Good morning to you all, and welcome with me a guest and published author, Krista D. Ball. Krista is from Canada (Newfoundland) and she is a professional writer, both in fiction and non fiction. She agreed to be interviewed today about her writing, her stories, her muse and her plans for the future.
Chrystalla: Hi Krista. Welcome. I see you have a novelette coming up in September with MuseItUp Publishing. What is your book about?
Krista: Harvest Moon is about a young woman who angers an ancestor and is turned into a man as her punishment. While in exile, she rediscovers both friendship and love and finds an inner strength she didn’t know she possessed.
Chrystalla: Can you tell us where did the concept for the book come about?
Krista: I was working at an inner-city agency at the time. Jim Thunder, who later passed away, would tell traditional Cree stories. I decided to write my own, with a gender bending twist.
Chrystalla: I see you dedicated the story to him, as well. A great tribute. How long did it take you to finish, from concept to final product?
Krista: About four months. I worked on Harvest Moon as a side project whenever I needed a break from my fantasy novel, Tranquility’s Blaze.
Chrystalla: Are there any authors that have influenced your own writing?
Krista: I have many favourite authors and books. However, I love Jane Austen’s works. They are full of history, culture, and the social etiquette of the time. Sure, they have a bit of romance in them, but her novels aren’t about the romance. They are about women finding the best possible situations for them.
Every Christmas, I sit down with a good bottle of wine and read Pride and Prejudice in front of the fireplace.
Chrystalla: Do you have any favourite place where you feel your Muse is more apt to come and play while you write? Or perhaps you listen to music? If so, what do you listen to?
Krista: There are days that writing comes easier than others, but I don’t let that stand in my way. I set weekly goals for myself and I work very hard to meet them. The more I write, the more I can write at any time in any place.
I often have music playing in the background. Sometimes, even a movie or a TV show. I like the noise, but I don’t have it too loud that it becomes distracting.
Chrystalla: Do you have a favourite character you have written?
Krista: I try to only write characters that I either like or, at least, like to read. I still think Bethany of the Tranquility Series is my favourite character, although I’m enjoying a new character I’m playing around with who calls herself, “Alexis the Human Slayer.”
Dancing Cat is a completely different character than what I normally write. Dancing Cat starts off accepting her role in society. It’s a first for any of my female characters. But, even then, I couldn’t let her accept it the entire length of the story! My women always end up carving out their own place in the world.
Chrystalla: What are you currently working on?
Krista: I’m working on a science fiction novel, Road to Hell. I’m also planning to finish the first draft of my second Bethany novel, Tranquility’s Grief.
Chrystalla: Do you have any advice for new or aspiring author?
Krista: Join a critiquing group, either one that’s in person or online. Having other authors look over your work is one of the best ways to discover if you are ready to begin submitting. Also, they can help a new writer grow and improve.
Chrystalla: What inspires you?
Krista: I don’t know the answer to this question. Things just come to me. I see a situation, a place, or even just a phrase and it twists and changes in my mind until a workable idea comes out of it.
Krista‘s short fiction work can be found in Absolute Xpress Publishing’s Flash Fiction Challenge, The Country Connection, and Bards & Sages Quarterly. Her non-fiction can be found in Magickal Ink and Merge Magazine.
Harvest Moon will be out on October 1, 2010.
Great interview!
Alexis the Human Slayers sounds like a fun character to play with… as a writer. Not so much as another human character. Eeep!
Very good interview. I bet there are several CC members that you could do this with.
I’m planning a series about Alexis’s human hunting in a few years. I have some big projects that have to get done first and the whole vampire thing needs to take a good, long rest first 🙂
Thanks for having me on your blog, Chrystalla!
It’s a great pleasure having you here, Krista! Will Alexis be a non-human, then, a shifter, a vampire, a zombie? 🙂
Alexis will be a vampire with some life skills challenges and really fake boobs that she worked hard for 😀
lol! Fantastic. Can’t wait to see it.
You won’t see Alexis for several years, I’m afraid. I am saving her for when I’m totally burned out on Tranquility 🙂