We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful JD Estrada. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with JD below.

Hi JD, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

With 19 books out, you can imagine choosing the most meaningful project is quite the challenge, especially because each one has a big part of my DNA and responds to something I need to express. That said, what started everything was my urban fantasy Human Cycle Series. It means so much because I mostly started it on a whim…and then it kind of got its hooks in me, told me what it was going to be, and has become an extremely personal project that’s not only been extremely gratifying to write, but even healing and cathartic. It’s also a story that’s way more than what you see when you scratch the surface. I describe it as my exploration of the human condition via fiction…I also describe it as an urban fantasy with angels, demons, and vampires that don’t sparkle. It’s an EXTREMELY me book, full of Easter eggs, nods to bands, musicians, artists, and authors that have shaped me, and I wanted it to be a book with vampires, not a vampire book. As I mentioned before, the main thing is that I want to explore humanity through fiction and I use lenses of angels, demons, vampires, and therians (shape-shifters whom you should NEVER call werewolves) to explore humanity, love, friendship, and fixations with morality. I also love the project because you can feel in Only Human when I stop trying to write the story and instead let it just come through and I love that I have that time capsule in my writing career.

JD, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have always loved variety and a glimpse to the foods I like or any daily playlist shows I love exploring and discovering. My writing started in high school through poetry. I needed to make sense of what I was living and experiencing and it’s been so helpful throughout my life. Then one day I wrote a short story for a school project and the teacher pulled me aside and told me, “This is good…as in very good. Maybe you should do more of this.” I took that same story, entered it into a contest in college and placed 3rd. I entered another contest and won 1st place in poetry. When I graduated, I ended up in advertising and writing once again became my salvation. Overworked and frustrated with creative revisions, one day I saw a commercial for Underworld and I said, “I can write something like that.” And from that cheeky comment, I started drafting an outline and bit by bit getting more ideas and realizing all I could do in a novel.

I also realized early on I could give nods to the authors that have made me who I am. There is a lamp post shrouded in mist as I say hello to C.S. Lewis. I discuss a race of plant people called the photogeni, clear nod to Tolkien but also a combination of Nordic/Greek myths expressed in a modern setting. A mysterious substance that can give people special powers, prescience, and beyond is called egnalem, an on the nose tribute to Frank Herbert’s Dune in name only, since the origin of this dust has nothing to do with sand worms. Then there are characters based on singers we’ve lost like Shannon Hoon (Blind Melon) and Layne Staley (Alice in Chains) and even a character based on the song ‘A whole lotta Rosie’ by AC/DC.

This happens a LOT in my work because these singers, authors, and painters/artists are deeply embedded in who and how I am. I share all this so that all future readers take into account that they should pay very close attention to details, especially while reading across my books, even when you cross genres. I have characters that appear in urban fantasy and middle-grade and people who have read always get a kick out of it, especially because it’s my way of showing how characters can be fully fleshed to the point that they can exist in any genre and still retain who they are.

Although I’m mainly known for my fantasy work, I do delve into other genres and it’s all about being free to explore as many of my soul wells as I can. It’s just that fantasy allows me so much freedom to explore a variety of topics that I always seem to gravitate towards that genre. Curious that some of my most profound truths I’ve discovered by reading and writing fiction.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I identify myself as a creativity ambassador because I’ve realized that creativity is much more than just having fun with ideas. It’s problem solving, it’s growing as a human, it’s allowing yourself to play and to fail as much as you focus on succeeding because that’s when you can get some of your best solutions. I remember one time I was surfing in a pretty dangerous break back home on a day that a solid wipeout would have consequences. In classic me fashion, I’m a ball of nerves, I’m not sure where to sit, a good wave comes my way, I paddle and proceed to commit a very silly mistake and take a big wipeout….and then nothing happened. I didn’t hit the reef, I was able to paddle back out, and I had one of my best sessions ever. That’s because failing more spectacularly than I did on that first wave would almost take effort…and the same applies to creative writing. You try different things and if you remain true to that inner voice, then that’s the right path.

Another huge influence in my life is David Bowie, but mainly in how he carried himself and his body of work. He explored different musical genres, pushed boundaries, expressed himself in film and fashion, and it was ALWAYS Bowie. He always sounded like he was responding to his inner heart compass, not the market, not trends, not what sells, but what means something to him. I work very hard so that every book and project I work on feels 100% JD even when I try some very unconventional storytelling methods. The main thing is to push myself and say “why not?”

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

While some people have contacts, connections, and call in favors, every single thing I’ve achieved is based off what I’ve done. No hand-me-downs, no nepotism, no short-cuts. Sometimes it’s intense because I balance work with life and writing and sometimes you feel spread a bit thin, but what I publish continues to be 100% me and people have responded and continue to respond. Some responses might be as simple as “I loved your books. Can’t wait to see what you publish next.” to something as profound as “I was able to understand how I felt when my father passed away thanks to your poem.” Absolutely nothing can prepare you for that and although I love entertaining with what I write, knowing that plenty of what I write connects that deeply, well I can’t think of a better result except to be able to achieve that a bit more often.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jdestradawriter.blogspot.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/jdestradawriter/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jdestradawriter/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jd-estrada-a47955181/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/JDEstradawriter
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JDEstrada