{"id":716,"date":"2021-02-02T13:03:02","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T13:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/?p=716"},"modified":"2021-01-29T12:58:10","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T12:58:10","slug":"716","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/?p=716","title":{"rendered":"Author Q&#038;A Vonnie Winslow Crist"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Author Q&amp;A Vonnie Winslow Crist<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">*This post contains affiliate links*<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-717\" src=\"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Vonnie-11-17-close-2-237x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"237\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Vonnie-11-17-close-2-237x300.jpg 237w, https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Vonnie-11-17-close-2-809x1024.jpg 809w, https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Vonnie-11-17-close-2-768x972.jpg 768w, https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Vonnie-11-17-close-2-1214x1536.jpg 1214w, https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Vonnie-11-17-close-2-1140x1442.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Vonnie-11-17-close-2.jpg 1241w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 237px) 100vw, 237px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Born in the Year of the Dragon, Vonnie Winslow Crist has had a life long interest in reading, writing, art, myth, fairy tales, folktales, legends, and science fiction. Her fantastical writing appears in publications in Japan, Australia, India, Pakistan, Italy, Spain, Germany, Finland, Canada, the UK and USA. A cloverhand who has found so many four-leafed clovers she keeps them in jars, Vonnie strives to celebrate the power of myth in her writing.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">1. Tells us about your writing\/ published book(s)<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">I began the author journey with the publication of a children&#8217;s book, <i>Leprechaun Cake &amp; Other Tales. <\/i>Next, I had 2 volumes of poetry published, <i>Essential Fables <\/i>and <i>River of Stars.<\/i> Then, a fantasy novel, <i>The Enchanted Dagger, <\/i>and 2 short story collections: <i>The Greener Forest <\/i>(filled with Faerie creatures) and <i>Owl Light <\/i>(filled with owls) appeared<i>. <\/i>Next, I had a science fiction novelette, <i>Murder on Marawa Prime, <\/i>published. My most recent story collection, <i>Beneath Raven&#8217;s Wing,<\/i> (over-flowing with ravens) arrived on January 30, 2021.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/books2read.com\/BeneathRavensWing\">https:\/\/books2read.com\/BeneathRavensWing<\/a><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe style=\"width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=GB&amp;source=ac&amp;ref=qf_sp_asin_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=elizabethholl-21&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=GB&amp;placement=B08T1WYM86&amp;asins=B08T1WYM86&amp;linkId=903e72a022dce8f3d87b501ac076af0e&amp;show_border=false&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true&amp;price_color=333333&amp;title_color=0066c0&amp;bg_color=ffffff\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe><iframe style=\"width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ac&amp;ref=qf_sp_asin_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=ehollandautho-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=B08T1WYM86&amp;asins=B08T1WYM86&amp;linkId=f0f8bb726cb4e3b90b7a0276b1b2624e&amp;show_border=false&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=false&amp;price_color=333333&amp;title_color=0066c0&amp;bg_color=ffffff\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">2. How do you approach starting a new book?<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">I start by deciding what story I want to tell. If I need to do any research, I tend to research first. If the story I want to tell is a small tale, then I write a short story or novelette. I usually send short stories off to magazines or anthologies. After several dozen stories are published, I begin to look for re-occurring themes. When I have a stack of stories on one theme (Faeries, Owls, Ravens, etc.), I determine if they&#8217;ll puzzle together to form a book. Usually, I need to write several new stories as well. In the case of a novel, it&#8217;s just a bigger, more complicated narrative. And lots more research. Though I&#8217;m not big on outlines, a novel requires at least a skeleton to hang the narrative upon.<\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">3. What advice would you give to someone wanting to write their first book?<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">First, read books in the same genre as the book you want to write. Pay attention to how a novel\/story is constructed. Then, on to your book. If it&#8217;s a novel, begin with a character list. Determine who is your protagonist (central character) and write a description. Decide what your protagonist wants &#8211; the goal they&#8217;re hoping to achieve. Figure out who and what will try to stop your main character from reaching their goal. Write a description of the antagonist and problems your protagonist will face. Then, decide if your main character gets to achieve their goals or does the antagonist win. Finally, sit down and write! If you&#8217;re putting together a collection of stories, you first must write lots of short stories. Each one of those tales will have a protagonist, goal, antagonist, and ending.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">4. Do you do research for your books? If so, what kind of research?<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Yes! I love to research. Any subject I&#8217;m including, I want to make certain I&#8217;m getting my facts correct. For <i>Beneath Raven&#8217;s Wing, <\/i>I researched parts of a castle for the first story, \u201cBlood-Soaked Biscuits.\u201d For the second tale, \u201cLady Raven,\u201d I researched the physics of a bird&#8217;s flight. \u201cMangata,\u201d the third story has trolls, so I researched the characteristics of trolls in Iceland, Norway, and elsewhere. The last story features a young St. Oswald. So I researched the 7<sup>th<\/sup> century saint, including the fact that he had a pet raven. The list could go on. Each story required a bit of research. I used both online and print sources.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">5. Tell me about your current work.<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><i>Beneath Raven&#8217;s Wing<\/i> is a collection of short stories which feature ravens. In some stories, it&#8217;s just a single raven. In other tales, it&#8217;s a flock of ravens \u2013 which are called an <i>unkindness. <\/i>Though written for adults, <i>Beneath Raven&#8217;s Wing, <\/i>like all of my books, is Young Adult friendly. Many (though not all) of the central characters are young adults. I&#8217;m inspired by folklore. Threfore, the pirate Blackbeard, deathwatch beetles, Norse gods and goddesses, a Native American shaman, and others make appearances in the book. Of course, I <i>had<\/i> to have a story inspired by Edgar Allan Poe. \u201cAn Unkindness\u201d is a tale set in Poe&#8217;s Baltimore \u2013 complete with cemeteries, grave robbing, and a lost love.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/books2read.com\/BeneathRavensWing\">https:\/\/books2read.com\/BeneathRavensWing<\/a><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">6. Would you want your book made into a film?<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Most of the stories<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>in <i>Beneath Raven&#8217;s Wing <\/i>would translate well to film. I&#8217;m a very visual person, having started off as an artist and illustrator. I \u201csee\u201d the surroundings and action of my stories as I write. A film would be the icing on the storytelling cake!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-718\" src=\"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/3d-book-cover-300x200.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/3d-book-cover-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/3d-book-cover-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/3d-book-cover-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/3d-book-cover-1536x1024.png 1536w, https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/3d-book-cover-2048x1365.png 2048w, https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/3d-book-cover-1140x760.png 1140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Where you can find Vonnie Winslow Crist?<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/vonniewinslowcrist.com\/\">https:\/\/vonniewinslowcrist.com<\/a> <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/vonniewinslowcrist.wordpress.com\/\">https:\/\/vonniewinslowcrist.wordpress.com<\/a><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VonnieWCrist\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/VonnieWCrist<\/a><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WriterVonnieWinslowCrist\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WriterVonnieWinslowCrist<\/a><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Author Q&amp;A Vonnie Winslow Crist *This post contains affiliate links* Born in the Year of the Dragon, Vonnie Winslow Crist has had a life long interest in reading, writing, art, myth, fairy tales, folktales, legends, and science fiction. Her fantastical writing appears in publications in Japan, Australia, India, Pakistan, Italy, Spain, Germany, Finland, Canada, the UK and USA. A cloverhand who has found so many four-leafed clovers she keeps them in jars, Vonnie strives to celebrate the power of myth in her writing. &nbsp; 1. Tells us about your writing\/ published book(s)\u00a0 I began the author journey with the publication of a children&#8217;s book, Leprechaun Cake &amp; Other Tales. Next, I had 2 volumes of poetry published, Essential Fables and River of Stars. Then, a fantasy novel, The Enchanted Dagger, and 2 short story collections: The Greener Forest (filled with Faerie creatures) and Owl Light (filled with owls) appeared. Next, I had a science fiction novelette, Murder on Marawa Prime, published. My most recent story collection, Beneath Raven&#8217;s Wing, (over-flowing with ravens) arrived on January 30, 2021.\u00a0 https:\/\/books2read.com\/BeneathRavensWing\u00a0 2. How do you approach starting a new book? I start by deciding what story I want to tell. If I need to do any research, I tend to research first. If the story I want to tell is a small tale, then I write a short story or novelette. I usually send short stories off to magazines or anthologies. After several dozen stories are published, I begin to look for re-occurring themes. When I have a stack of stories on one theme (Faeries, Owls, Ravens, etc.), I determine if they&#8217;ll puzzle together to form a book. Usually, I need to write several new stories as well. In the case of a novel, it&#8217;s just a bigger, more complicated narrative. And lots more research. Though I&#8217;m not big on outlines, a novel requires at least a skeleton to hang the narrative upon. 3. What advice would you give to someone wanting to write their first book? First, read books in the same genre as the book you want to write. Pay attention to how a novel\/story is constructed. Then, on to your book. If it&#8217;s a novel, begin with a character list. Determine who is your protagonist (central character) and write a description. Decide what your protagonist wants &#8211; the goal they&#8217;re hoping to achieve. Figure out who and what will try to stop your main character from reaching their goal. Write a description of the antagonist and problems your protagonist will face. Then, decide if your main character gets to achieve their goals or does the antagonist win. Finally, sit down and write! If you&#8217;re putting together a collection of stories, you first must write lots of short stories. Each one of those tales will have a protagonist, goal, antagonist, and ending. &nbsp; 4. Do you do research for your books? If so, what kind of research? Yes! I love to research. Any subject I&#8217;m including, I want to make certain I&#8217;m getting my facts correct. For Beneath Raven&#8217;s Wing, I researched parts of a castle for the first story, \u201cBlood-Soaked Biscuits.\u201d For the second tale, \u201cLady Raven,\u201d I researched the physics of a bird&#8217;s flight. \u201cMangata,\u201d the third story has trolls, so I researched the characteristics of trolls in Iceland, Norway, and elsewhere. The last story features a young St. Oswald. So I researched the 7th century saint, including the fact that he had a pet raven. The list could go on. Each story required a bit of research. I used both online and print sources. &nbsp; 5. Tell me about your current work. Beneath Raven&#8217;s Wing is a collection of short stories which feature ravens. In some stories, it&#8217;s just a single raven. In other tales, it&#8217;s a flock of ravens \u2013 which are called an unkindness. Though written for adults, Beneath Raven&#8217;s Wing, like all of my books, is Young Adult friendly. Many (though not all) of the central characters are young adults. I&#8217;m inspired by folklore. Threfore, the pirate Blackbeard, deathwatch beetles, Norse gods and goddesses, a Native American shaman, and others make appearances in the book. Of course, I had to have a story inspired by Edgar Allan Poe. \u201cAn Unkindness\u201d is a tale set in Poe&#8217;s Baltimore \u2013 complete with cemeteries, grave robbing, and a lost love.\u00a0 https:\/\/books2read.com\/BeneathRavensWing\u00a0 6. Would you want your book made into a film? Most of the stories\u00a0 in Beneath Raven&#8217;s Wing would translate well to film. I&#8217;m a very visual person, having started off as an artist and illustrator. I \u201csee\u201d the surroundings and action of my stories as I write. A film would be the icing on the storytelling cake!\u00a0 Where you can find Vonnie Winslow Crist? \u00a0https:\/\/vonniewinslowcrist.com \u00a0 \u00a0https:\/\/vonniewinslowcrist.wordpress.com\u00a0 \u00a0https:\/\/twitter.com\/VonnieWCrist\u00a0 \u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WriterVonnieWinslowCrist\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Author Q&A with @VonnieWCrist","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[14],"tags":[15,9,17],"class_list":["post-716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-author-interviews","tag-author-interview","tag-book","tag-books"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Black-and-White-Beauty-Quote-Pinterest-Graphic.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=716"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":721,"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716\/revisions\/721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}