We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Artemis Crow. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Artemis below.

Artemis, appreciate you joining us today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

All my life I had created stories in my head, moving pictures of characters surviving danger, falling in love, surrounded by many friends; all the scenarios I wished I was living, but was too afraid to reach for. I lived for story, fell into books and movies and television, wrapped myself in the confidence and competence of the characters. I never believed I could write my stories; it was a ludicrous idea and an indulgence I couldn’t afford I told myself.

Then, in my 40s, I came to a point where I could stay home, do whatever I wanted with my time. In that moment, I told my husband I wanted to try writing. Thus began years of learning craft and trying to figure out what story I wanted to tell. And headaches…lots and lots of headaches and so much hair pulling I about snatched myself bald. I tried to create a plot and failed again and again and again until one night, I woke from a dream with two words in my head, “Zodiac Assassins.”

When my author friends asked what it meant, what the story was about, I shrugged. I had no clue, but that tiny seed had been lodged and it wasn’t going to go quietly into the night. For years more, I struggled to find the story, but I never stopped until I had it; a contemporary fantasy with romance story about a band of paranormal “brothers” MEETS the Winchesters in Supernatural. Demons and gods and different mythologies, a hidden subterranean world populated by almost two dozen species I created mixed in with your standard fantasy and paranormal creatures.

Nothing can match the wonder and thrill and terror of holding your first book (or your 14th) and releasing it into the world. After all the years of struggle, I currently have twelve Zodiac Assassins books out as well as the first two books in a second, funny, spicy, fairytale retelling series, with many more to write.

So when you have that dream idea, don’t ignore it, don’t tell yourself you can never achieve it, find a way to follow it down the painful, twisted rabbit hole until you reach the other side. It isn’t always logical, but how many brilliant breakthroughs/staggering careers were considered illogical/impossible until one person pursued their passion and made it logical?

Artemis, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Known pseudonymously as Artemis Crow, I have reinvented myself in the second half of my life. Writing was a passion I didn’t know I had until then, and rather than leave the dream, and myself, on the shelf to collect dust, I dove in and I’ve never looked back. Writing is solitary, yet not. I’ve made reader and author friends, I’ve created worlds and populated them with amazing characters I never imagined I had in me.

That’s the thing about creating, whether it’s books, art, a business, It takes imagination and drive and passion to see it come to life, and boy do I ever try to give my books all three. So much so, my mother told me my imagination scared her. Despite the hours, the frustrations, the joy and pain of creating a story, a world, it’s a way for me to share who I am, who I imagine myself to be, and face the fear of opening myself to readers.

My hope is the reader is able to fall into my stories and live alongside the characters; laughing and crying, winning and losing, and ultimately finding that happily-ever-after amidst insurmountable odds. In my Zodiac Assassins series, the story question across all the books is, “What would you sacrifice for a better life?” Imagine the Winchester brothers as paranormal, demon soul-possessed assassins who have the power of their zodiac sign and the training to kill with it, and the series tagline: Myth, Magic, Mayhem.

In my fairytale retelling series, FRACTURED CROWNS, I take the the Disney and Brothers Grimm princesses, mash them together and throw them into modern day, 30-ish women in Boston who decided to live their lives without the prince and a crown. Heat, Heart, Hilarious Chaos is the series tagline and it encapsulates the bonkers fun I’m having in my writing and my life.

I always loved the idea anything is possible; that’s what drew me to write contemporary fantasy and paranormal romance. They allow me to live in Impossible worlds with impossible odds filled with passion and hope and resilience, and bring that to my readers with each story. Make you laugh, make you cry, make you heave a sigh. Yeah, that sounds about right.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I think the greatest illustration of my resilience is a story shared by everyone, the learning curve. Now, I love learning, but once I made the decision to write, I joined writing groups to begin the journey of craft and, BAM, I was slapped upside the head with everything I didn’t know. I was so lost, I couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel for years. I had no idea how much there was to learn, much less how to take that technical knowledge and weave it into a story. I spent ten years learning how to write, then writing my first book. I can’t count how many times I wanted to quit, but I held on, fascinated by the craft and determined to get that first book out.

Piecing together a compelling plot with action and angst, making it uniquely mine, and so much more are far harder than anything I’ve done in my life. And I’m still learning, still growing, still hoping to write a book that reaches into a reader’s chest and rips out their heart. The one thing I’m not doing is giving up. I will write until my body and mind no longer let me.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I don’t believe I’m alone in this, but as a writer I want to make a reader feel. I love story, I have since I was a young child. Books, movies, television, they all drew me in and pulled on my emotions. That’s what I hope to put out in the world. It doesn’t matter if it’s laughter or sadness or joy or hope a reader gets out of my stories, I want people to close my book and smile, clutch the book to their chest, and wonder if it’s too soon to start a reread.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.artemiscrow.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorartemiscrow/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artemiscrowauthor
• Linkedin: none
• Twitter: none
• Youtube: none
• Yelp: none
• Soundcloud: none
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@artemiscrowauthor

  Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Artemis-Crow/author/B014916NAQ

  Artemis Crow Bookshop: https://artemiscrowshop.myshopify.com

Image Credits

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