The
Dream Defenders
by
Neal DenHartog
Genre:
YA Fantasy
A vivid, dangerous dream world. Real-life consequences. Better ready your defense.
When
fourteen-year-old Nolan Erling wakes up with a headache for the
fourth straight day, he suspects the likely culprit to be any number
of things—from his annoying baby brother, to vehicular crashes with
his elderly neighbor, or even his questionable late-night food
choices—not his dreams.
Aeryn
Sandman knows the true cause, though. She is a junior agent with the
DREAM Institute, a secret organization tasked with protecting the
world’s population while they sleep, and she’s on her first
assignment.
Her
mission: infiltrate Nolan’s life—and his dreams—and keep him
safe, all while persuading him to join their protective force.
But
recruitment missions are no walk in the park, and Aeryn’s goes
horribly wrong when Nolan’s powers unwittingly unleash two dream
creatures locked away in a restricted area of the dream world. While
Aeryn and Nolan search for ways to contain the escaped beings, they
uncover a much greater conspiracy.
For
these dreams can kill, and someone is orchestrating their actions in
the dream world. If Aeryn and Nolan can’t figure out who is behind
it, no dreamer will be safe, and neither will the organization that
defends them.
Discover
a book with a fresh voice, genuinely humorous characters, and a
compelling, original storyline. The Dream Defenders will
appeal to readers of all ages.
★★★★★ -
"A spectacularly imaginative story." - Indies Today
**FREE
July 29th – 31st!!**
Neal
DenHartog was born, raised, and currently resides in Iowa. After a
fifteen year career in the sciences he decided to rekindle his
childhood passion for writing. Now, when he's not donning a lab coat,
he writes stories about dreams.
GUEST POST
A day in the life of the author?
This is going to be the most boring
answer ever. I still work a day job, so I bang out those 40+ hours
Monday-Thursday while getting some author-ry stuff done at night. On
the weekends, if I’m not travelling, I wake up and make a pot of
coffee, read and write for a few hours, work out, take a nap, then
work for the rest of the evening.
Advice they would give new authors?
Keep writing! It’s hard, and if
you’re like me there are crippling moments of self-doubt, but stay
persistent and you can produce something that people will read
and enjoy.
Describe your writing style.
There is a heavy dose of snark and
sarcasm throughout. I’m not sure what that says about me.
What makes a good story?
Great characters! I’ve read stories
with an absolutely mind-blowing premise where the characters just
fell flat or were just outright unlikeable. A good plot is a must but
totally secondary.
What are they currently reading?
Luckily, it’s summer right now so I
get to dedicate copious amounts of time to reading out on my back
deck. I’ve been rereading both the Dresden Files and the
Artemis Fowl series. Other highlights so far have included the
highly imaginative Iluminae trilogy and trying to get caught
up on the Keeper of the Lost Cities series (I still have 3
giant books to go).
What is your writing process? For
instance, do you do an outline first? Do you do the chapters first?
I’m an outliner, but the first thing
I do figure out what my character arcs are going to be. This is what
it going to drive the story, and then I begin to weave the story
element around what they are going to experience. From that I get a
pretty detailed 3 act outline in place, then rough in the sequence of
chapters. Once that’s all in place I’m ready to write, and once
the words start making their way to the page I realize the outline is
merely a guide and let the story do its thing.
Do you have a daily or weekly
writing schedule, or do you write only when you are inspired? How
many words or pages do you complete in a typical day?
When I’m drafting I try and write
every day, even during college football Saturdays when I’m glued to
the tv. Other than that I try to do something that moves the needle
each day, whether that’s writing, editing, marketing, or anything
else book related. When I’m in writing mode I’ll do anywhere from
1000-7000 words a day, depending on the amount of free time and how
well the words are flowing.
How many drafts did you write before
publishing your most recent book?
I think I ended up with nine drafts,
ten if you count the one I wrote ten years ago. I count a draft as
any time I walk away from it for an extended amount of time to let
the ideas breathe, and I’m sure the latter ones had far less
changes than drafts two and three.
What are common traps for aspiring
writers?
Perfection. I could have spent months
continuing to revise, but let’s face it, this novel was never going
to be perfect. I still think it’s pretty darn good, and some more
polishing would have made it a touch better, but the I might as well
push it out there now and get moving on the next one.
What is your writing Kryptonite?
Squirrels! I’m so easily distracted.
Seriously, I can sit down to write and two hours later find myself
down some deep, dark hole of the internet with only a few handfuls of
words written. I really need to install one of those programs that
blocks the internet for a set amount of time while you write.
Follow
the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
Great cover.
ReplyDelete