Welcome to the Question and Answer page!
Have questions? That’s okay! If I haven’t answered them below, then feel free to shoot me an email.
1. What is Crossed Paths?
Crossed Paths is the book I’m currently writing. Eventually, it will be a series. but right now I’m just crossing fingers that the book will be finished… eventually heh. But for now, Crossed Paths is a fantasy/action/romance novel, though more fantasy than action, and more action than romance.
2. What is it about?
For those who may not know, this book is essentially about how a cursed part-wolf spirit, part-human male crosses paths and teams up with a cheerful, extroverted female to fight the evil Huntress. Crossed Paths takes place in a made-up city somewhere in Missouri, United States.
In more detail, the novel is about an extroverted, goody-two shoes, female teenager named Sarah crossing paths (hence the title) with a very quiet, antisocial male teenager named Michael. Michael is a kid with many secrets – especially involving his family. Balancing work, high school, family, and the spirit world, he has to deal with Sarah too, feeling only-slightly-less-than-hatred towards her at first. They fight like a normal couple would; the only difference is they also fight monsters, spirits, and the Huntress together as well. Huntress is the villainesse that wants to take over the spirit world. Michael’s no hero though, so Sarah can’t figure out what his reasoning is.
3. What is its rating? (G, PG, R, etc.)
Probably PG. I doubt it’ll get into R… I do touch on issues like domestic violence, rape, etc. I will try to remember to just put a little warning if it’s gory or touches a controversial issue kinda thing. But I don’t go into enough detail that it’s extreme. But I certainly wouldn’t count this as a bedtime story. I think it’s appropriate for most teenagers and up. There is minor cussing, major cussing (hints mostly though), violence/gore, cuteness, romance, and extreme feels at times. Apologies in advance. 🙂
4. What is its genre?
Big one is fantasy. Next one is probably action, but romance will be a biggy too. If you’re not one for romance, don’t worry; it’s sprinkled in throughout the book/soon-to-be-existing series. Fantasy and action compose the main part of the story.
5. How long is the book going to be?
Hehe, I have no idea; I’m sorry. So far, I’ve got 36ish chapters written, just a little less than half of them need to be edited. It might be cut short, and I’ll just write a new book called like “Adventures of Michael and Sarah” or something. I’m planning a book about the main characters’ ancestors too. Kind of like a major prequel. I just have a lot of material and ideas to work, so the process will be a long one. If you look through all my art and character/spirit list/dictionary, then you know I have a lot of stuff to go through and introduce to possible readers without overloading them with information. So I have to space things out.
Side note: I actually had a chapter that introduced a character… and killed the person off in the same chapter.
So I’m spacing stuff out, and it’s gonna get long. But I always appreciate the readers who stick it out with me! 🙂
6. When and how did it start?
TWO questions? What is this sorcery?
For when it started, I believe I was in like.. 7th grade, so the wonderful years of 12-13.
For how, this is a long story so brace yourselves. So when I was like 10 or so, I had a dream about this blonde girl (Sarah) meeting a little boy in a hollow tree with stained glass; the boy saved her when the tree was attacked and started burning to the ground. That eventually became the prologue.
But no, a really amazing dream isn’t enough to start me on writing! SO!
Funny story time. (Just to give you some background, I was homeschooled in an online curriculum). So one of my friends was emailing me about how well I write papers and these short story assignments we had to do for English class. She asked for a quick lesson in how I write. And me being the amazing friend I was/am (aka I much rather wanted to “tutor” and have fun procrastinating than do chemistry homework), I agreed. I made up these two random characters interacting to provide examples of dialogue and description. Their names were Michael and Sarah.
And she was good. And I continued writing, heh.
7. Where do you get all this creativity, inspiration, and ideas?
Wow, big question. Also. If I had a quarter for every time someone asked me this, I swear I’d be rich… Just kidding, I’d have a dollar. $1.25 if this was your question too. 😉
Like mentioned before, I get creativity naturally pretty much. But on the pressure a bunch of times. Like.. Tutoring ehe. Also dreams. I had more dreams than just the prologue one.
Also the people around me contribute and affect me without even realizing. A friend does a research project about rape in both genders; I have a couple characters affected by it. A friend (and I) have had some panic attacks.. and insomnia. It’s in there too. I’ve got relationship problems like cheating, diseases, death, social issues like rape, poverty, etcetera. There’s more, but I feel like listing that is just boring and also kinda spoiling so. I just kinda hear about stuff and I put it in.
If you’re talking about inspiration in the motivation kind of sense, then usually just from drawing characters and thinking about their personalities, and suddenly craving to write them. Also, music helps too.
8. Do you copy people like their work or life?
This is such an odd question to ask, but whatevs. I’ve only been asked this once so.
Life. I’m an introvert and a very conserved one at that (when I’m in a new place/with new people). So, I take privacy very seriously. Literally most of what I know is hearing a key word from somewhere like a friend, and then Googling it. (Bing is stupid Because It’s Not Google.) Hearing about a problem, like I talked about in the previous answer, is basically just realizing a key word to research. (Also what’re you expecting me to do? I do have a heart. I’m not going to be like “Hey, person! Oh your boyfriend cheated on you? Do tell. In extreme detail. Wait stop. Let me get my pen and paper to take notes, thank you. Okay. Continue.” Like I hear someone at the next table got cheated on and I’m like ooh character idea! (Yes… there is one character I literally designed to get cheated on. He’s awesome though so shush. Usually I just add a thing to a person’s background, not BASE a character on the thing and let it grow from there.)
Work. And with the copying work thing, I don’t plagiarize. I have a conscience, and I like writing. Plus, I kinda feel like this book idea isn’t very common. But maybe that’s just me.
Crossed Paths 