Interview with Cia - Writer, Editor and Admin of GA and FSO

Cia, a writer and editor I have known for a long time through my association with the writing forum Gay Authors, has kindly agreed to do an interview for me. She can be found on ciasstories,blogspot.com

Thank you, Cia, for you interesting interview, although I think you were being a litle too evasive about the dark secrets.

·         This is where we usually ask you to tell us a bit about yourself but I, personally, think that is the most difficult and least interesting part of any interview. It would be far more efficient if you included a link to your blog profile so we can go there and find out everything there is to know. Unless there is something you particularly want us to know… dark secrets, hidden depths, strange fantasies…

Nephy says I should share dark secrets or strange fantasies. . . I think you guys should just read my stories. There are clues in many of them and, other than that, I like to remain mysterious. It’s more fun that way!

Cia’s blog can be found at - ciasstories.blogspot.com

·         When, if ever, did you start to think of yourself as a writer/editor/beta?

I would say I picked up beta really quickly. Once I joined GA in 2009, I began hounding my favourite authors for more content. I began reading for you, Lugh, Myr, Linxe, just to name a few of the many I’ve inveigled into giving me sneak peeks at their stories.

Editor I still don’t claim because I’m constantly learning new things, I screw up grammar/punctuation wise. I do try to share those with the authors I beta for though. A grammar workshop of common mistakes, by Cia, can be found elsewhere on this blog.

Writer.  Huh, that’s a sticky one. I’ve always liked to write but I never did anything other than write down ideas. Story building escaped me. Then a story grabbed me and it has spawned many others. I find that if I don’t get them out of my head now, I go a tad...wonky. That can be dangerous to my sanity, so I try to listen to the voices. Quite the opposite of most people I’d expect, but I’ve found most writers get it.

·         What was it that attracted you to the Gay Authors forum?  

Acceptance. It is a community that sometimes experiences friction but as a whole, is so very supportive of each other, beyond writing and into the twists and turns life gives us.

·         What is it that kept you there?

Myr keeps telling me to do stuff and I’m a bit of a pushover. I have 2 critiques to do today and several anthologies I’ve been ‘told’ I’m doing this year. Can’t let anyone down, lol. Seriously, though, I received so much help writing there, so I try to stick around and pass that along.

·         What are its good points and bad points?

Being an admin is never easy. Sometimes it’s a Catch 22. Usually the friends and support for me to be ME that I’ve found there makes up for the bad times.

·         What things have most influenced your writing?

My love of fantasy and paranormal stories, I’d say. I can’t help but like to write what I like to read. That and Renee Stevens. I met her a while back on GA, realized I knew her as Writers Dream on crvboy and loved her story, Puppy Love. We got to talking about writing, and for a long time now we’ve been beta reading and editing for each other. If we learn something to improve our skills, we share with each other. She pushes me and helps me write the best story I can possibly achieve.

·         What gave you the inspiration for writing the Carthera stories? Can you first give us a little bit of information about who and what they are and, perhaps a link to where we can find out more about them.

My Carthera. Well quite often I twist existing fantasy or mythology but not with these guys. The world just came to me. I didn’t want characters that transformed on a full out basis but that would allow me to add aspects of animals I thought were appealing and/or hot.

I got the idea from my cat, surprisingly enough. He was lying on my chest; his fur was so soft and he was warm and purring. It was a relaxing and comforting feeling. That gave me the idea for Natham, without the fur. Even though my first story, Bonds Unbroken, is from Velaku’s POV the idea started with Natham. You can find the completed stories in the series and my WIP on GA link: www.gayauthors.org primarily.

·         What piece of work of yours are you most proud of and why?

The Price of Honor is an editing nightmare I haven’t gotten back to, but it was my first story and my longest. It took months to write but my fans kept me motivated. I received so much feedback and it really addicted me to writing. I wouldn’t have kept going if not for the love I found for my characters. It also netted me 2 Reader’s Choice awards on GA which was a huge compliment. Nothing like ego stroking to keep a person working to get more.

·         Who is your favourite writer (not including anyone from GA or FSO)?

Books I love? The Black Dagger Brotherhood by JR Ward. OMG, HOT! Enough said.

Online fiction? Hands down, nomoretears or MA Church as she is also known. She posted a story on Literotica that I absolutely LOVED called The Harvest. I was leery of it for a long time but when I gave it a chance I realized it was an incredibly well written and rich fantasy. I’ve added her to my list of inveigled authors, too, and get peeks at what she is working on from time to time now. 

(Nephy here… I can agree totally with the endorsement for The Harvest. It’s a very fine story. Imaginative, well written and with VERY addictive characters. I would love to read it without having to keep clicking on new chapters. So, someone out there publish please)

·         Tell us a little about your photographs, and maybe share with us a few of your favourites. Have your photographs provided inspiration for any of your stories?

Photography excites me. I have used several aspects as writing inspiration. I wrote a short story for a prompt with a whole play on light and dark called Eren’s Light for a GA anthology based on a sunset picture I took. My photography has featured into several stories as well. I haven’t done too much lately, but there is a link to my DA gallery on my blog. My favourites are probably Light Shines link: http://cia81.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=120#/d39wbrx and Still Waters link: http://cia81.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=168#/d30ze9o

·         Can you tell us a little about your involvement with FSO. What it’s all about, what the vision behind it is. In what way it is different and in what way the same as GA.

FSO is a site Myr wanted to create that would allow authors who write all genres to post. Many of the writers on GA, especially the women, also write f/f or m/f fiction. This is a place to post that for readers that isn’t a gay site. Sometimes authors aren’t ready to share the fact they write slash, with the world and this gives them another place they can share with friends and or family.  It is a very small site and we’re working on building it in hopes that we’ll get a diverse group of authors who will make the site their own. I’m technically ‘in charge’, which is scary when it comes to the whole succeed/fail thing. I have a lot of respect for what Myr has done with GA and hope to one day make FSO as popular.

·         Tell us a little about how you see your writing, your photography and your involvement with GA and FSO progressing from here.

For now, I don’t see anything changing in the near future. In the fall I will go back to work after 6 long years at home with my kids and my time might get a bit more precious but I am too addicted to my hobbies, photography and writing, to ever stop. The sites might see less of me but I refuse to lose touch with them because, to me, they are my online homes. I’d be awfully bereft without them.

·         Is there anything else you would like us to know, such as projects, developments or interesting stuff.

Hmm, upcoming work. Well I have several projects I’ve just finished and/or are ongoing.

1.       Hypnotic-mm novella WIP Almost done! Posting primarily on GA.

2.       A Message of Love-mf short story for FSO V-day anthol. Will post soon!

3.       The Burden of Secrets-mm: novella will post soon in GA premium.

4.       Pipe Dreams-mf novella WIP posting on FSO.

5.       The Legend is the Key-mm novella WIP for GA’s novella contest due June.

6.       Elementals (working title)-mf novel modern/fantasy WIP hopefully to submit to a publisher. If not, FSO will be a great place to post this.