Ask the Author: Kristi Cramer
Answered Questions (3)
Kristi Cramer
I like to write strong characters, especially the girls/women. I also want readers to be able to relate to my characters, so I try my best to make them real.
My contemporary novels are about hard-working people living realistic lives. My heroes are cowboys and bush pilots, my heroines are tough cops and office workers and veterinarians. I like to put ordinary people into extraordinary situations, and let them discover true character in the face of danger.
It might be somewhat out of style these days, but my heroes and heroines have lines that they don't cross, things that they won't do to save the day. They will find a way to achieve their goals that may take longer and be riskier, rather than cross those lines into doing "whatever it takes" and landing in the murk of questionable morality.
They are human, and they do make mistakes. They are practical people and if their loved one is in imminent danger and the only way to save them is to shoot to kill, somebody is going to die. But death and mayhem are never the first choice for my heroes.
My villains, however, are under no such restraints. With each novel, I try to go deeper to create characters who have real motives, goals, and backgrounds that give the reader a glimpse into the heart of darkness. Villains who view life as cheap, and leave chaos in their wake.
The end result is nail biting, edge of your seat suspense that will keep you turning pages, rooting for the good guys and that happy ever after ending.
My contemporary novels are about hard-working people living realistic lives. My heroes are cowboys and bush pilots, my heroines are tough cops and office workers and veterinarians. I like to put ordinary people into extraordinary situations, and let them discover true character in the face of danger.
It might be somewhat out of style these days, but my heroes and heroines have lines that they don't cross, things that they won't do to save the day. They will find a way to achieve their goals that may take longer and be riskier, rather than cross those lines into doing "whatever it takes" and landing in the murk of questionable morality.
They are human, and they do make mistakes. They are practical people and if their loved one is in imminent danger and the only way to save them is to shoot to kill, somebody is going to die. But death and mayhem are never the first choice for my heroes.
My villains, however, are under no such restraints. With each novel, I try to go deeper to create characters who have real motives, goals, and backgrounds that give the reader a glimpse into the heart of darkness. Villains who view life as cheap, and leave chaos in their wake.
The end result is nail biting, edge of your seat suspense that will keep you turning pages, rooting for the good guys and that happy ever after ending.
Kristi Cramer
My best method of attack on writer's block is to just sit down and pound something, anything out. Sometimes it is only a paragraph at a time, but I must write!. I can always go back and delete it if it is true crap, but often the scenes I write this way do work, with some (or a lot of) tweaking.
For me, writer's block doesn't stem from a lack of ideas. I have at least half a dozen books clamoring in my head waiting for their turn to get out.
I think my writer's block comes from this belief that I can't write if I don't have this huge block of time set aside for writing, and currently, that huge block is not available. But if I just sit down and write something, it carries over and I find I can build upon that paragraph, and the next time I sit down I'll write two, and the time after that, four, until suddenly I'm writing whole scenes in one sitting.
Truthfully, my writing time is limited because I don't put my writing first. I let too many other things get in my way. Social media being chief among the distractions. But if I can resist checking my facebook feed, my twitter feed, my goodreads feed, my instagram feed--all truly valid things for a writer who wants to engage her readers--if I can resist making that my first activity then I end up getting a lot of writing done.
And after all, if I don't write anything new, there won't be new stories to talk to my readers about. So, I had better go. Got some writing to do....
For me, writer's block doesn't stem from a lack of ideas. I have at least half a dozen books clamoring in my head waiting for their turn to get out.
I think my writer's block comes from this belief that I can't write if I don't have this huge block of time set aside for writing, and currently, that huge block is not available. But if I just sit down and write something, it carries over and I find I can build upon that paragraph, and the next time I sit down I'll write two, and the time after that, four, until suddenly I'm writing whole scenes in one sitting.
Truthfully, my writing time is limited because I don't put my writing first. I let too many other things get in my way. Social media being chief among the distractions. But if I can resist checking my facebook feed, my twitter feed, my goodreads feed, my instagram feed--all truly valid things for a writer who wants to engage her readers--if I can resist making that my first activity then I end up getting a lot of writing done.
And after all, if I don't write anything new, there won't be new stories to talk to my readers about. So, I had better go. Got some writing to do....
Kristi Cramer
I'm currently working on Book 2 of my Boys of Syracuse, Kansas series. Book 1 used to be titled Blinding Justice, but I renamed it to fit with the series concept. It is now Last Shot at Justice, and will be re-released November 21st, 2014. (There are only minor tweaks to Justice, so if you've already read it, you won't need to re-purchase the re-release--unless of course you want to.)
Book 2 is called Last Second Chance, and it features Mitzi's brother, Tim, who just got out of prison and is trying to start his life over. He asks Mitzi for help, and she agrees to sponsor his move to Syracuse. Once he is there, he meets the cast of characters who make up the town of Syracuse, Kansas, and the Lazy J Ranch. He also meets Janie, Blue's sister and the town vet, and his attraction to her grows as they get to know each other while tending to a sick horse together. However, he is keenly aware of his status as an ex-con, and he resists acting on his attraction. At first he doesn't want to subject himself to the humiliation of her rejection when she finds out about his past. Then he doesn't want to subject her to 'his kind of trouble', the stigma of being a criminal.
See, Janie has had plenty of trouble in her life. She was 17 when she gave birth to her daughter after the father ran off, and she endured the whispers of the people in the small town of Syracuse, as well as the 'usual' challenges of being a single mom. She had just about resigned herself to staying single when Tim shows up and awakens desires she had given up on long ago. And since Cody, her daughter's father, turned up in town again, she is all kinds of confused. Cody apparently wants back in her life, but Janie is pretty sure she won't get past her anger to let him in. And Tim...she doesn't know what to do with her interest in him.
Lurking in the background to all of this romance, someone from Tim's past is hell bent on tracking him down. Someone who wants to reel him back into the life of crime he thinks he's left behind, or failing that, make him dead for getting caught in the first place.
Book 2 is called Last Second Chance, and it features Mitzi's brother, Tim, who just got out of prison and is trying to start his life over. He asks Mitzi for help, and she agrees to sponsor his move to Syracuse. Once he is there, he meets the cast of characters who make up the town of Syracuse, Kansas, and the Lazy J Ranch. He also meets Janie, Blue's sister and the town vet, and his attraction to her grows as they get to know each other while tending to a sick horse together. However, he is keenly aware of his status as an ex-con, and he resists acting on his attraction. At first he doesn't want to subject himself to the humiliation of her rejection when she finds out about his past. Then he doesn't want to subject her to 'his kind of trouble', the stigma of being a criminal.
See, Janie has had plenty of trouble in her life. She was 17 when she gave birth to her daughter after the father ran off, and she endured the whispers of the people in the small town of Syracuse, as well as the 'usual' challenges of being a single mom. She had just about resigned herself to staying single when Tim shows up and awakens desires she had given up on long ago. And since Cody, her daughter's father, turned up in town again, she is all kinds of confused. Cody apparently wants back in her life, but Janie is pretty sure she won't get past her anger to let him in. And Tim...she doesn't know what to do with her interest in him.
Lurking in the background to all of this romance, someone from Tim's past is hell bent on tracking him down. Someone who wants to reel him back into the life of crime he thinks he's left behind, or failing that, make him dead for getting caught in the first place.
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