Author Interview with Steve Westover

Today’s interview is with Steve Westover, author of Defensive Tactics, an LDS thriller, and Crater Lake: Battle for Wizard Island, a middle-grade fantasy novel. He currently lives in Missouri with his wife and four children. Thanks, Steve, for volunteering to be interviewed today.

List five movies you LOVE:

• Happy Gilmore- Because it’s hilarious.
• The Shawshank Redemption- I love a good story of redemption and overcoming overwhelming obstacles
• Sneakers- There’s not much better than a good, high tech heist
• A Few Good Men- There’s a good moral story and I love courtroom drama
• Princess Bride- Because it’s fun and clean

If you were stuck in an airport with nothing else to read, would you rather have a copy of Twilight or Hunger Games?

Hunger Games– No question. Twilight makes me nauseous.

My wife-Because she is a rock, and she’s funny and exuberant and a great support. She’s wonderful and I want to be like her.

Moroni-Because he is sensitive and tough and willing to do the right thing no matter what is required

My daughter- because she’s a super talented artist and she cracks me up every day.

How do you come up with ideas for your books?

My first book, Defensive Tactics is the result of a very vivid dream. I love dreaming and I woke up from my dream thinking, “that would be a cool movie”. As it is, it became a cool book. For Crater Lake I knew I wanted to do a fun outdoors adventure and as I started researching more about Crater Lake the rest of the story took shape. It seems like it wrote itself. Gold Clash will come out in December and its a sequel to Defensive Tactics. I love treasure hunts so I wove in elements of treasure hunting and church history. It all starts with what I enjoy. If I think it sounds fun, I’ll write it. Now I need to develop a cool bank robbery book. That will have to come a little later.

What is your favorite thing about writing?

I love the freedom of creation. Just like a reader wondering what’s going to happen next, I write wondering what’s going to happen next. Sometimes I have an outline in my head but other times I just write and see what happens. It is very cool to create something new and be able to influence what happens next.

Pick a character from one of your books and tell us about him or her:

Jacob is from Crater Lake. He’s a 90 pound freshman geek who wears thick glasses, and an australian style hat to compliment his scout uniform. He’s a bit of a know it all in scouting which annoys some of the other boys, but his skills come in very handy when he has to rescue his friends.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on the sequel to Crater Lake which I think is going to be a lot of fun. I’ve also finished a YA dystopian that I’m shopping around that is a little darker but still very cool.

You can read more about Steve and his books, and get details about the library giveaway he’s currently running by visiting his blog here.

Here’s the synopsis from his latest book, Crater Lake: Battle for Wizard Island.

While visiting his crazy Uncle Bart at Crater Lake National Park, thirteen-year-old Ethan’s world collapses when all the adults at Crater Lake disappear, including his parents. Now Ethan must rally his new friends and decipher the legends of Crater Lake to find the key to rescuing his parents from their earthen prison before he’s captured too and their captivity becomes permanent.