Tag Archives: Crymsyn Hart

Questions I’ve Encountered from Readers

Over the last eight years of writing, I have come up against many different questions from readers regarding the subject of my writing. Every author is going to get them and depending on your genre, the questions are going to be different. Being a romance writer, I have gotten a few that are a little off the wall and some that are right up my alley. So I wanted to share a sampling of questions I have run across over the years:

 

Q. Who is your favorite romance writer?

Well…I don’t read romance novels, so I can’t really say. Because I write so much romance and erotic romance, I don’t read much of the  genre. I try to stay away from it and read horror, urban fantasy, and fantasy books.

Q.  Does your husband know about all of these men you’re sleeping with in your head to write your books?

Hmm…there are thousands. Hehehe….of course he knows about them and all the positions that I come up with considering I am an acrobat in my head and can do many wonderful feats of lovemaking. But when I try to tell him about it or show my husband, things never go the way I imagined them. Thank goodness for my characters so I can try new things out on them.

 

Q. Do you actually perform all the love scenes you write about?

Ahh…that would be a no because I can’t transform into a werewolf or a werecat and I think that would be extremely painful when doing so in the middle of getting hot and heavy. Besides, my husband is only human and I can’t grow fangs even though it would be fun. As it is, I don’t bend in certain ways that my characters do.

 

Q. Can I be in your book?

I think this is one of the best questions I’ve gotten few times because readers are awesome. The normal is no, but on occasion I have actually put a reader into a book for a bit part that normally ends up getting them killed.

 

I’ve gotten some other wonderful questions, but these are the ones that have always stood out in my mind. It’s nice to know that readers get so involved they want to know more. And I’m always open for more questions.

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Pluggin’ Away

Sometimes I wonder why I continue writing.

It’s not based on the fact that I want to make money because I’ve gotten past that dream.

Although it is still something I wish to obtain. Quitting my day job of working in the insurance industry would be great because-let’s face it-insurance isn’t all the exciting and I’ve been doing it now for ten years. Regarding writing it’s nice to have the royalties come in and help out paying bills. My sales are fair and hitting a bestseller list would be wonderful, but I’m doing what I can so I muddle along.

I’ve been writing now for sixteen years and eight of those are professionally. I have over seventy books out-novels to novellas and I think that’s a pretty good stack under my belt. I’ve had some wonderful experiences with publishing companies and I’ve had some not so wonderful. All authors have a few war stories. I’ve met some great people and some that make me go hmm…and I’ve made some lifelong friends from it.

There are times I wake up and glance at the computer and groan because it feels like a chore to write.  And others all I want to do is write. Those are the good days. Characters chattering away in my head making me think I’m crazy, but all writers have to argue with the voices in their heads at times to make sense of the noise and sort out the plots. Story lines twist and turn in my brain until I work them out on paper. But the thrilling thing about writing all these years is the stories that come out and appear after all the hard work.  I never assumed that I would have amassed this amount of work. My goal, at least for now, is to get to one hundred published books and then so where I go from there.  But I’m also trying to move from the romance genre and move back into the horror genre where I first started writing or at least mashing it up more.

So I guess the real reason I keep writing is to stay sane and see where the worlds in my head lead. Someday I’m sure I’ll get burnt out completely, but for now I keep on pluggin’

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The Next Big Thing

Last week Gail Z. Martin (https://disquietingvisions.com/2012/12/11/big/) tagged me on her blog, as part of a chain of authors (or creative people) recommendations called THE NEXT BIG THING. Today it’s my turn to reciprocate. I’m going to answer questions about my new project Awakening the Wolf .

What is the working title of your next book?

The working title of my newest book is called Awakening the Wolf: A Two-Natured Novel and currently I’m writing the sequel to it called Awakening the Lion.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

The idea for the book came from a dream where the shape shifter characters were able to turn into two different animals instead of just one.

What genre does your book fall under?

My book falls under the Romance genre with a little bit of erotic and shape shifters.

If you found yourself in an elevator with a movie director you admire and had the chance to pitch your book to them, what would you say?

I would tell the movie director that  no movie has ever been done about characters that can turn into two different animals. And there is a great love story to boot? It’s a cross between Twilight and Underworld except without the vampires.

Every writer dreams of their book being turned in a movie or a TV show like Game of Thrones. If this happened to your work, which actors would you choose to play your characters?

If Awakening the Wolf was turned into a movie, I would see Illiana, the heroine, being played by Scarlett Johansson. Belik, the main raven shifter, would be played by Orlando Bloom, and Christopher, main wolf shifter, would be played by Alex Pettyfer.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Once the characters started talking to me, they were the one to inspired me to write the book. I loved the story line and could not stop it.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

It took me a month to write the first draft of the manuscript.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Hmm…I can’t think of any specific books that I can compare it too.

When will your book be available?

This book will be available some time in the spring of 2013.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Well, if the readers enjoy a good love story with plenty of character development and a moving storyline, then this book is for them.

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When the room is spinning….

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Crymsyn Hart

After finally recovering from an inner ear infection that left me reeling for six weeks, I think the room has finally stopped spinning enough for me to focus on things. It was hard though to make the ground stay put when I was on vacation a couple of weeks ago, but I firmly told it not to move and it did. At least for a little while.  However, it did not work so well with my characters.

While all I wanted to do was write and let my muses have full run of my hands, that did not work out so well. Every time I sat in front of the computer, it went a little fuzzy and my eyes seemed to cross. So I recommend when you are dizzy not trying to type anything out unless you can deal with the spinners.  It gets even worse when your muses decide to twirl and twirl inside your mind, which made me even dizzier and then they wanted to talk to me and write. So I ended up with a pen and a notebook.

In many ways writing by hand is cathartic and I enjoy it a lot. On the other hand, I can only do it for so long before my hand cramps up and I get more work done by typing rather than by writing longhand. But it is great because that is all I used to do when I was writing in high school.

So my lesson while being sick, even if the room is spinning and your muses resemble a whirling dervish, writing is still possible, even if I can’t read my own chicken scratch.

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Two or More Names

 By

Crymsyn Hart

Writing can be hard and it can be fun depending on how are characters are doing that day. If they are in a bad mood, then good luck trying to woo them. Sometimes, the characters break into multi-personalities and make life interesting.

Besides the characters, even the authors can have a bad day or we can split into other personalities as well. It seems that is what is happening to me lately. Other authors write under different names for various reasons. Some is to protect their personal identity. Others do it because they write in different genres and it would clash with another identity. That is where I’m at.

I don’t write under my own  name because of the industry I work in. Besides that I write erotic romance novels and also horror. Erotic Romance and Horror don’t really mix so I’ve had to come up with another name for the horror genre as it is more explicit. So we will see where it goes.

I never thought I would want to write under another name because I could not think in another personality. However, that has been happening lately. It’s hard to have another voice inside my head. Some people think I’m crazy. Maybe I am. *Evil Laugh*

But now I have two personalities that will be inundating the market. I can only hope that I won’t have another personality spring forth. Others do, and that is awesome. I just wonder if I’ll be able to juggle three.

We shall see.

 

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Introspection on sharing myself with the world…

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Crymsyn Hart

So I wanted to take a second to talk about Blogging, well my blogging to be specific.

I admit that I’m not the best blogger to keep up every week with a post. I do try. Although the posts come on the day they are due. My day job hits me at odd hours, since I work from home. There is the family stuff we all have to deal with and there are also the spoiled brats, namely my two dogs-Morrigaine, Black Lab and Cadence, Black Lab/Border Collie mix. She’s the crazy one that loves to run full throttle from outside, through the house, and take a flying leap over the arm of my couch and slide it across my floor. Yeah, she’s a cute little devil.

You would think I would blog about my thoughts on the books I read, but my reactions normally stack up to meh it was okay or yeah, I really liked it. How interesting is that?

My day job consists of working in the insurance industry and that will put you to sleep in five minutes once I start talking about it. That leaves talking about my characters or writing in general. I guess there are movies and a few ghost stories I could throw in once and a while, but hey I consider my life to be boring. Maybe others don’t.

I’ll try to be more entertaining unless you catch me on an off day and well then I can’t promise you anything.

So the motto from now on is:

Viva the Blog!

 

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After the Con

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Crymsyn Hart

This past weekend I attended ConCarolina’s with my fellow bloggers, Tina McSwain, Gain Z. Martin, and J.F. Lewis. It was nice to see them and say hello since that doesn’t happen much. As much fun as I had hanging out with all the other authors and meeting such wonderful fans and new ones, I am still recovering. Who would think three days of talking would be tiring, but it is. Although it is exhausting, it also invigorated me to get back to writing.  I guess my muses got over eating their pot brownies and were tired of parting with the Kilingons and singing karaoke.

Once they recovered, they were at me like bears on honey and all they wanted to do was tell me their stories. Trying to slow them down these past couple of days has been rough, but I am managing. At the end of the month I’ll be at FandomFest in Louisville, KY and I’ll be doing the same and meeting new people. That is the glory of the conventions getting to meet wonderful people and hanging out with other who are of like minds and sometimes like muses.

Of course my muses are trying to tell me stories of what they did while I was at ConCarolinas, but I keep telling them, what happens at the Con stays at the Con.

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Which Comes First, the Author or the Muse?

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Crymsyn Hart

Today I have spent most of the day stuffing goody bags with candies and other fun things for this upcoming weekend. I’ll be attending ConCarolinas to hang out with all the other awesome guests and some of my fellow blog members.

While stuffing the bags, plot badgers started rooting around in my brain and a new story bloomed. I hate it when that happens. I think my muses have been eating too many of those pot brownies that I’m not supposed to know about. My muses claim they get together and discuss plot ideas and are relieved when I finally start writing something. I don’t see how they are relieved. I finish writing a book and my brain goes on lock down for at least a week and I can’t even think about sitting at a keyboard. Although my muses end up banging at the bars and want out. So I think my muse’s perspective on things is a little skewed.

She claims they attend workshops to inform me on how to write better, but it’s really me doing all the leg work and researching to make sure I have the details correct if I’m writing on a subject I don’t know.  She thinks she can hide all the drunken parties with the werewolves and gnomes that live inside my mind. Well, she’s wrong. I know all about them. They can’t hide anything from me. *Evil Laugh*

So makes me ponder a question.

Which comes first, the author or the muse?

What do you think?

 

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The World According to a Muse

By

Crymsyn Hart

Hello world!

Wow, I can’t believe I’m actually getting to break out of my author’s mind and get a chance to address all of you. It isn’t like my author keeps me chained up and tortures me. Although, there are certain times when my fellow muses and I do have to attend workshops so we can accurately inform our author how to use certain equipment when she writes about it. Those can be exceptionally fun and always breed more entertainment and shenanigans than our author can handle so we restrict her access. But I can tell you that ten muses running around in a BDSM dungeon, set up in some mountain retreat, filled with werewolves and gnomes makes for an excellent weekend party. But shh…we can’t let on to our author that we get drunk and frolic naked. She still thinks we’re all sophisticated sitting around collaborating on ideas all the time.

Of course, there are times we discuss ideas, but that is usually when we are all playing poker and munching out on pizza. I get my best inspiration when I’ve had too many pot brownies. Our author doesn’t imbibe, but what goes on in her mind is a well kept secret. So the current ideas we have lined up for her are starting to pile up. It’s getting rather crowded in our cramped quarters, tucked away in the paradise of her thoughts.

However, when she finally gets to one we will all have some relief, but then the partying gets to start all a new. Until then, I’m going to hide out and munch on some delicious brownies.

Ta!

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Shiny & Polished….now what do I do?

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Crymsyn Hart

So you’ve put the finishing polish on the manuscript and it’s all bright, shiny, and ready to be shipped off…somewhere. But where do you go and what do you do with it? Well, there are several options these days unlike fifteen years ago when I first started searching around for places to go.

You can self-publish. You can send your work to an agent, or you can go directly to a publisher or an e-publisher. If you choose the agent, publisher or e-publisher route, make sure you read the submission requirements for that particular place you are sending it to. Everyone is different.

Some agents say to just email them a synopsis and not to mail anything. Or if you do mail them something make sure you include a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope so you can get a reply back.  Or others will let you know that they are not taking any unsolicited manuscripts.

The same with the publishers. Only very few will actually accept any manuscripts. This is talking major publishing houses. Now if you are looking at e-publishers, make sure to also look at their  submission’s page because they too have a specific format they want, whether it is a synopsis and the first three chapters of your book, or just the synopsis.

Then there is the self-publishing route which many authors I know are taking these days, but please make sure you have edited your book or have some edited for you. That is the most important thing.

No matter which road you choose, there is always the anticipation and the butterflies in the stomach of the waiting for when you hear back. But the good thing about that is, while you’re waiting, you can be writing another book.

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