Black & Paranormal: Featured Paranormal Author - Alexis D. Craig

Alexis D. Craig

Black & Paranormal is an ongoing series featuring paranormal writers of color.

1.     Favorite month of the year? Why?

Favorite month of the year is June. Beginning of summer, it’s warm, and full of promise of long nights, endless adventures and no mf’in snow.

2.     Pen name or real name? Why?

Real name: I worked for a long time to get published and I’m proud to put my actual name on my work. I did not spent all that time in the back of French and Latin class in high school writing notebooks full of stories and fanfic longhand to not put my name on my legit work.

3.     Most common shifter in your book(s)?

Right now, it’s wolves and ravens, but my goal is to bring in a LOT of uncommon shifters.

4.     Most uncommon shifter in your book(s)?

So far I go for the more obscure birds for some reason. Kestrel, peregrine falcon, cooper’s hawk, ibis, osprey and eventually penguins and a gila monster.

5.     Which dead author would you want to have coffee or tea with for an hour? What would you ask them?

Gabriel Garcia Márquez. I love his writing, and everything I’ve read from interviews with him say he’d be fun to talk to and drink with. If not him, Hunter S Thompson.

6.     Which genre of books do you read the least? Why?

I love history but I don’t read a lot of nonfiction books. I will read them, but they’re not my go to choice.

7.     Biggest writing pet peeve?

My pet peeve of writing is that I can’t type as fast as I think. I live for the day the telepathic typewriter is invented.

8.     How do you work through writer’s block?

I get though writer’s block by whining, reading, and writing on things other than my current project. I also find that discussing my current project with people tends to reignite the juices. Occasionally I find that if I change the POV of a scene I can flesh it out better and then if I need to make changes later, I can do that.

9.     Do you have a writing routine? If yes, what is it?

I write when I get home from work, late into the night, on the weekends. Basically any free time I have.

10.  Which one of your characters do you most identify with?

Cora. I want to be her when I grow up.

11.  Are any of the scenarios or scenes in your books real? Did you change the names to protect the innocent or not so innocent?

Yes, some scenes in my books are taken from real life experiences, but I do change the names.

12.  How do you address fans who want to set the agenda of your books?

I thank them profusely for their interest in my work and assure them I have a plan, though I take ideas seriously because sometimes other people have perspectives on things I’m too close to see.

13.  Favorite distraction from writing?

Archiveofourown.com or tumblr I have a fanfiction addiction.

14.  What’s the most expensive thing you’ve purchased for your writing career?

The review money to submit to Kirkus. It’s a good bit of money up front and then it’s no guarantee that they’re gonna like your stuff. It’s a gamble.

15.  Which character do you regret torturing the most?

I don’t regret torturing characters. Like real life, I do things for a reason in my books and I don’t have room for regrets there.

16.  Cliffhanger or happily ever after?

 I prefer happily ever after and yet I write cliffhangers. I’m a mess.

17.  What book had the best and most satisfying ending? Yours or another?

None come to mind off the top of my head. I’m tempted to say The Ex File because in my head, the timeline of finishing that book is inherently tied to Dead and Disorderly and together, they’re both narratively satisfying in terms of finishes for me.

18.  Favorite writing place? Time?

Either in my comfy writing chair in my living room or Sbx, and I love to write late at night, easier for my brain to settle down and focus.

19.  Day job or full time writer?

Day job, until being an awesome writer pays all the bills and for health insurance, I gotta do what I need to in order to keep my dog in the manner to which she is accustomed.

20.  Favorite vacation spot?

Paris France and Pompeii Italy. There will never be a moment when I can go through and do all the things I want to in Paris but I’m down to continue to try and Pompeii was the first time I had some kind of weird feeling of coming home even though I’d never been before. I want to go back and explore that place and those feelings.

21.  If you could live in any city no matter the cost and still make money as a writer; which city would you choose?

Tucson, Az. I’m over snow, I miss the sunshine and I would love to go back and live there forever.

22.  Favorite romance trope?

I’m a sucker for a forced proximity/bodyguard scenario in romance, though I kinda love the coffeeshop AU in fanfic.

23.  How are your books organized on your shelves?

Ideally, by genre, then author last name, first name, and book title, with series grouped together in numerical order. In real life, though, shelving in my house is at a premium so it is very much ‘get in where you fit in’ and they are overstuffed and then some.

24.  What are you currently working on? What do you plan to do in the future?

I’m putting the finishing touches on A Hunter’s Moon which is Vasily’s story in my Winged Guardians series, and then I’m off to work on A Sugar Moon, which is Xander’s story.