This month we featured Roommates by Krista for the CSR feature. I did an interview with Krista all about herself, her writing, and the inspiration behind Brett and Will, two best friends in college. Did you read the story? Don't forget to share what you thought! Krista will be available to answer your questions or to just chat about her story and writing at 8 PM, EDT.

Are you a person who makes their bed in the morning, or do you not see much point?

I don't see the point during the morning, but I do make my bed at some point during the day. Only because there is nothing more comfortable than getting into a nicely made bed. I don't have time to in the morning though, too many people want to stay in it until we're all rushing out the door.

Chocolate or Vanilla?

Vanilla, definitely.

What brought you to GA?

Dom's stories and the opportunity to post my own work. Dom's links from his Yahoo group is what led me to GA originally though.

Is there a writer you’ve considered a mentor?

When I first posted here, CJames helped me a lot. Not only with getting the feel of forums and writing, but we did talk via private messages a lot. I bounced some ideas and sent him some of my earlier anthologies to read as well.

In the beginning the person that had the most influence on me and my writing was actually my very first editor. I met him when I posted my stories to a different site and he contacted me and told me that, although my writing is good, it needed editing. So he and I talked a lot while I sent him chapters to edit. He told me of his life, I believe he was in his mid-thirties. HIV+, but always generous and optimistic in his e-mails. I lost contact with him after I finished my first story, he had told me during our conversations that he wouldn't be around much as his HIV had really started to drain his energy. Eventually he stopped sending e-mails completely a month or so after that. I'd say he was my first online fan and my mentor while I didn't know what the hell I was doing...

Right now as I continue on, I'd say, Wildone the ornery Canadian has been my mentor. The person that I discuss my stories most with, bounce ideas off of, and trust wholly when it comes to my creativity.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

Passive voice, I've always had past/present tense issues as well, and I have this terribly annoying habit of capitalizing things that have no business being Capitalized.

When did you originally write Roommates, in comparison to your other stories?

Are You Christian was on hold about fourteen or so chapters in. I found myself really lacking motivation with that story. So I dabbled around and started two more, the one I fell in love with happened to be Roommates. Mostly because the characters were entirely different. I wanted to write an angst-free or at least angst-lite story, when Are You Christian bogged me down on all the drama and angst. So in-between Are You Christian and my later story Standing In Shadows.

Did the characters or the plot for Roommates come to you first?

Characters. Always characters with me. Most of the time I don't know what I really want from a story until I get a sense of what I want from my characters. Then I just try to limit the plot to fit them.. and try not to let the plot spiral out of control too much.

If Roommates was made into a movie, who do you picture playing the parts of Brett and Will?

These characters were a bit mid-twenties to late twenties. For the hot factor.. since I believe Brett and Will just liked to undress themselves an awful lot, so on screen meat would be a big factor in casting... Luke Mitchell for Brett and Robbie Amell, I'd say. Although back when I wrote this all those years ago.. Ryan Reynolds and Chris Evans would have played the parts.. but they're just a bit too old now..

What was your favorite part of Roommates?

Will's coming out actually was a major theme in the story, but the way he finally did it is my favorite part.

What are your future projects?

A story called Force of Nature. Another story where the characters are well into early adulthood, but not really knowing what they really want out of life. Similar to Roommates in that regard, I guess, but everything else is completely different. I'm experimenting with a protagonist that may be difficult to like during some parts of the story.

Then I have a story on hold that I am biting at the bit to get back to. If you talk to Wildone, he'll say I have a ton of projects, too many and they probably change too much for him to keep track. I mean we still have our joint writing venture on the table.. that I do so badly want to post one of these days.

My projects change a lot, so I don't commit to anything long term until I have a significant portion of it already written. I have failed anthology attempts that I still want to tackle... I think I'm up to three of those now. With that said though, I do have the prologue and three chapters written to the project that is firmly behind Force of Nature on my list. If it stays there, we'll have to wait and see.

So what did you think of Krista's story? Thoughts on the genre? Fan of another story of hers? Share your thoughts here!!