by my side, killing battle-scarred steroidal orcs and keeping tally of their kills like they’re counting the pennies in their piggy banks. And I have a sword in one hand and a bow in the other but I throw them down because, well because an orc is swinging an axe at my head and the only thing I can think to do is duck and run back toward the Keep. (Yeah, I’m screaming like a little girl, too.)

And that’s pretty much my Middle Earth experience. Because I must get hit on the head at some point as everything goes black and I wake up with a nasty bump on my head and a fair-haired elf pouring bittersweet tea down my throat that tastes like honey and mint and sage and well, sort of like a McDonald’s cheeseburger, too, if I’m being honest. And I feel better almost right away because it’s elf tea and full of awesome healing magic.

Once I’m back on my feet, they send me back through the magical hobbit-hole door with nary a goodbye, see you later, or my preciousssss. That’s when I wake up.

Whew! What an adventure—albeit a short one!—that turned out to be! Now I want to hear from all of you. Which door would you choose and why? And what would happen to you?
 

Perry the Prickler Speaks Out!

Originally posted on The Cover Contessa

Hi! *Sways slightly under a heavy fire country wind* I’m Perry the Prickler, but you can just call me Perry for short. I’m very searin’ excited to be here today. I feel extraordinarily lucky to have been invited by David to write a guest post for his blog (whatever that is). He even said he’d type it out for me, on account of the unfortunate fact that I don’t have fingers.

The topic I’ve been given is:

There is a Perry fan club in the world, if you didn’t know. How does this make you feel? What would you like to say to your loyal fans?

What? Who? Where? Fans? No! Nononononono! I had NO IDEA that I (moi, Perry the Prickler) had FANS! Usually all the fangirling and love goes out to the good looking characters from Fire Country, like Circ (the baggard!), who all the girls thinks is the smokiest, or Feve (the wooloo tug-lover), whose markings make the ladies go wild. It’s nice to hear that (finally!) some people have realized what an integral part of the story I am.

But I know that some of you might be a little confused right now, because “pricklers” ain’t that well known outside of Fire Country. So what is a prickler? A prickler is what most people would call a cactus. We come in many shapes and sizes, sometimes carry drinkable liquid inside of us, and occasionally wear flowers in our hair. We tend to grow in hot, desert-like climates, like Fire Country, for example, and protect ourselves with spikes all over our skin (prickles). And apparently, I’m the most famous of the pricklers. Woot woot!

(Side note: if you want to learn all about me, Perry the Prickler and how I played an integral role in Siena’s journey, check out Fire Country by David Estes. Disclaimer: I receive a share of all David Estes’s royalties from sales of Fire Country. I usually use the money to buy jewelry for the lady-pricklers.)

So back to the topic at hand. My fans!!! Mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah! *making kissing noises* I love you all! I’d marry you and have your babies if I had the good to do it. But alas, I’m confined to living out my days stuck in the sand on the northern side of Fire Country. But I’d love some visitors! If you want to visit, my address is Dune 28, Confinement Row, North Fire Country. And bring some lady-pricklers if you decide to come. Oh, and some of that delicious scrubgrass tea. And if it’s not too much trouble, a small beach umbrella—it gets mighty hot out here under the eye of the sun goddess!

But I digress. How does having fans make me feel? Wow. Just wow. My prickly skin is getting hotter just thinking about the idea that there are people out there who know who I am, and recognize that my skills are every bit as important as being able to run and jump and shoot a bow and pointer and swing a sword at the baddies. I mean, who else cracks jokes and taunts the way I do? Who else can make someone blush in three words or less? Exactly, no one. Just good ol’ Perry. So yeah, I’m most honored to have fans and I’d love some fan mail from time to time. I don’t have eyes, but I can see and read. (I know, it’s weird but true.)

What would I like to say to my loyal fans? OK, for starters, some advice:

-One- respect plants. We have feelings too. (Except for those nasty bright-colored flowered ones with thorns. You know, roses? They think they’re better than everyone else.)

-Two- read all David Estes’s books. He’s a real baggard sometimes, but his books are entertaining and he cares about his readers. (Don’t forget to deposit my cut into my Paypal account, David.)

-Three- take lots of water with you when you visit me in Fire Country. It’s very dry here and dehydration is a real danger. And sunscreen too! Don’t make me say ‘I told you so’ when you turn all red.

-Four- if you ever get sent to Confinement (prison in Fire Country), be sure to give me a wave and shout hello! That way I know I can start insulting you right away. The first insult is free!

-Five- if you ever accidentally run into a prickler, apologize to the poor thing! You might be bleeding and hurting, but the prickler didn’t move into your way, you ran into it!

Six- be happy with the way you look and be proud of who you are. You’re perfect just the way you are. (As long as you keep being my fan.)

Seven- never try to give me a high-five. As much as I’d like to, I can’t, and it hurts my feelings.

OK, I’m plumb out of advice. All I got left is to ask that you please please please tell David to include me in more of his books. Just mentioning me in Ice Country and Water & Storm Country didn’t count. I’ve heard I’ll get a cameo in The Earth Dwellers, but I think I’m due a full-length novel all about me at some point, don’t you think?

Thanks everyone for being my fans and for listening to my important nuggets of wisdom! And a special thanks to David for being as wooloo as Siena and letting me rant and rave all over his lovely blog! May the sun goddess shine down on him always! (so he’ll write another book about me)

Dictated by Perry the Prickler

Typed by David Estes
 

Welcome Mike Mullin, Author of Ashfall, to my fan group and WIN A SIGNED BOOK!

GO TO THE Q&A HERE!

I'm SO EXCITED to welcome the awesome author, Mike Mullin, author of Ashfall, to the David Estes Fans and YA Book Lovers Unite group on Goodreads!

Not only is Mike Mullin going to be around from Jan 13 to 19 to answer ALL your questions for him, but he's generously donating a signed advance review copy (ARC) of the third book in his incredible Ashfall series, called SUNRISE! And the giveaway is open to INTERNATIONAL participants, so everyone has a chance to win!! How cool is that? Here's a picture of the prize sent by the author himself:

So how do you enter the giveaway? Simply go to the Q&A discussion thread in my Goodreads fan group HERE and ask a question to Mike Mullin. It's that simple! So think up some fun questions for Mike and I hope you win the prize!!

Have fun and I can't wait to see all your questions :)

Note: You must be a member of the group before you can ask a question--Goodreads rules, not mine.

Indie Author Advice Series #6- How to Make the Most of Read for Review Programs

Every author needs reviews to build up the credibility and buzz for their books. Without reviews, other readers are less likely to take a chance and buy your book. But how do you convince people to read your books before they have very many reviews? And how do you ensure that those who do read your books will leave reviews for them? I’ve found one of the fastest and easiest ways to get early reviews is by using something called “Read For Review”. These are also commonly referred to as “Read to Review”, “RtR”, “R4R”, “Read it and Reap”, and many other creative names thought up by the moderators of Goodreads groups.

In this post I’ll discuss what Read For Review programs are, how they can help you get honest reviews, how to schedule and manage them, and where you can find them!

1) What is a “Read For Review”?

Read For Reviews are programs where you offer free ebook or paperback (I prefer ebook as it’s easier and cheaper) copies of your book to readers in exchange for their honest reviews.

2) How Read For Review programs can help you get honest reviews

Before your book has reviews, most readers are unlikely to take a chance on it. Can you blame them? Do you often buy books that don’t have many reviews? I know I don’t. It’s too easy to waste your money on a poorly written, poorly edited book that some random person has slapped together and self-published. But your book is good, you might say. Your beta readers said so, and maybe your early readers, too. That’s the dilemma many new Indie authors are facing. Unfortunately a well-written synopsis and tempting book cover are usually not enough to attract the attention of the readers who might fall in love with your book. Reviews, however, are the key, and Read For Reviews can help you get them.

I know, I know, giving away free copies of your book doesn’t seem fair. After all, you’ve spent countless hours writing, editing, re-writing, revising, formatting, and publishing your book…and you’re just supposed to give it away?

YES! That’s exactly what you’ve got to do. But it’s not for free—it’s in exchange for a review, which at the early stages of your career are worth much more than the small royalty you’ll get from selling it for $0.99 or $2.99. Trust me, I’ve given away hundreds of ebooks through Read For Review programs, and each review, even the negative ones which I use to improve my books/writing, has really paid off.

And you can even request that the reviewers cross-post their reviews on Amazon, as well as Goodreads, which is HUGE. Amazon reviews are even more elusive than Goodreads ones, so getting early reviews up on Amazon will have an even larger impact on your sales.

3) How to schedule and manage your Read For Reviews

It sounds easy, right? You just offer up some free ebooks and provide them to the readers who sign up. That simple. Not exactly. There are a lot of things to think about when planning and managing your Read For Reviews, things that can have a large impact on how successful they are.

How many copies to give out

I’ve seen most authors give out between 10 and 25 ebooks per Read For Review. Personally, I give out as many copies as I can, so I usually offer 25 ebooks. That doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be able to give away 25 copies. It’s harder than you might think to give away books these days. Why? Because there are A LOT of people trying to do just the same thing, and readers know it’s a big responsibility to have to read and review a book within a set timeframe. In some cases, you might have a really successful RtR and get rid of all 25 copies and still have readers requesting to participate. It’s a judgment call, but I usually will increase the number of copies available until everyone’s received one. In one case this meant I gave away 50 ebooks of Fire Country, but it was well worth it for all the reviews!

How many Read For Reviews to sign up for

As many as possible! Honestly, the more reviews the better is my motto. And the buzz created by each one, combined with the resulting reviews, can have a large impact. Remember, you’re looking to get your book out to the potentially thousands of readers in your target market, so giving away a few hundred may just be a drop in the bucket. I’ve offered 25 copies of The Moon Dwellers to 12 different Read For Review programs. Twice. That’s right, I scheduled them when I released the book, and then a year later, I scheduled them all AGAIN. A lot happens in a year, and those who weren’t interested in reading and reviewing your book the first time might have heard good things about it and decide to participate the second time around.

Selecting the Read For Reviews to sign up for

Especially on Goodreads, there are plenty of groups that have Read For Review programs. But that doesn’t mean they’re all the right ones for your book. Choosing groups that focus on your target audience/genre is the way to go. You want the readers that you wrote the book for reading it and writing your early reviews. It doesn’t make sense to join “Mystery Lovers” and sign up for their Read For Review program if your book is a Contemporary Romance. Not only will you not get a great amount of participation, but those who participate are less likely to write you very positive reviews.

Once you find the groups on Goodreads (or the book community of your choice) that fit your book, join the groups, become part of the community, and READ THE RULES for the Read For Review program. I can’t stress this enough. Every group has different rules, and the best way to piss off the group is to break them. So read the rules and follow them, and sign your book up.

Timing

Sometimes you have control over timing, and sometimes not. It just depends, but the earlier you sign up, the more flexibility you usually have. For example, I scheduled my Read For Reviews a month before the release of The Moon Dwellers, and I managed to have 10 of them occur within the first two months after the release date. That’s a lot of healthy buzz. If I had waited until the last minute, most of those Read For Reviews would probably have been full, and I’d have to delay them for a few months.

That being said, it’s not necessarily bad to spread them out a little. It keeps the buzz going longer, and ensures a steady flow of reviews coming in. And for the more popular, established RtR programs, you might just get a spot in line 6 months or even a year down the road.

Formats available

Make ALL formats available! I cannot stress this enough. Not everyone has a Kindle. In fact, not everyone has an e-reader. So how can you expect to get much participation if half of the target readers aren’t even able to sign up because they don’t have the right devices? The easiest way to do this is to publish on Smashwords, which converts your book into ALL popular formats. That way anyone can participate, by downloading formats compatible with Kindle, Nook, iPad, or just their computers. If using Smashwords isn’t an option because you’ve signed up for KDP Select, you can still make all formats available, but you need to create the files yourself, and then e-mail them to the participants. This isn’t as hard as it sounds. There’s plenty of free software out there that can convert your MS Word document into Kindle (mobi), Nook/iPad/Kobo (epub), and pdf format. I personally use the Mobipocket Creator to create my Kindle files, and Caliber to convert to epub. There are also lots of sites that will convert to pdf for you.

Providing the books to participating readers

Most groups give you the option of having the moderator provide the free ebooks to the participants, or for you to do it yourself. Do it yourself! A Read For Review is the PERFECT chance to start connecting with your readers, and if you place a barrier (the moderator, as a  middle person) in the way, then you’ve missed a golden opportunity. Let the moderator set up the thread, notify the group, and provide the platform for participants to sign up (by providing their e-mail addresses), and then you can take it from there.

Okay, so some people have signed up for your Read For Review and provided their e-mail addresses, but what should you send them? Well, besides the book in the format they requested, you should thank them for signing up, give them a little info about you and your books, any links to things like your social networking sites or fan groups, and a REQUEST THAT THEY REVIEW ON AMAZON. In case my bold capital letters didn’t highlight it for you, I can’t stress enough how important this is. It’s great to get reviews on Goodreads, but Amazon reviews are far more important, as that’s where new readers will actually buy your books. So don’t miss this golden opportunity to get some more reviews on Amazon.

Responding to reviews

Once you’ve provided the copies of the books to the participants, the reviews will start pouring in, and generally the participants will provide a link to their reviews in the RtR thread. What do you do for a 5 star review, or for a 1 star review? Or something in the middle? My advice: essentially do the same thing! Thank them for their review and feedback, even if you don’t agree with it. Do not argue with negative comments, nor contact the negative reviewers. It will only make you look bad. Don’t get frustrated with negative reviews; I did this once, and it was a huge mistake, and I was wrong in doing so. Focus on the positive ones, because they’re your future readers.

4) Where you can find Read For Reviews

Now that you’ve got all the information to plan and execute a successful Read For Review, where can you find these magical programs? I’ve only used two sites for these, but I’m sure there are many more.

Goodreads.com Groups

My personal favorite method of giving away free ebooks in exchange for reviews is through Goodreads groups. You can search for various groups HERE. Remember, after you find a group that fits your book, check to see if they have a Read For Review program, or contact one of the moderators to ask. If they don’t, move on to another group. If they do, read the rules and get your book signed up!

I’ve personally conducted dozens of Read For Reviews for Angel Evolution, The Moon Dwellers, and Fire Country on various Goodreads YA groups, and I’ve had a lot of success in doing so. If your book is for adults, you’ll have to do a bit of searching to find the best groups to choose (as I have no experience with adult groups), but if your book is for young adults, here’s a list of the groups I’ve used in the past:

-David Estes Fans and YA Book Lovers Unite! Yes, this is my official fan group, but it’s also a growing YA group with more than 1,800 members! Our Read to Review program has great participation, and you’ll undoubtedly get some reviews!

-Shut up & Read- 6,500+ members, an adult group that has lots of YA book lovers in it. But beware, the waiting list for this group’s read for review program is exceptionally long!

-We Love YA Books- 5,000+ members, YA only

-The Nexus- 1,000+ members, also an adult group with good YA participation

-Basically Books- 1,500+ members, adult group with lots of YA readers

-Never Too Old for YA/NA Books- 6,000+ members, YA and NA books only

-Making Connections (6,000+ members, an adult group) and Making Connections-YA Edition (1,500+ members, YA only)

-Young Adult Reads- 2,500+ members, YA only

-YA Apocalyptic and Dystopian Fiction- 1,500+ members, YA, only if your book fits these genres

-The YA Dystopian Book Club- 2,000+ members, only if your book fits the genre

These are just the examples of the groups I’ve used for my Read For Reviews, but I’m sure there are many many more you can find!

LibraryThing.com

The LibraryThing.com Member Giveaway program is a place where you can offer up to 100 copies (ebook or paperback) of your book to readers for free. Members sign up with their e-mail address and then you send them the book. When you sign up you can request a review in exchange for the free book, but there is no guarantee you’ll get one for each book you giveaway. But I wouldn’t worry too much about that, the exposure will help you find new readers either way!

I hope you all found this helpful! Happy reading and writing, and always feel free to ask me any specific questions about Read For Reviews or anything at all!
 

Earth…100 Years Into the Future (or how I think it will be)

Originally posted on Words to Dreams

Eek! What a topic! My first thought was “What could I possibly know about what the future will be like in 100 years?” But then I realized: I can say whatever I want and I won’t be alive for anyone to know whether I was right! *Rubbing hands together gleefully* Now it sounds more like coming up with the plot for a dystopian novel, which happens to be my specialty.

OK, let’s see, I guess a good place to start is the past, because it tends to be a pretty good predictor of the future. As the saying goes, history usually repeats itself, or at least history buffs think so. Unfortunately, I wasn’t around 100 years ago, nor am I a scholar of history, so most of my limited knowledge will come from watching the amazing TV show, Downton Abbey, set in England around World War I time. World-changing inventions, like cars, telephones, and electricity became more widely used. People were changing too, becoming slightly more open to women’s rights (although it was still a long way from where it needed to be). The rich were getting richer and the poor poorer.

Today, a hundred years later, technology is advancing more and more rapidly, and things like phones, TV, cars and electricity have changed so much they hardly resemble their former selves. Women, while still fighting for their rights in many parts of the world, are on much more equal footing with men (as they should be), and work in every field, rising to the top in many. And the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer. Some things never change.

So what do I see 100 years from now? Flying cars? Perhaps. Internet wired into our brains? It ain’t out of the question (that would be awesome, right? Hmm, that sounds like a good way to increase the incidence of brain cancer if you ask me). A woman U.S. president? There had better have been about 10 of them by then! A colony on Mars? Less likely, but still in the realm of possibility. War? Most definitely. The key natural resources won’t last forever, and renewable energy is expensive and, despite the efforts of environmentalists and scientists, is still not an area of significant focus.

Give governments a prize worth fighting over and guess what? They’ll fight over it. So there will be a big war over resources, only it won’t be humans risking their lives. It will be fought by robots, big and Transformer-like, some that fly, some that stomp, all that wreak havoc on each other. Once one side breaks through, the humans will have no choice but to blast them with lasers and bomb them with nukes.

Meanwhile, the ice caps will melt under growing global warning and the sea levels will rise. Chunks of continents will be erased, sent below sea like modern day Atlantis’s. The cost of land will rise beyond salaries. The rich will grow richer and the poor poorer. There will be a mass uprising. Fighting in the streets. Babies being sold on the black market to be used as warriors in the class struggle.

And don’t forget about the Plague that will break out. Unleashed accidentally by government scientists researching biological warfare, the Plague will hit every country, wiping out half the world’s population, which people will soon realize is a blessing in disguise because overpopulation was half the problem to begin with.

Then come the vampires…oh wait, that’s a different future. Then come…

The aliens...yeah, the aliens, they definitely belong in this story. DAs or “damn aliens” as they’ll be referred to by the general public, or “the visitors” as they’ll be called by the diplomats, will solve the rising-water-level problem by sucking a bunch of the earth’s water away through large tubes appropriately called “Big Suckers,” restoring the Earth’s ecosystem to equilibrium while giving them enough water to take back to their barren planet, called “Click Clack Cluck” by their clicking tongues.

Ummm…did I miss anything? Hmm, teleportation? Nah, Willy Wonka already tried that and everything shrunk by the time it got to the other side. Zombies? They’ll go the way of the vampires if you ask me. McDonald’s? Thriving, selling billions and billions of burgers per annum, both on Earth and Mars. I think that just about covers it! OK, to summarize:

The future 100 years from now (bear in mind, this is just one man’s opinion) will have:

-a robot war (I think that could be a good book idea)

-a global plague (ever heard of the black plague?)

-a class uprising and war (never seen that before, right?)

-a baby market (although I think, sadly, there’s already one of these)

-melting ice caps (don’t give me that virtual look, it’s the darn scientists’ fault for even suggesting it!)

-water-sucking aliens (no comment)

-EQUILIBRIUM!

See, even the most cringe-worthy stories can have a happy ending if aliens are involved! (Note to self: add “Robot Wars” and “Earth-saving aliens” to list of book ideas. Cross off “Anything having to do with vampires”)

Hi there! *waves* Sorry, just wanted to welcome you to the end of this post and to thank you for making it this far! *Slips $20 bill under the computer* I’m surprised and honored that you found my extremely tongue-in-cheek answer to this dangerous question worthy of being read all the way through! Although most of my books aren’t this silly, they are dystopian, and they do answer this very same question; namely, what will the world look like in the future, so if you like that sort of thing, check them out, they’ll cost you less than a Big Mac!

Happy reading!
 

Welcome Cristin Terrill, Author of All Our Yesterdays, to my fan group and WIN SIGNED PRIZES!

I'm SO EXCITED to welcome the fabulous author, Cristin Terrill, author of All Our Yesterdays, to the David Estes Fans and YA Book Lovers Unite group on Goodreads!

Not only is Cristin Terrill going to be around from Jan 6 to 12 to answer ALL your questions for  her, but she's generously donating 11 prizes to those who participate!

-1 person will WIN a SIGNED paperback of All Our Yesterdays (U.S. participants only)

-10 people will WIN signed bookmark/bookplate packs! (International)

So how do you enter the giveaway? Simply go to the Q&A discussion thread in my Goodreads fan group HERE and ask a question to Cristin Terrill. It's that simple! So think up some fun questions for Cristin and I hope you win some prizes!!

Have fun and I can't wait to see all your questions :)

Note: You must be a member of the group before you can ask a question--Goodreads rules, not mine.

A Day in the Life of One Writer

Originally posted on Bookhi

I write about five young adult novels each year. A lot of people have asked how I’ve managed to write and publish so many books (14 books in less than 3 years) in such a short time, while juggling all the other challenges that life has to offer. The quick answer: a strict routine. Each writer is different, and therefore, each writer has a different routine that works for them (or no routine at all!) Here’s an example of a typical day in the life of me, David Estes!

Because I’m a fulltime writer, my day revolves around books. Wake up, not too early, not too late. Perhaps eight in the morning. Have breakfast with my lovely Australian wife, Adele (like the singer). Try to withstand the temptation to check my overnight book sales, reviews, and reader messages. When breakfast is finished, I check my e-mail and social networking sites. I spend no more than a half hour usually, because it’s time to start writing!

Because of my OCD, I operate under a word count goal each day. Depending on my schedule for the rest of the day, my goal is usually between 3,000 and 5,000 words. At about 1,250 words per hour (my average), I’m usually finished in three to five hours, right up until lunch time. (Side note: I usually drink a lot of coffee during my writing time!) This time is where the real magic happens. Having a solid three to five hours of writing time is crucial to let my creativity run free, focusing my brain power on developing my characters and plotlines, and building my dystopian worlds.

Lunch time! Whew! A break, sort of. Although I try to focus all my attention on lunch time conversation with Adele, after a long writing session my mind is buzzing with creativity and ideas don’t stop coming just because I close my laptop lid. So I jot them down between mouthfuls so I can come back to them the next day.

For those of you who don’t know, Adele and I are in the middle of a two-year trip around the world while I write, so on any given day we could be in Central America, Africa, Europe, or Asia. Regardless of where we are, we try to spend the sunny afternoon (it’s almost always sunny wherever we are as we’re chasing summer around the globe) outside, sightseeing or going to the beach. If we’re at the beach, I fit in as much reading time as possible, as I love reading YA books even more than writing them. For me, reading books by authors I love helps to inspire me to be a better writer and to learn from their prose and sentence structure. I read about two books a week on average.

After spending time with Adele, we have dinner together. Again, we both avoid our iPhones so we can just enjoy the food and conversation. Only after the dishes are done and dry do I get back to work. The early evening is spent online, doing EVERYTHING ELSE that comes with being a published author. If only being an author was just about writing books, it would be easy! There’s so much more to it, from answering reader mail (which I love doing), to connecting with readers (who I also consider my friends) in my Goodreads fan group (David Estes Fans and YA Book Lovers Unite!), to writing guest posts, doing interviews, managing giveaways, working with my agent, formatting my novels that are nearly ready for publication….the list goes on and on and on. The interesting thing: I spend equal time doing EVERYTHING ELSE as I do writing. So if I put in four hours of writing, I’ll put in four hours of all the other stuff. It makes for a full day of work. Luckily, I LOVE what I do!

But the day’s not over yet! Not with Adele and me being such TV addicts. We almost always watch at least an episode or two (or three or four!) of whichever TV show we’re currently obsessed with. We call it Entertainment. Here are a few we’re all up to date on: Prison Break, 24, Game of Thrones, Homeland, The Mentalist, American Idol, Revenge, and many more. And we’re all caught up on The Good Wife. I’m currently up to date on The Walking Dead, which I have to watch alone as it’s a little too gory for Adele!

When Entertainment is over, Adele gets to bed and I usually sneak in another few chapters of whatever book I’m reading. I just finished the sequel to Susan Ee’s Angelfall, called World After. When I can no longer keep my eyes open, I check my e-mail once more for anything important, and then drift off to sleep and dream about waking up to do the whole routine all over again! Nineteen to twenty-one days later, a new book is born! A month of two after that, a new book is released. And so the cycle continues!

That’s it! That’s a day in the life of David Estes. It’s a nice, relaxing, peaceful life, but a busy one too. But I love everything about it and I wouldn’t give it up for anything! Thanks for listening, and the next time you read one of my books, picture me typing the words all morning, drinking coffee and creating my stories J