Welcome Vonnie Winslow Crist, fantasy author artist, and friend of fairies.
Amber: Why do you write fantasy?
Vonnie: First of all – it's fun to write. Secondly, writing is a form of communication. I send out a message, and hope beyond hope, that there are people out there who read my stories and poems, and say: “Yes! I've felt that way before.” or “Wow! I want to be a part of that world.” or maybe even, “Thank you. Your words were just what I needed on a bleak day.” In my new collection of fantasy stories, The Greener Forest, I hope readers will not only have fun reading the tales, but maybe look around themselves and spot the places where the world of Faerie might leak into their day-to-day lives. Speaking of fun, here's a link to a FREE Greener Forest maze I drew.
Amber: How do you find fairies?
Vonnie: Here's a peek at a poem that gives directions on how to findFaerie creatures – it was used to introduce the stories in The Greener Forest:
Amber: What are your favorite fantasy novels?
Vonnie: The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and other books by JRR Tolkien; The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis; Anne McCaffrey's The Dragonriders of Pern books; Neverwhere, Stardust, and other books by Neil Gaiman; the Shannara series by Terry Brooks; JK Rowling's Harry Potter books; The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins... I could list many more. I'm drawn to books where the author has worked hard at world-building and writes compelling characters.
Amber: Why do readers love fantasy?
Vonnie: The easy answer is: because they're fun to read. But I think there's more to it. Fantasy stories have been with us since our ancestors told tales about magical beings and miraculous events around a cooking fire. Humans come from a tradition of fairy stories, folktales, myths, and legends. I think it's because unlike our “real” world, in fantasy stories: decency triumphs over evil, people get their just desserts, everyone can be afraid sometimes without ridicule, there's a reason for bad things and a solution to every problem, things can be beautiful underneath an ugly exterior, complex issues can be fairly resolved, and at the end of the story, the universe is balanced.
Amber: Would you write fantasy even if no one read it?
Vonnie: Of course! It would be a lonelier life, but the need to capture with words the fantastical worlds of my dreams and imaginings wouldn't vanish because no one was listening. For me, writing and drawing fantasy are like breathing.
Vonnie Winslow Crist was born in the Year of the Dragon. Linked to fantastical creatures since then, she's written poetry, fiction, and nonfiction with a mythic or folklore tilt. She's also an award-winning fantasy artist. She enjoys gardening with fairy-friendly plants, feeding wild birds, walking beneath the trees at Wood's Edge, and making a sparkly bit of jewelry every now and again. Her motto: The world is full of mystery and magic. We just need to look, listen, and believe that wondrous things are still possible.
To find out more about
Vonnie and her books, Visit: