Interview Response Crystal Evans the Writer: Smash Words Distributors

Interview with Crystal Evans

Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?

Yes. I was in High School and i started writing a historical romance based on slavery. A fascinating story that i hope to complete one day.

What is your writing process?

It is largely influenced by my mood and my experiences on a day to day basis. I believe a reader can identify with a story that speaks to his every day life. He can find somebody within that story from his life to relate to.
Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?
Yes i do remember my first story but the first book that i read that impacted my life was Harper Lee's " To kill a Mocking Bird". Being of Caribbean heritage and living in a post colonial society, studying caribbean history, that book spoke volumes about race and injustice in this hemisphere. The Book made me cry.

How do you approach cover design?

hahha. Am not very good at graphics. But i like art and i like deeper meanings..so i try as much as possible to promote what i have in the book on the cover as they say a picture says a thousand words.

What are your five favorite books, and why?

"To Kill a MockingBird" By Harper Lee
"Green Days by the River" By, Micheal Anthony
" The School Master" By Earl Lovelace
"The Philosophies of Marcus Garvey"
"The Voice of the Jamaican Ghetto" Adidjah Palmer aka Vybz Kartel

What do you read for pleasure?

Harlequinns, Mills and Boons, I like short Romance Novels

What is your e-reading device of choice?

Definitely a Google Nexus, Kindle or Kobo App
What book marketing techniques have been most effective for you?
Blogging.

Describe your desk?

My desk has my music, My laptop, a burning incense, my iphone, my tablet, a drink of herbal tea, a cup of water and numerous typing sheet and pencils, last but not least my favorite book.

Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?

I grew up in small rural community in Westmoreland, Jamaica. We have a lot of canefields and rivers, with small moutains. I remember a few tragedies that happened in my area that forced me as a child to look at society differently. A young man i knew was shot by the police for urinating near a car. I remembered hearing how he was killed over some woman. And i guess that's the first time i thought police weren't as safe as those police men books i read at the primary school i attended. I was in my bed and the gunshots woke me up. It happened at a dead yard a few houses from where i lived.

A little boy that frequent the standpipe we went to as children to fetch water, drowned in a "two sister" river. That was very tragic because as child, it never occurred to me that children died too. I was at the age of around eight coming face to face for the first time with my own mortality. I remembered the funeral, in particular the graves, everything else is blurry but i remember the bands and my grandmother singing the protestant hymns and the church members reverie as they sent home another soul.
Life was good as child, I played ball with my sister and cousins, I went to the nieghbours yard and played "Dolly House" with the children, We had weddings and married each other with "Bulla cake and water". My childhood was fun and my grandmother provided for us. We were very happy as kids. My teenage years were tumultuous and am still getting over that phase at twenty five.

Coming from a lower socio-economic family, and Growing up in a working class community, i know a thing about humanity at its most basal level, unfiltered by exposure to education or progressive values. I know what "ghetto People" are intrinsically like because i am child of that process. I am very much affected by the way i was socialised.

When did you first start writing?


When i was about fourteen or so. I discovered i liked my imagination. I daydreamed a lot and i wanted to share my inner world with the outside world.

What's the story behind your latest book?

The Barn Raiders is actually taken from Anthony "B"s song, "Nobody want to plant the corn, everybody want to raid the barn." He is one of my favorite vintage reggae artiste. The book is basically about notions of people i grew up with and some i meet where we all want to be successful and we are only happy for the progress of others if we somehow believe we have something to gain. Your friend can become successful if you are allowed to enjoy his success through proxy. People love you until you become their competition.

What motivated you to become an indie author?

I am penniless therefore going the route of paying for a publication is expensive. But i got help, financially from alot of people i have met over the years and i am eternally grateful to them. Francesca Tisot, Ron Ricketts, Owen Salmon, Lorette Simpson, Tyrese, Livingston Brown.

But my niche is growing.

What is the greatest joy of writing for you?

Reading it over and wondering if i wrote all of that. There is something about when you right, it transcends you to a different place. And when you come out of that "place" you wonder if that person was you or somebody else?

What do your fans mean to you?

Well i love my readers. I have blog that for a small niche like Jamaican Literature i get a couple thousand visitors per month. So i am grateful to the people who keep coming back. The first book i sold, i was happy because a complete stranger wanted to take time out of their schedule to hear what i have to say, to become assimilated in the runnings of my waton imagination.
What are you working on next?

Historical Romance and The Barn Raiders

When you're not writing, how do you spend your time?

I like to party. I live in Jamaica so i love the beach, the music, the vibe and the rum.

Is every one from the Ghetto a criminal or supporting criminality?

Earlier this year there was a case in the circuit court involving Jodian Pantry whose estranged lover paid Gun Men to kill her. Her being pregnant at the time and her child's father a very popular radio broadcaster. Who would not deem this man a "law abiding citizen". There are many law abiding citizens in Jamaica, who do not stick up people with Guns but they stick up people with their mouth. There are people , our law abiding neighbours, family members and friends who hire these young men and offer them money to get rid of some us. Few if any of them are ever persecuted. The ones who pulled the trigger are punished but the trigger mouths almost always get away.


Some people think that anyone who defends poor people are basically complicit with and are purveyors of their lumpen culture. 

I do not go around attaching labels to people base on where they were born. I quickly realize that if I was not as smart as I was then certain people would not even bother to deal with me. Simply because I had the misfortune to be borne a certain place and spawned from a certain type of people. 

Someone has to live within the realms of poverty to understand that people don't necessarily have time to rationalize when them hungry . A hungry man is an angry man and not just by maxim. 

Just the other day a very well meaning attorney at law said to me that " do you know that many of these people you trying to empower and defend may not want to get out of their situation?"

This crusade you are on may be futile. These very same people without notice, at any moment can hurt you or kill you because of the values that they embrace and encourage" 

He may be right. 

But I often think about the white people who were lynched among with the blacks for being a "nigger lover". I learnt that your very own will hate you if you can no longer support their myopic perspectives.  

Unity is a fallacy in any society. It's about conformity and choosing sides. You are either on our side or you are not. There is no neutrality, you cannot be the mediator between the soldier and the warrior. You are either lumpen or bourgeoise, there's no in between, no plateau, no high ground. 

Read through this conversation and inbox me your perspectives 

Original Post on Facebook

"So I was reasoning with Gussy younger brother last night using Dudus Coke as analogy to emphasize the lessons about our society. With all the money that Dudus had, he was still considered a liability to society and deemed removable by the powers that may be.

If high society thinks you are a threat to traditional values or the statusquo of this nation then you become a liability to society. Your very existence is seen as detrimental...you become dispensable..."



Observer: What values are you defending? It it the one that supports the lifestyle and practice of criminal who strive on the fear of every individual in society. And then subject then and their families to extreme brutality?


"Purveyor": No. I was not defending Dudus Coke. I was merely pointing out to this twenty year old boy who is extremely vulnerable to the same fate of his older brother that he should strive to become an asset to his society. He should never live his life in such a way that people would rather see him dead than alive. I was merely showing him that even money does not make you immune to prosecution or even death if you are deemed a threat to civil society.

Observer: I believe all criminals should die. No chances. Switzerland has the second lowest crime rate jn the world. You kno why? Becaz even the possession of illegal fire arms and the attempted use of same is punishable by death. That is a society that defend it's citizens. It's not criminal who are the drivers of driver but the law and by extension the people. This is arrogant but I prefer a known criminal to be shot down by the police than a single citizen be subjected to the brutal deaths as committed by a "gun man".


Purveyor: i heard a similar perspective from several people of late. I do not know if I give anyone the impression that i defend or support "criminality". I have been disavowing crime and violence from before it landed on my doorstep. There are many types of criminals in this society, some just a lethal as the man who stick you up with him gun cuz them stick you up with them mouth. Think about the law abiding citizens who hire hitmen to kill people... Most of this criminals are never prosecuted or gunned down as you put it. Haven't the police been doing that here terry? Haven’t they been shooting down gun men from way back when and then ten more rise up again... It signals that there are deeper social factors behind crime than people simply having an inclination to be diabolic.


Well as Dr Aadesh Cunningham told me last night at our vigil that there are many who will misperceived your message and that is only natural. I was encourage and I am committed now to make my messages more lucid. Perception is a hell of a thing cuz you, Tyrese ferrari, Andrew get that impression while most ghetto people think I despise their culture and lifestyle. They actually think I believe that I am better than them and here you are telling me that I am a supporter deviant culture of Donship ...Smh...can't win eeen???


Right side think you defending the anomalies of the Left side not knowing that the left side don't even subscribe to your ideologies because they see them as bourgeoisie.
Ghetto People get offensive, my in laws, my mother and even child's father gladly curse me if i ever said anything negative which in many cases are facts about lower class people and the ideologies that they hold. I now realise why people uptown will never understand people down town and it is because they both fail to understand the dynamics of those separate culture.

When i defend poor people's plight, the law abiding citizen of our country interpret that as an endorsement of the lumpen culture. When I try to proselytize and convert lower class people to seek social empowerment or even to illustrates some of the ills of culture of the lumpen class, I am met with quarrels, disrespect. People down town are often offended by what I say...They often respond in umbrage intonations that "me must galang lef yah". They are not interested in change, they are only interested in not being seen as inferior.

My intellectual friends see my writings as a defence of the criminal culture of poor people and most poor people see my stance as a criticism not of the social elements of the ghetto but a critique, a disparage of circumstances that they have little or no control over. They think I am ridiculing them, most if not all believe that I think I am superior to them yet I clamour everyday for their cause. Some of them do not even like me because of what I represent, the way I think,my ideologies reflect those of the people that they believe are oppressing them and keeping them in their indigent state. I am seen as a traitor.

People treat you differently because of where you come from. I know that. Many people I went to school with don't even fart pon me because I have failed to detach myself away of the circumstances I was born into. I often ask them that if Gussy had lived uptown and came from a good family that police would come kill him and drive away with him.

Most of my peers and family would start quarrel how GUssy woulda dead same way. They do not think they can be safe anywhere else than where they are. They do not like rules. They would prefer to play loud music at any time of night. They basically love slackness and in certain communities, slackness is not the norm and they hate having people police their behaviour.

One Night Stand: A Jamaican Male's Point of View

When i wrote the article about one night stands, a male friend of mine read it and decided that i did not adequately cover all angles of the topic.

This was the supplementary analysis that he sent to me via email...


Thanks for sharing the article with me about One Night Stands.

It’s a powerfully written article by you and seemingly well balanced. You are undoubtedly very gifted in writing skills without a doubt.

However, I do not necessarily agree with all the arguments that you put forward to support this type of behavior.


First someone can have a one night stand because they are having difficulty relating to a partner in their current relationship who is not forthcoming emotionally to put it mildly.

Second you can have one a night stand when the current relationship that one is in has gone somewhat cold or sour and to use an expression and some spice needs to be added.

Third there are one night stands because the first sexual interaction was neither pleasing nor satisfactory to either partner.
Fourth cultural factors such as male dominated societies contribute to this type of behavior.

If I recall correctly this was the first sin that humans fell victim to and May well explain why the void has been filled by having Registered Prostitutes in countries like Germany and Holland as well as others.

I take it your article was being specific to Jamaican society where a degradation in morals over the last 40 yrs has fuelled this type of behavior and the wretched poverty of women in Jamaica has been an added vehicle to drive this phenomena. To be factually correct this type of behavior was alien to Jamaica say 100 yrs ago.

Which begs the question for its origin and continued occurrence.So I would conclude that socio-economic elements and a loosening of the moral code coupled by degraded Christian beliefs must be fully taken into account.

Are there any Good Men left in Jamaica

Are there any Good men left in Jamaica?


This is a question that many young Jamaican women who are on the dating scene are asking among themselves. The question is simple “are there any good men left in this world?” the question for some should fundamentally be what designates a good man. For most young women, the response would definitely be a tall, handsome, wealthy charming gentle man who is perceivably emotionally and psychologically stable. For many young women, aesthetics and affluence are premier criteria with other pivotal attributes such as values and ethics relegated to the backburner. This may well be the reason why good men are hard to find. The problem is not that good men are scarce but it is safe to assume that it is what young women perceived as good men. Good men designate the harlequin character with the attendant charm, wealth and power. The reality of the situation is that good men are available but women do not want good men, most young women want great men.
It may well be that women have their priorities mixed up. A psychological report claims that only ten percent of affluent, handsome and successful men are emotionally and psychologically healthy. Many alpha males are narcissistic, emotionally unavailable, anti social and suffer varying degrees of histrionic personality disorder and conterdependent disorder. The barrages of overlapping psychological disorder among alpha males make them the most frustrating men to have a relationship with. Few if any alpha males want to settle down with a female.
Young women are maturing in a time where a person’s worth is determined by their financial status. We live in an era where the pursuit of temporality and wealth is chief ambition even at the cost of our ecosystem, life, morals and value. We live in a society where survival is central and every activity including our choice of career, friends and ultimately our partner is geared at survival and material attainment. With that said we are choosing our partners based on how much they can enhance our chance of surviving a harsh economical situation and not on shared virtues and valued attributes.
On the other hand, most well off Jamaican men assert that due to their financial and economical superiority they are entitled to have intercourse and relationships with as many women as possible. Therefore many alpha males are calculating, deceitful, mendacious and promiscuous. They roam the social scenes for young women, copulating with as many as possible, leaving a trail of broken hearts, disenchanted women and post traumatic disorders behind them. Even if the man is married he is liable to have numerous paramour relations outside of his marriage. This makes fidelity another issue for women. If they are able to snatch the “so-called good man” there are no guarantees that he will remain with her solely since most affluent Jamaican men have several extramarital affairs.
It may be the case that women need to reevaluate what they want from a relationship and in a potential partner. I do understand that having a partner who can contribute, maintain and satisfy the economical and financial needs of the family is imperative as capitalism demands that our choices should be made on the basis of wealth attainment thus survival. A man, who does not work, cannot eat and should not have a wife and children because he will not be able to feed them. Based on this stance women are choosing partners based on his ability to provide for her needs and her offspring.
But it seems that Jamaican women are not choosing men based on his ability to provide for her needs. For many women the idea of a financially stable man is a male with several cars, a house in aspen, a cabin in Hawaii and several Swiss bank accounts. Women have redefined the term of a financially stable man. Financial stable meant catering for the necessities; wealth designates ability to provide excesses and the extras. Many Jamaican women want a wealthy man and not a financially stable male who is diligent ambitious and conscientious. Many women want a partner that is at the pinnacle of success with the consequent lifestyle and perquisites.
I am not saying that women should not desire to be with the most superlative partner but sometimes all that glitters may not be gold. Many Africans will say that if they knew what the gold on their continent would have done to their people and country they would have found a way to destroy it. Sometimes in life it is better to settle for a mere pearl that search for a diamond that may cost one, their life and sanity.
It is best to find someone who is driven by something far more profound than superficiality and materialism. My philosophy is that if I am dating a particular nucleus of men and it is not working out I change my objectives or ideal. Sometimes I need try other categories and maybe you will learn something new about your self and what you definitely need from a relationship. Other times we may need to evaluate our selves.
What kind of vibe are you giving off when you are around your alpha male? Are you scaring men off with your needy, desperate, disposition. Men state that what turns them off alpha females I s that they tend to have confrontational attitudes. Some males claim that they find the narcissism and bigot behavior of successful women nauseous. Others state that alpha females behave as relationship is an accomplishment like the plaques on her office wall. Remember women want connection, men do want connection but prefer relational importance. They like to feel as if they are males in the societal, relational traditional sense.

Ten attitudes that will turn a Jamaican Off

How to turn a Jamaican Man off!

We know that there are various conducts, deeds, gestures and even utterances that are surefire ways to end a relationship and prevent the establishment of one. Jamaican men like most men also have their version of gestures, actions and verbalism that are completely off limits if you want to have a relationship with them.
Here are ten ways to turn a Jamaican Man off!
1. Call his phone incessantly
Men are not like women in that they do not have the centripetal level of emotions that we require. Whenever we meet a man we want to always talk to him because we interpret communication as a means of measuring the level of interaction and friendship that a man wants. However men may interpret frequent calling as a sign of insecurity and neediness. Eligible bachelors do not find women that are unsure of themselves attractive. Numerous calls may also indicate that you have a lot of time to waste and there are certain men that will not find that fact intriguing. Additionally, men like to chase women. Allow him to make the calls and chase you. You do not want to give him the idea that you are easy, ‘fryten fee him” or insane. Calling a guy often especially when intimacy has not been established may imply psychological disorders such as chronic obsession. A man will not feel comfortable knowing that you need to know his whereabouts every minute of the day.
2. Disrespect him while in public
Jamaican men and men overall are very keen on social perception by their male counterparts. A man will not take it lightly if you raise your voice at him in public as you would a child or pick a fight with him in front of his friends especially due to frivolity. A man may be forced to slap you to salvage his masculine ego and we do not want it to reach that far. Men are anthropologically, theologically and sociological the authority in the household. This means that he should be respected by his spouse. A woman dictating, quarrelling and reprimanding him in public sternly discord with those societal notions. That is a surefire way to insult a man, crush his ego and damage or reduce his love and appreciation of you.

3. Ask him to buy a phone card the first time you meet him
I do not know what it is with Jamaican men and phone calling cards but recently if you ask a Jamaican man to buy you a phone card, it will be equivalent to saying that you are a gold digger. Men associate phone card with phone calls. If a man buys you a phone card and do not get a call from you, then he assumes that you are just after the calling card and have no real interest in him.
4. Kiss and Tell
Jamaican men despise a woman that has sex with him and then tells her friends. This is further exacerbated if the man is sexually unsatisfactory or he has insecurities regarding his size. No doubt other men will engage you to hear about his ineptitude but they will also be wary of you for being a chatter box!

5. Disrespect his Mother
It is repulsive to disrespect his mother and family in any essence. The backlash and the damage to your relationship could be irreversible. His mother will always resent you for your obscene tongue and you will always been seen in the family as the girl who disrespected the matriarch. If he is a serious man then the minute that you make such foul utterances, you will be out the door.

6. When a woman is ‘too stush or too masculine’
A Jamaican man does not like a woman who behaves like a man. If he is an effeminate man then he will not be affected by a ‘mannish woman’. But most Jamaican men do not want a woman that behaves like a man. That is a surefire way to turn off a Jamaican man. Tom boys are absolutely off limit and on the other end of the spectrum so is the uppity, pompous and conceited. A woman who is arrogance will be perceived as desired conquest than as a potential partner.

7. A woman without ambition
A Jamaican man will be turned off by a woman does not possess any form of desire for success or purpose for the future. Jamaican men are not fond of a lady without a purpose. Additionally most men are seeking a partner to share the financial burdens of today’s modern family. Due to the devaluation of the Jamaican dollar and high cost of living due to inflation most males are seeking a woman that can bring ‘something to the table. Therefore both partners can share the cost and there will be more money in the household.

8. Cheating
If you want a Jamaican man to dump you in a second, tell him that you cheated on him or that you have cheated on your last boyfriends. He will gladly assume that you are a cheater and that it is your relational trademark. Lack of trust in any relationship decreases its durability by fifty percent. A man will not trust a woman who is communally known as a serial cheater.
9. Give him a Jacket
Jacket is the Jamaican vernacular for a child who has a father that is not his biological father in the most cases, neither the child nor the father knows that they are not biologically related. The mother is the person who knows of this phenomenon. When a Jamaican man discovers that the woman that he lives with has given him another man’s child to father, it can greatly destroy the relationship. The man may decide to no longer support the child and may leave the relationship if the community is privy to the ‘Jacket Scenario’. A Jamaican man will think that you are taking him for an idiot by giving him a child that does not belong to him.
10. Search his phone
A Jamaican man’s phone is like his diary. If you want to have a huge argument with your spouse, take his phone and gloss through his messages. Call back every female number that you see in his phone and ‘trace them off’. You will certainly turn him off by doing that. He will be very angry with you and if you try that stupid stunt several times, you may well kiss your mate good bye!

Jamaican men do not tolerate invasions of their privacy. Men do not like women who search their gadgets or even private quarters. It communicates to him that you are insecure and possible emotionally unstable. A man will not want a relationship with a woman who does not understand or respects his personal space. He will not want a relationship with a woman who will be upset with his friends or mistrust his judgment.

For more insight on Jamaican Men click the following links
http://socyberty.com/men/Jamaican-men-money-and-relationships/
http://socyberty.com/relationships/why-jamaican-men-hate-cerebral-women/