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