Shelley Moore asked James D. Crownover:

Mr. Crownover, what did you do before you became a writer? What life experiences do you attribute to helping shape your writing style or content? Thank you, J.W. Moore - Fort Worth, TX

James D. Crownover I am a Civil Engineer who was a structural engineer for an Electric Cooperative. After I retired, I wrote a story that has been broken up into four books. Book two, The Battle of Half Moon Mountain, is now available, with book three, Picketwire Vaquero, to be released Sept 21, 2016.
I have always been interested in the early history of the southwest and that grew into an interest in the settlement of all the west.
As for writing style, I have been greatly influenced by the styles of J. Frank Doby, Ben K. Green, C.L. Sonnichsen, (Clarence Mulford for good fiction) and Eugene Manlove Rhodes. It is doubtful anyone could ever again rise to Gene Rhodes' ability to tell a story. By the way, I believe Gene wrote very little fiction in his stories.
As to content, I determined to write about subjects within the western genre that others have not written about. Very few of the pioneers went blasting through life with smoking guns. I want to represent the western man in as honest and realistic manner as possible. I have written my stories within the context of the historical events and people of the time. In addition to being interesting, a story should be informative and, most of all, move.
Thank you for the questions and I hope this answers them somewhat adequately!
Regards, Jim C.

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