Hawaiian writer, Dustin Stevens @dstevens5408 #amreading #amjoy

Dustin Stevens (pictured above)

Dustin Stevens is with me today to discuss his current writing.  Dustin is the author of more than 20 novels, 15 of them having become #1 Amazon bestsellers, including the Hawk Tate and Zoo Crew series. The Boat Man, the first release in the best-selling Reed & Billie series, was recently named the 2016 Indie Award winner for E-Book fiction and the 3rd Grand Prize Winner for all books – hard cover, paperback and ebook.

He is an award-winning screenwriter in the prestigious Harvardwood and Emerging Screenwriters competitions, as well as the Nashville International Film Festival and the Honolulu Film Awards. In addition, he is the only multi-time finalist at the Big Bear Lake International Film Festival.

A member of the Mystery Writers of America and Thriller Writers International, he resides in Honolulu, Hawaii.

What have you written?

To date, I have written nearly novels. The vast majority of these are suspense/thriller/mystery novels, and are split between my own name, Dustin Stevens, and my pen name, T.R. Kohler.

They include the 2016 Indie Ebook of the Year The Boat Man, the 2017 Independent Author Network Action/Adventure Novel of the Year Finalist The Debt, the Reed & Billie series, the Hawk Tate series, and the Zoo Crew series.

In the coming months, I am also branching into children’s books with my Danny the Daydreamer series, as well as my first graphic novel.

Tell us about your writing process and the way you brainstorm story ideas?  

As I always like to joke with people…ideas are never the problem.

 It’s having the time to get them all down. I can point to particular books and without fail tell you where the original seed sprang from, whether it be something I read, a show I watched, or even a dream of a particular character/scene I had.

From there, I usually take anywhere from a day to a year to let it come together in my mind. Rarely do I sit down to work on something unless I have a pretty clear framework already in place. Once I do, though, I go really fast, as most of my novels take about two weeks to complete. It’s an all-out sprint to get everything down.

What is your favorite motivational phrase?  

I’m not sure if Jodi Picoult originally said it or was just repeating it, but it was, “It’s so much easier to edit a bad page than a blank one. There’s just no way to get around the BIC as a writer. Butt In Chair.”

Most writers now there are definitely days when we don’t feel like doing this. Staring at a screen or trying to work out a plot kink can be tough. But I always come back to this with the general mindset of just keep pushing and something will break loose.

What writer pushed you to think differently about your life?

There’s no way she could possibly know this, but it would definitely be Lisa Gardner. I read an interview she gave once talking about how in the beginning she was slogging through the daily grind of an office job she despised while staying up far too late each night trying to get out that story she had in mind.

Luckily for her (and those of us that love her work), it worked out. Luckily for me, I read that interview at a time when I was going through the same exact thing and it helped me to push through.

I even once sent her an email saying as much, and she was so kind in responding and wishing me well.

What inspires you to get out of bed each day?

Simply put…I want to! I am so fortunate to live in a place like Hawaii and to get to write full time for a living, that I don’t even mind that there is so much to get done each done. I am excited for it, and wake up by 5:30 everyday just to get started.

(It goes without saying that my wonderful friends, family, and critters help tremendously too.)

Last question Jusin, what do your fans mean to you?  

So much more than they could realize. I know sometimes I fall a bit behind on responding to emails and such, but that is merely because I am deep in whatever manuscript I’m working on the time.

I absolutely love the fan interaction aspect of my job and can happily say I have made friends from all over the world doing this. A few years back, readers from Australia were vacationing and asked for travel tips in Hawaii. Each winter, a book blogger in Belgium and I exchange Christmas cards. It has been great fun, and is so, so appreciated.

Thanks for stopping by Dustin.

Thanks for having me

More about Dustin Stevens:

Amazon

Readers, please comment below.