Character spotlight with Myrddin, a C.R. Moss creation

~ Good day and welcome. I am a feline familiar named Myrddin. Sometimes my mistress, Cassandra, calls me Myrd. Other people call me Merlin. My mistress and her family’s stories will be available at Devine Destinies in the Look What the Cat Dragged In series by C.R. Moss.

What makes you special? What differentiates you from your kind? Do you have special abilities?
~ I am a handsome black cat, if I do say so myself, with long silky hair, fluffy tail and piercing yellow green eyes. And, due to my connection with my mistress, I can make suggestions which she is usually wise enough to follow. Through her, I can engage others to assist me. I fancy myself a matchmaker. Some people need a gentle push. Some people need a hard poke or two. While others, well, they need a good kick in the arse. I know that may come off sounding a bit harsh, but I am a tough love kind of fellow. There is only so much leeway I will allow my loved ones to take before I intervene. After all, my charges do need to make mistakes and try to find their way in life on their own. But if they continue to flounder and not get on the right path, you can be sure I will be there to re-direct them. Granted, due to my stature and physical nature, I cannot kick anyone in the bum in the literal sense, but I can get under their feet. And the lovely ladies I live with know that all too well. I am a lucky guy to have such wonderful women in my life to love and be loved by. But alas, I cannot fill all of their needs.

Tell us about your most current adventure.
~ My first adventure, available April 1 from Devine Destinies, follows my mistress’s cousin’s friend, Evelyn. She’s a lass from Texas who’s in love with our manor’s resident ghost, Quinn. But she can only experience his embrace in her dreams. Quinn, who doesn’t realize he’s a ghost, loves Eve and wishes she’d stop saying they can’t be together. I have my work cut out trying to get these two together. I mean, one person is dead and the other is alive, how much harder can love and matchmaking get? Then I get to play matchmaker for Julie and Cassandra. Julie meets up with a time traveler. My author says to tell you that you can find out more at: http://www.crmoss.net/lookwhatthecatdraggedin/

If you could offer your author advice, what would it be?
~ Live. Laugh. Love. Take lots of catnaps.

Are you happy with the way people perceive you?
~ For the most part, yes. The ladies love to stroke me, run their fingers through my hair. They appreciate my insights. And most visitors think I’m a wonderful feline. But then there’s Alex. I don’t think he was loved much as a child since he’s none too kind to me.

Is expressing love difficult for you? Why?
~ Not usually, if the human is receptive. Give me a lap and a hand to pet me and you’ll have my purr-motor running in no time. I love attention and affection. But if the human doesn’t like cats, believe me, I can think up devious ways to make the human’s life interesting. A shoe and a hairball can do wonders.

If you could time travel, where would you go?
~ I would love to go forward in time. See the world that will be here after my nine lives are over. Maybe visit a time when space travel has been perfected and I could be the first feline in space. How wonderful would that be? Brilliant, I’d say.

If you had the chance to meet another character, who would it be and why?
~ I would love to meet Marius. My author’s cat is named after Rice’s character and I’d like to be able to tell her about him first hand.

What is your most favorite thing to do?
~ Sun myself in Aunt Mae’s garden on one of the decorative rocks as Cassandra tends to her herbs.

Do you think you are a superior being?
~ But of course. I am a cat. My ancestors were venerated by all in Egypt and held in the most high admiration and respect. Plus, I come from a long line of familiars.

Describe your abilities and how exactly did you get them?
~ I am a familiar, a mystical being that assumed the form of a cat. With my supernatural qualities, I can attend to and assist my Wiccan mistress, providing psychic guidance and companionship during spell casting and beyond. One night, when she was young and hurting, she called out to the Universe and I was sent to her. We bonded. I am, however, more than just an instrument for her Wiccan magic. As with all familiars, the relationship between us is unlike any other. It’s a relationship that surpasses the natural plane of reality, where we can commune together on a higher level. As dogs are to man, so is the familiar to a Wiccan.

Is your gift always right?
~ My heightened senses haven’t failed me so far.

Does your gift get you in trouble?
~ It hasn’t yet, but I have a feeling when I bring in Cassandra’s true love she won’t be too happy and believe me to be in a world of trouble. I’ll probably end up in the proverbial doghouse. Same with Julie. Her true love is arriving at an inopportune time and she might blame me for that, too.

What good thing have you done with your gift?
~ I have brought love into my human caretakers’ lives.

Would you trade your gift for a different gift?
~No. Things are as they should be.

Author spotlight with C.R. Moss

Hello C.R. Moss!

How do you categorize yourself: pantser or plotter?
I do both. It depends upon my mood and my muse. If my muse is chattering away, I’ll do what I call an information dump~lots of narrative or dialogue or basic ideas for a chapter/the story~which is my way of outlining. If he’s not very communicative, I’ll write what I can until he intervenes. I don’t like to say I plot because it seems so strict and straight-laced to me. Outlining what I’m working on works so I have an idea of where to go. The outlines especially help if I have to put the project down for a bit and return to it at a later date. I also flip between the two, depending upon the story and what the characters are dictating, since there have been times my characters have taken over and changed things up. When the characters take over is when pantster mode kicks in because they don’t want to follow the initial outline.

What is the biggest piece of your advice you can give a beginning writer?
Learn the craft! This means grammar, characterization, plot, etc., all the good things that go into a story. You might be able to tell a good story, but, if you can’t write it by showing what the characters are doing/feeling, your writing career won’t go anywhere. Get involved in a critique partnership/group. Learn the non-creative side of the business as well. Be prepared.

Do you write in one genre or several different ones? And why?
I started off writing in the horror genre. Then in the early 90’s a friend of mine gave me Jude Deveraux’s A Knight in Shining Armor and I started writing romance. Now I find myself to be a bit of an eclectic romance writer with bits of paranormal, horror, sci-fi, etc. thrown into the mix. It keeps things interesting for me and my muse.

If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?
I’d be an author beach bum on a tropical island.

To date, which is your favorite story? Which one did you have the most fun writing?
To date, my favorite Devine Destinies story is Postponing Eternity… Well, actually all three stories in the series are my favorites. I enjoyed writing about Tarrin and seeing him on a regular basis. But, I have a feeling that Cassandra’s story in my Look What the Cat Dragged In series will be lots of fun to write. I’m brining back Philip, a secondary character from Concealed Affairs, who Cassandra has no warm and fuzzy feelings for. He helps her to have a change of heart.

How do you go about developing your characters and setting?
The developments of my stories are character driven. I’m always more heavy on the character aspects of my stories when I start—knowing who they are and their internal conflicts—than I am with what they need to do and the obstacles they have to overcome. The characters normally tell me their names or give me an idea of what their name should mean. If I get a meaning, I look up names in a baby book until the character goes yes, that’s it. If I don’t get a name or meaning right away, they get a ___ in the story until they speak up. As for personalities, sometimes the characters just show up, like someone I meet for the first time who I get to know real quick. Other times I have inklings and vague ideas of who the characters are and I’ll create astrological charts for them to get a deeper sense. When it comes to settings, I try to place the stories in locations I’ve lived or visited. If the story dictates being somewhere I haven’t been, then I do lots of research on the locale.

C.R. Moss, a self-proclaimed eccentric and eclectic writer, pens stories for both the mainstream and erotic romance markets, giving readers Worlds of Possibilities.

For more about the woman behind the keyboard and her books, visit: www.crmoss.net