Welcome to my creative space!
I’m Crystal — wife to my high school sweetheart, mom to a 10yo boy (AuDHD mom) and 13yo girl, and an aeronautical data analyst living in St Louis, MO. Once upon a time, I instructed in small airplanes, operated movie theater projectors, and did the college thing at Purdue University (Boiler Up!). Love wine, hate sports.
Represented by: Tina P. Schwartz of The Purcell Agency
My How I Got My Agent via my Query Tracker Interview.
Favorite books: The Half-Life of Love, The Wicked Deep, House of Hollow, Neverworld Wake, Far From the Tree, All Our Yesterdays, They Both Die at the End
Favorite shows: New Girl, Schitt’s Creek, The Office, The Vampire Diaries (+spinoffs), Supernatural, The Haunting of Bly Manor
On Submission – YA Contemporary:
ACCIDENTAL PEOPLE
Becky Vaughn is a pushover. In her junior year of high school, she endures her ex-best friend’s violent bullying without a fight. She also follows Dad’s plan without question, partly because he controls her every move and keystroke, but mostly? She’s too close to earning his pride, maybe even his love, to risk losing any scrap of his favor. When Becky discovers Mom’s secret—an accidental IVF sperm swap eighteen years ago—she’s faced with a “what if.” Who was she meant to be? Would she have turned out better, stronger, if Scott, her biological father, had raised her instead? To find out, she schemes to secretly get to know both Scott and Dad’s bio-son, Alex, whose commonalities with Dad end with height, black hair, and alcoholism. As they build a platonic closeness, Alex shows Becky that inner and outer monsters don’t have to dictate who you are. Just like how he has to battle his addiction, it’s up to her to not become the thing that controls her. But if she can’t stand up to Dad and break free of his toxic mold, she’s doomed to remain his hard and judgmental version of herself forever, regardless of DNA.
The People We Choose meets The Words We Keep
WIP – Upper YA/NA Dramedy
YOU WANT BUTTER ON THAT?
The teen employees of the local movie theater are just trying to get through their shift. The pranks and after-hours shenanigans help blow off steam, but when the small town finally gets internet and streaming movies become the new norm, the owner announces his plan to sell the place. They can’t bear the idea of losing it or each other, so they strike a deal: bring in enough dough by the end of the summer to pay off the owner’s debts, and he’ll keep the place running. But one of them is sabotaging every effort.
Hot Dog Girl meets Empire Records
In Major Revision – Upper YA/NA Crossover Speculative:
IF I HAD MORE TIME
(formerly: GUARDIAN LIGHTS, unpublished)
In a world similar to ours, two sisters are emotionally torn apart by their parents’ fatal plane crash. Six months later, an argument is interrupted by a burst of light. When the light goes out, one sister is gone. While the remaining sister puts together clues from her childhood to find out what happened, the other, a budding pilot following Dad’s influence, has slipped to the year 1929, a golden age for women in aviation. To find their way back to each other, they’ll have to become the sisters they should have been, but at the cost of their futures heading in opposite directions. Can they walk away from new dreams for the sake of family?
WIP – YA Paranormal:
IT COMES FROM THE WELL
Private pilot, Eli Powell, wants to follow her and Dad’s dream for her to go to a college-level flight school. When she manifests a painful and isolating empath ability, after which Dad’s memory has never been the same, she must follow a lead to get help from her not-so-dead empath mom before her bond with Dad and her chance at their dream are gone forever.
Locke & Key meets A Wicked Magic
My latest blog posts follow the first 3 days of my 9-day family vacation to Orlando’s Disney and Universal. I also posted a series of takeaways from the Writer’s Institute 2019 writing conference (Madison, WI), as well as a shout-out to the wonderful authors that inspired me.
The contents of this website, including all text and all images, are protected by the author’s copyright, 2024. All rights are hereby asserted and reserved. © 2024 Crystal A. Hill