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Please welcome Crystal Collier here today to share her new book and some thoughts on her writing process. Timeless, her latest book in her spectacular YA fantasy series, Maiden of Time, is available now!

I hope you’ll stop back tomorrow for my review of TIMELESS when I’ll tell you all the ways that author Crystal Collier gets it right. Meanwhile, see my earlier reviews of this series– MOONLESS and SOULLESS. It’s a perfect time to meet the Maiden of Time!

In 1771, Alexia had everything: the man of her dreams, reconciliation with her father, even a child on the way. But she was never meant to stay. It broke her heart, but Alexia heeded destiny and traveled five hundred years back to stop the Soulless from becoming.

In the thirteenth century, the Holy Roman Church has ordered the Knights Templar to exterminate the Passionate, her bloodline. As Alexia fights this new threat—along with an unfathomable evil and her own heart—the Soulless genesis nears. But none of her hard-won battles may matter if she dies in childbirth before completing her mission.

Can Alexia escape her own clock?
 

BUY: Amazon | B&N



Author Interview

 

The Process of a Writer: Plotter or Pantser?

Do you remember being a kid and playing with your friends? One would shout, “I want to be the princess!” Another would say, “I’m the wizard.” Another might volunteer, “I’m the dragon!” And the story was off. Each had an idea of how the game would go, and all three would vie for dominance on which twist the story would take next.

 

For me, writing is like playing.

I used to think that I was a pantser—meaning I just got an idea and wrote. Head first. Like kids at play. Then I listened to my kids and remembered the REAL way things works. Each kid takes a turn adding ground rules and adapting things. Before the “play” takes off, there’s a solid framework of expectations, but room to explore and adapt.

I sit down and lay out the grounds rules, meet my characters, create a 9 to 25 point plot map from beginning to end, and explore possible settings. While brainstorming through this, a number of scenes pop into my head and I’ll either make notes or quickly write out the scene with a plan to fully expand it later. Then I write—usually sequentially. Sometimes not. Research happens as I write, constantly deviating to pull up a visual stimulus or to fact check, and I’m always reading books about my era or location while writing.

But I don’t chart every detail. There’s still wiggle room. My characters still
surprise me and change things. Plot points fall out from under me. AND I don’t even bother laying the ground work for short stories.

And that’s how I write my books.

So plotter or pantser? Yes.
 

Crystal Collier is an eclectic author who pens clean fantasy/sci-fi, historical, and romance stories with the occasional touch of humor, horror, or inspiration. She practices her brother-induced ninja skills while teaching children or madly typing about fantastic and impossible creatures. She has lived from coast to coast and now calls Florida home with her creative husband, four littles, and “friend” (a.k.a. the zombie locked in her closet). Secretly, she dreams of world domination and a bottomless supply of cheese.

 

❀Unleashing the dream world, one book at a time ❀

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(Email address is required for awarding prizes.)

 

https://www.crystal-collier.com/spinner/

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