Fire, Ice, Water and Storm

Originally posted on Lola's Reviews

Why did I choose Fire, Ice, Water and Storm as the four countries for the world I created for the Country Saga?

To be honest, when I started the series, I had no real idea where it was all going. One day while writing the third book in the Dwellers Saga (a sister series to the Country Saga), the main character, Siena, in Fire Country just started speaking to me. She got stuck in my head with her strong voice and slang and metaphors, and I couldn’t get her out. I also pictured her in the desert, and I liked the idea of the world being a place of extremes: extreme heat, extreme cold, fierce storms, churning waves.

With heat, I immediately thought of fire, and the thought of countries named after the overriding weather-related themes made a lot of sense to me and was something I could get excited about. Fire Country was born! From there, I knew I needed the antithesis to fire, which could only be ice! Yeah, I could have gone with snow or cold or frost, but ice just seemed more powerful and a perfect contrast to fire. So I created Ice Country.  

Now to my connection to the sea. Growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I NEVER saw the ocean. My family didn’t really go on vacation to the beach either. So it wasn’t until I was in my teens that I first saw the sea. WOW! I was immediately taken with it. With the power of its waves, with the teeming life beneath its surface, with its vastness and majesty. Since then, I’ve loved the ocean and always wanted to live near it (which I finally did when I moved to Manly Beach in Sydney, Australia). So, having a “country” and a people who lived on ships on the ocean made perfect sense for me. That’s where Water Country came from.

Lastly, were the Stormers, the dark and mysterious tribe that first make an appearance in Ice Country. Something kept tugging at my imagination while writing the first two books, something powerful, something as sharp as lightning and as heavy as thunder. I couldn’t get the thought of dark, mounted warriors backlit by jagged streaks of lightning out of my head. I knew I had to create them and figure out their place in the new world I was creating. Storm Country was the result.

Because I wanted the series to be a trilogy (before it connects with the Dwellers Saga in the 4^th book of both series, The Earth Dwellers), I knew I had to combine two of the countries. Due to their close proximity, Water & Storm made the most sense for the third book!

That’s it! That’s where the Country Saga came from. I hope you all enjoyed finding out a little more about how my crazy mind works and where my ideas come from. And I really hope you all enjoy getting to know all the different tribes and countries in the Country Saga!

HAPPY READING!!
 

Welcome Laurie Faria Stolarz to my Fan Group and get a chance to win a prize!

GO TO THE Q&A HERE!

I'm SO EXCITED to welcome the AMAZING author, Laurie Faria Stolarz, author of Deadly Little Secret (Touch series), to the David Estes Fans and YA Book Lovers Unite group on Goodreads!


Not only is Laurie Faria Stolarz going to be around from Jan 27 to 30 to answer ALL your questions for her, but she's generously donating TWO books for a giveaway, a paperback of Deadly Little Secret and a paperback of Deadly Little (U.S. only). Here are the two books you have the chance to win:

 

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 Laurie Faria Stolarz. It's that simple! So think up some fun questions for Laurie 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.

The Book that Changed My Life

Originally posted on Book Gift Guide 2013

I read The Hunger Games and it made me want to read more dystopian novels. I read Divergent and it made me want to write dystopian novels. And then I wrote The Moon Dwellers and it changed my life.

When I started writing The Moon Dwellers while holding down a fulltime day job as an operational risk officer at an investment manager, I never would’ve guessed it would turn into a 7-book series with thousands of sales and fans. Not in a million years would I have guessed it would be listed on Buzzfeed as one of “15 Series to Read if you Enjoyed The Hunger Games,” alongside bestselling series such as The Mortal Instruments, Divergent, and Delirium. And if you told me that 18 months later it would be compared to Divergent in The Book Gift Guide 2013, I would have said you were crazy.

But life’s funny that way. It throws you curves when you expect it to be straight—and is like an arrow when, from a distance, it looks all twisty. That’s what keeps it interesting.

So here I am, almost two years after finishing my first draft of The Moon Dwellers, shaking my head and pinching myself. I’m an agented full time writer of YA and Children’s novels travelling the world. I sometimes wonder if I’ll wake up from an exceptionally vivid (and long) dream. I think I’d cry on the way into the city, completely unready to take my place back in my tiny cubicle.

So where did The Moon Dwellers come from? Was it the result of a strange dream about people living underground or did I simply watch one too many episodes of Fraggle Rock growing up? Honestly, I have a terrible memory, and I can never seem to pinpoint the exact moment that the idea popped in my brain, but I do remember cocking my head and thinking “Hmm…interesting.” I thought about it during meetings, during my commute to and from work, and in the shower, and as I did I got more and more excited at the potential. There are so many dystopian novels out there, but one thing they almost always have in common is that they’re set aboveground for most, if not all, of the story. So I went deeper, deeper, deeper…underground.

It’s hundreds of years in the future and the citizens of the United States have been forced underground due to the earth’s surface being deemed “uninhabitable.” Living conditions are harsh for the lower classes and plush for the upper classes. Rebellion is stirring. And at the center of everything is a middle class girl, Adele, whose parents have been arrested for treason, and the upper class son of the president, Tristan, who’s quickly learning of the inequalities of the world he’s destined to govern over.

The Tri-Realm’s are about to explode in violence; and in this world there’s only one truth: Someone must die.

Honestly, I’m just thankful that I had the inspiration to write the book, and the motivation to see it through for six sequels. I’m even more thankful for the thousands of people who have given The Moon Dwellers a chance and written the most moving reviews and messages I’ve ever read. You are my inspiration every day of my life. And to my future readers, I hope you enjoy the world and story I’ve created!

 

Happy reading!