Crystal Connor is a  Master Imaginationist, an Instagram photographer and is currently working as the Chief Imagineer working for the Department of Sleep Prevention’s Nightmare Division. (In laymen’s terms Connor publishes really scary stories and takes tons of selfies) Connor is a Washington State native that loves anything to do with monsters, bad guys (as in evil-geniuses & super-villains. Not ‘those’ kind her mother warned her about), rogue scientific experiments, jewelry, sky-high high-heeled shoes & unreasonably priced handbags.

1. What was your first published work?

The Darkness published in 2010.

2. Is there a story inside that you have seeds of but can’t seem to connect that’s dying to get out?

No, its the opposite. I have so many stories roaming around in my head that the characters won’t leave me alone, lol.

3. How do you handle a rejected story?

After I’m done fighting the air, ugly crying while falling down the wall in slow motion, I will save it to a folder and then add to a collection of self-published stories.

4. What does literary success look like to you?

From 2010 to 2017 I was publishing a book and getting stories accepted into anthologies and was travelling 3 to 4 times a year to horror conventions, writer’s conferences, doing speaking engagements, and being invited to book clubs. Then my life went off the rails near the end of that 2017. Then aunt Rona showed up uninvited and I was able to write my children’s horror book: My 1^st Nightmare, and then nothing again until this year. So literary success for me is to get back to releasing a book with frequency and going on tour to promote it.

5. Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?

I do, I can’t help myself but both good and bad reviews are super distracting because if they are good, I’ll be walking around talking about Shakespeare could NEVA! But if its bad then I will be in the corner crying and eating my weight in ice-cream, lol 

But I did get a 2-star review that I loved so much I used an excerpt in the beginning of my book, here let me show you what he said:

“The only problem I have with this brash new writer is her blatant disregard for the established rules of storytelling. Connor’s The Darkness does not offer a tale of good vs. evil, dark vs. light, or the hero vs the bad guy. In her debut novel Connor presents us with two super villains and shrugs her shoulder as the reader struggles to pick the lesser of two evils.“

See? There’s no way you’ll ever convince me that’s not a lover letter, lol.

6. What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

Taking a break. Sometimes I will go days with very little sleep when working on a book or my film festival … I’ll just keeping working until I crash to sleep. Which sucks because when that happens, I’ll sleep for nearly two days straight. 

7. As in most times, the truth is stranger than fiction, what has been the hardest scene or chapter you’ve had to write, if you were channeling personal experience?

I go out of my way to not write based on my personal experience because I need that separation of church and state, however I wrote a scene where a woman was running for her life in the snow. She’s thick chic, was pushed beyond her physical capabilities and she fell. But because of her will to live, she started crying through the snow. When I finished writing that scene my hands were just as red as hers were and were tingling as if they were cold.

8. What inspired your latest work?

My film festival. So, last year I founded Cabin In The Woods Film Festival, its a hybrid boutique horror film festival with all-inclusive ticketing held at beautiful and intimate venues along with exclusive online programming for those attending remotely. I’m in my 2^nd year and I am having a blast. I haven’t published anything since 2018. So, with everything else I got going on I decided it would be a good idea to write an anthology and releasing it on the same day as my film festival.  

9. If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

I would tell my younger author self that there will be days, weeks, months and years when you won’t write anything, and that’s perfectly ok so don’t panic. You haven’t failed at anything …you’re just on hiatus. 

10. Best advice you’ve gotten from a fellow writer?

I was at a World Horror Con and a lot of the authors I grew up reading were vending there, and I was bouncing all over the place taking selfies and asking for autographs. When I went back to my booth, the guy next to me said, “You need to stop running around here acting like a rabid ass fan and stay at your booth. People have come a long way to see you and they shouldn’t have to wait for you.” This was like a slap in the face and the moment I realized that I was an actual author with fans of my own. The lesson learned in that moment is that we are nothing without our fans and when we are in their presence, especially when they’ve paid money to do so, our fans should be our # 1 priority.

10. What is your go-to comfort horror/Sci-Fi book?

I revisit the 100 Little’s. They are anthologies with 100 shorts, 100 Wild Little Weird Tales, 100 Sneaky Little Sleuth Stories, 100 Menacing Little Murdering Stories …. I love those books and I’ve had them for so long the pages are turning yellow and getting brittle. 

11. If you were to genre-hop, which genres would you most like to try writing?

Oh my gosh, I don’t think I’d even try. I don’t think people understand the vocabulary depth that rapper’s have, meanwhile I have a dictionary within reach in every corner in my home and a travel on in my car, lol.  

Crystal Connor is a member of the Black Women in Horror Organization. The group’s mission is highlight and honor Black women writing in the horror genre. Their most recent publication, “160 Black Women in Horror”, spotlights both mainstream and emerging Black women authors in the genre. Purchase your copy here!