Looking Out The Window: Erin Lorence Introduces Dove Strong, The Heroine In The Dove Strong Trilogy. She'll Give Away An E-book.

A Warm Welcome To Erin Lorence

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Hi Erin, First, tell us a little about yourself.

Thanks for asking! I’m a 39-year-old wife, mother, and beagle-owner from Western Washington. My mom, who died a year ago, was a published author of over thirty nonfiction books, and she always held me to a high standard of writing. Oh boy, the fights we had over my English papers when I was a teen!

I’m a Registered Nurse, although I stopped working at the hospitals since my daughters’ births, choosing instead to work mostly from home. I’m currently employed at my daughter’s local school as a lunch lady and as a part-time paraeducator, and I’m beginning to pursue my Master in Teaching.

I love to take walks with my husband and prefer to read rather than watch TV or partake in social media—yes, I realize that sounds boring. I fell into writing about five years ago, and I’m still excited by it.

Tell us about your latest book.

Fanatic Surviving, the second book of my Dove Strong Trilogy, releases June 7th, as a continuation of my main character, Dove’s, life-or-death journey. Dove introduced herself to readers in my first book, Dove Strong, as a reclusive, antisocial teenager who had never stepped foot off her family’s property—and had no desire to. But she plunged out into enemy territory anyway in order to try and stop a war between Christians and non-Christians.

In my second book, Fanatic Surviving, Dove is more worldly-wise...but not quite enough to avoid becoming trapped in a lethal survival game that has her trekking through the desert while her enemies jeer from the sidelines. Dove must depend on her new friends more than she ever thought possible and ends up on a road-trip that doesn’t turn out how anyone hoped. And to make things tougher, she must decide whether to save or sacrifice a loved one’s life in order to do what is right.

What do you love about this book? And what do you hope readers will tell others about it?

When I read The Hunger Games, the suspense of ‘will Katniss live or die?’ kept me reading late into the night. Yet it’s the popular novel’s setting that has me rereading it again and again...and that’s how I created the backdrop for Dove Strong and Fanatic Surviving. Vivid sensory details capture readers who follow Dove’s struggles to survive in the outdoor elements, whether trudging through the parched Chihuahuan Desert or climbing trees on a snow-capped mountain. As I created her outdoor adventures, I often forgot I was curled up on my couch, writing. Instead, I was on the toughest camping trip ever, tasting smoke, shivering in the early morning chill, and wondering if that cactus was edible. And similar to The Hunger Games, I couldn’t help asking myself...would my heroine live or die? But of course, I already knew the answer!

In three words describe your style of writing.

Active, descriptive, sensory.

What themes do you write about?

I create stories about modern-day teens who leave the safety of their families in order to take on the not-so-safe world. My heroes and heroines can’t be boring, so besides humor, I often give them an extraordinary power...or maybe it’s the villain they must defeat who has an unbeatable gift. Nature elements, such as a forest or the ocean, play a big role. And of course, readers must come away having witnessed a character’s growing relationship with Christ.

What is your writing schedule and where do you write?

Since I don’t like to be interrupted when I’m caught in a creative mood, I choose to do most of my writing after my husband, two daughters, and beagle Charlie have gone to bed. Around 10 pm I’ll chug a cup of coffee and get writing until 1 or 2 am. I choose to sit on the couch with my laptop. I think this is a mental thing—perched on a chair at a desk means I’m ‘working’ and curled up on the couch means I’m ‘vegging’...even if I’m doing the same writing task as I would at a table.

Are you a plotter or a pantzer?

I’m a definite plotter! When a new story idea hits, I sit down and regurgitate everything I can think of about it onto a Word document. At present I have about eight messy story ideas stored on my laptop. Then comes my favorite part—I take one of these messy ideas and turn it into a detailed, 40-page outline. I love the challenge and artistic puzzle of creating an outline with the exposition, growing action, climax, and resolution. At the same time, I solidify who my characters are with strengths, weaknesses, personality traits, humor, background stories etc.

After all that, the actual writing is merely following my outline, although I always deviate a bit. Yet it’s so much easier to sit down and have a black-and-white plan for what should happen next than to try and pull the story straight out of my head. I think I’d give up most nights if I didn’t have my outline to encourage me.

Does your faith affect your writing? If so, how?

Faith is the reason I write Christian fiction. Because it’s a niche, not everybody who reads young adult novels will chose to read the Christian genre...so maybe I’ll have less people read my books than if I wrote mainstream fiction.  Yet, I am a strong believer that Christians should surrender their gifts to God, in whatever ways He wants us to. If a single person becomes closer to God because of reading one of my stories, then wow! Thank you, Jesus—I’m glad to do it!

What is the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you?

I try to mentally block these moments of my life so as not to dwell on them—such as having my invitation to a high school dance rejected by a guy in the middle of English class. And as a nurse, upset patients calling me bad names in front of other nurses and doctors. Sigh. I guess I haven’t blocked out those moments completely.

But anyway, a more recent, less-painful embarrassment happened five years ago when my first book Dove Strong was weeks away from being published by a different publishing house. I had author blogs and interviews set up, I’d alerted all my friends through Facebook of my upcoming success...and then the publishing house closed its doors. I was mortified to have to let everyone know my book wasn’t being published. Although Pelican Book Group later helped erase some of my humiliation by agreeing to publish me, I still carry a scar from that first attempt. I hesitate and cringe before I post about an upcoming release...because what if it doesn’t happen again?

Introduce us to the main character in your new book. 

If you sighted 16-year-old Dove Strong in your favorite grocery store, you might not want to rush over and ask her to be your new BFF, inviting her to come home so you can bake cookies or play video games together. She wouldn’t accept your invitation even if you did. Most likely, you’d have earned yourself a glare. Because Dove’s a bit antisocial. She’s also tends to be on guard, assuming she’ll be attacked—and she’d assume you have bad intentions, trying to lure her into your house.

On the other hand, if you were running from a predator in the woods and stumbled upon Dove, she’d sacrifice herself to keep you alive. She’d help you hide, fight your attacker, and would share her snacks with you while you both waited out the danger. Because that’s the type of person Dove is. She is brave, strong, and fights for others in need of help. You might even become friends in your hours of surviving the odds together. Others who’ve weathered storms with Dove have found themselves not wanting to leave her side. Ever.

More About Erin's Books

Dove Strong 

Dove Strong loves God. She loves standing chin up, fists clenched when facing Satan’s attacks. But there’s one thing she doesn’t love—other people. So when this spiritually-gifted, antisocial teenager is chosen to join other believers in a trek across Satan’s territory, rattlesnakes and evil-intentioned Heathen aren’t her biggest challenges. But failure isn’t an option. In a month, the Christian Councils will decide the Reclaim, a vote on whether there’ll be a war between Christ’s and Satan’s followers to take back America. It is up to Dove, God’s messenger for peace, to reach her Council in time. Because if she doesn’t, things could get bloody.


Buy Dove Strong on Amazon

Fanatic Surviving

The Reclaim begins May 15th, and sixteen-year-old Dove Strong can’t do a thing to stop it... or can she? With only weeks until her people attack the unsuspecting nonbelievers, Dove accepts her recommission for peace.  Her journey is a success... until she runs into an old nemesis. Then her family member dies, and she is arrested as a terrorist as well as the prime murder suspect. Dove’s punishment? She must survive the unforgiving Chihuahuan Desert under the judging eye of every television-owning nonbeliever in the country. Saddled with a hostile camera crew, Dove fights to reach civilization while enduring Satan’s elements as well as a mysterious Amhebran coder who haunts her steps. Dove is strong. But is her faith strong enough to survive an ultimate friend betrayal as well as a decision of whether to sacrifice another family member to stop the May 15th attack?

Buy Fanatic Surviving on Amazon

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