Crissy Moss was born in northern California. Country girl at heart, she spent a lot of time in the great out doors, and the rest inside the library reading every book available. From mythology and fantasy to science and astronomy books, she wanted to read about everything. She currently lives in Texas with her significant other, an armor smith. He makes the armor and she writes about it.
When did you first start writing fiction?
I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. In second grade I would take paper from my teachers desk and staple it together so I could write about nymphs and dragons. I remember english assignments to write short stories were always my favorite. Ya, I was that kid.
What kind of books do you enjoy reading? Paper or eBook?
I mainly read fantasy and litRPG with a healthy dose of sci-fi. I read them almost exclusively as ebooks now since I can take them with me wherever I go. We just moved and I had to get rid of almost all of my paperbacks, too. The ebooks came with, though. I also enjoy audio books since I can listen to them while I’m doing something else.
What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?
I collected a lot of dime store sci-fi novels from the 70’s. A lot of them have great themes that apply to today, like “Race Against Time” by Piers Anthony that talks about the themes of blending everyone into one homogenized culture/people, or celebrating our uniqueness. For a book from the 70’s it had a big impact on me.
Of your books, which is your personal favorite? Why?
Witch’s Stand, at the moment. It is the final book in the Witch’s Trilogy, and delves into the political aspects of deposing a despot. Because it is the final book it has a lot of world building and characterization to draw on, and I was able to explore an aspect of humanity that I usually don’t in my writing.
You can make one LitRPG book (not your own) a movie. Which is it and why?
Ascend Online. From the ones I’ve read so far it is by far the best one in terms of writing, plot, and characters. I love diving into all the little details in that series. And I would absolutely love to see Lyrian brought to life.
Do you believe in writer’s block?
I have a love hate relationship with the term writer’s block. Yes, there are times when it is hard to be creative. There are usually reasons behind it, and not all of those reasons have to do with the writing.
Sometimes you have things going on in your life that you need to deal with, like family, job situations, or children. For me it was my family and a bad relationship that caused so much stress in my life that I stopped writing for ten years. I thought I had “writers block” but really I just had a bad situation that I needed to fix before I could write.
Now that my life is on track and I am writing I do have days that I can’t seem to find the words to write. Often it is because I am not taking care of myself by either missing sleep, or regular meals. Sometimes it is because there is a problem with the story and I need to figure out what that problem is before I can go any farther. Once my health and well being are taken care of, and the story is taken care of, the writing just seems to come.
Are you an outliner or pantser?
I’m somewhere in the middle. Sometimes when I first get an idea I will jot down a general plotline that is anywhere from 100-3000 words long. This is the “beats” of the story that gives an overview of what is going to happen but doesn’t go into too much detail. Other times I will get an idea for a specific character or seen and I have to write that specific scene.
What is your writing process like?
Scattered. I am currently trying to find a rhythm, experimenting with the best times to write, and how to get myself to keep going. This is my first month of being a full time writer so it’s a new experience. I am writing double what I was writing before but that’s not good enough.
How many hours a day do you write?
At the moment I work on writing and editing for about two hours a day, but that is only part of the author package. There’s also marketing, reading emails, social media, and keeping up with the news. Plus I read a lot to help keep my mind active, and the world building muscles working.
Share a photo of your workspace and tell us about it?
We’re in a new home, and our roommate makes armor for a living, so all the photos are sets of armor he has made over the years. I haven’t had time to put up my own nerdy things yet, but I do have two pictures from one of my favorite artists sitting on top of my computer, and a plushy face-hugger. You can also see my boyfriends 3d printers which he uses to make parts for his cosplay. All three of us are artists of one kind or another.
Who are some of your favorite authors of all time?
Luke Chmilenko, Anne McCaffery, Patrick Rothfuss, Nathan Lowell, Jasmine Walt, Kim Harrison…. Oh so many.
If you could have any super power, what would it be?
Technomage, so I can finally build myself a VR system, and a telepathic typewriter that types out my stories for me.
Where do you get your ideas?
They are all around us. From a fight between two lovers on the bus that I happened to overhear, to the ink splotch on a paper, to the documentary about stars collapsing. The trick for getting ideas is constantly asking “what if” about everything I see. What if that couple was arguing because their baby sprouted wings like a fairy? What if that ink splotch looks like a magical mushroom ring? What if that star collapsed because an alien species is battling entropy by seeding super novas to make new star clusters? Now write a story about it.
What are your thoughts on how VR will affect the future of humanity?
I have been fortunate enough to use an Occulus, and google cardboard. It’s fun, but it is limited. Proper VR takes up a lot of room, and/or is very expensive making it difficult for most people to get into. It also comes with some internal problems with balance and movement. I’m one of the people that tends to get sick if I move around in VR too much. That means VR as it is isn’t reachable for more than half the population.
BUT! It is a marvelous stepping stone. The first VR system, a hand held device from Nintendo that was monotone and heavy, was awful. In my lifetime they have been able to shrink things down, and make it so that you can have a VR system on your cell phone if you just have a $25 cardboard device. That’s pretty amazing. With the advances they are doing in holograms, as well as shrinking phones, curving screens, and more…I think it will be more attainable in the next twenty years.
What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?
I sometimes google things like definitions, parts for armor, or weapons while I’m writing. Most of the “research” I do is just normal everyday reading. I try to get a few hours in a day because the key to good writing is reading a lot and writing a lot. And for gaming….Well I have been gaming since grade school so that’s all the research I needed.
First video game memory?
My dad had an old Basic computer from radio shack that played games from a cassette recorder. He only had a few games saved, but one of them was called Eliza, a computer therapist. She was the very first Clever Bot, and I used to talk to her on a basic computer back in 1980.
What can fans expect from you next?
I am working on book 3 of my litRPG which I will say is a dungeon crawl. After that I will be finishing up the second book in my half blood sorceress series, which is a pure fantasy series.
Anything else you would like to add?
You can find me at crissymoss.com or under Crissy Moss on most social media.
