Today I welcome S. E. Gilchrist. If you like passionate romance, dangerous adventures, intriguing worlds, hot heroes and quirky heroines together with charming side-kicks than you will enjoy this Australian authors writing world!
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR WRITING
JOURNEY.For a long time, writing was a pastime to idle away a few hours. I undertook a Children's Creative Writing on-line course in about 2000. Life intruded and I put my writing aside. I started fiddling with writing for adults in 2007. I never finished anything and it really wasn't until January 2009 when I made a commitment to take my passion seriously. That year I attended my first RWAustralia conference and it changed my life.
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING A
WRITER?
love inventing characters and giving them a history. A writer can make their
hero / heroine do anything, conquer mountains, fly space ships, go sky-diving
or have interesting phobias. It's a wonderful feeling. I also love researching
which then leads into world building. 
WHAT IS THE HARDEST ASPECT OF WRITING?
For
me, staying on track with a character's goals and editing.
HOW MUCH RESEARCH GOES INTO YOUR
STORYLINE?
Lots!
And I love it. I can research until the cows come home and go back out to
pasture again. Plus research gives me the perfect excuse to buy more books.
WRITERS ARE SOMETIMES INFLUENCED BY
THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN THEIR OWN LIVES. ARE YOU?
Definitely. In Legend I had one
woman unable to cope with the events in her life and she self terminates. It
wasn't something I had planned at the beginning, it just happened once the
story line evolved. I guess I thought if this was real life, not everyone would
be able to adapt. This also is a subject that is very close to home with me. I
feel a great deal more education is needed about what signs to look for --
sorry, not meant as a lecture.
HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THE STRONG ADULT
THEMES IN YOUR WRITING?
Oooh,
if you mean the sex scenes I find them both fun and frustrating to write. I try
to show emotional and physical responses from both characters as well as using
the scene to add more conflict or tension to their relationship. If I can't
quite capture the overall feeling of the scene, I often leave a blank space and
go back to it after I've written most of the story. (When I'm in the mood -
lol)
TELL US ABOUT YOUR PUBLICATIONS/AWARDS
IF ANY?
So
far, my releases are all e-books. I was lucky to be included with a bunch of
lovely writers who made up the Hot Down Under group where our shorts were
published by Momentum Publishing starting from November last year. My story,
Paying the Forfeit, was released in December. I also consider myself incredibly
lucky to be published by Escape Publishing who has accepted one single title
and two short stories (all sci fi / futuristic romances). Legend Beyond the
Stars came out 10 January, The Portal was released 1 March and Awakening the
Warriors will be out 1 May.
I've
also indie published two novellas, Bound by Love and Bound by Lies. Bound by
Love was awarded second place in Passionate Ink's On the Stroke of Midnight
contest last year as well as coming second in Music City Romance Writers 2012
Minuet of Love contest. Legend Beyond the Stars came third in 2011 RWA Emerald
Contest -- it had another re-write since then.
WHAT IS THE MOST SURPRISING THING
ABOUT WRITING/PUBLISHING THAT YOU HAVE LEARNT?
The
amount of promotion and on-line social presence that is required to get your
name / brand out there in the big wide world. Naively I thought, I'd just send
in my edits then get onto the next book. Hah! It's such a time-suck, addictive
and so very hard to know how much is too much or too little.
DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR NEW WRITERS?
Write
as often as you can, set up some kind of schedule to fit your other life around
your writing and write what you love. Also, don't be afraid to ask questions of
other writers. The RWA has a fantastic bunch of people, also ready to lend a
'hand' when they can. Educate yourself and definitely attend a conference.
OTHER THAN WRITING, WHAT ELSE DO YOU
LOVE?
Apart
from my family; animal welfare, bushwalking, the environment, kayaking and I
hate to say it, geeky stuff like new tech breakthroughs and anything to do with
space.
WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE AUTHOR AND WHY?
This
is such a hard question. I'd have to say, Elizabeth Peters and her Amelia
Peabody series. Apart from Mr Darcy, Emerson was my equal first 'hero' love.
IF YOU HAD A PREMONITION YOU WOULD BE
STRANDED ON A DESERT ISLAND, WHAT 5 BOOKS WOULD YOU THROW IN YOUR BAG?
Pride & Prejudice,
Crocodile on the Sand Bank, The Lord of the Rings, Seraphina (by Jean Merrill)
and some do-it-yourself book to show me how to build a radio out of a coconut.
WHAT FIVE WORDS BEST SUM YOU UP?
Curious, passionate,
impatient, compulsive and loyal.
HOW CAN WE LEARN MORE?
http://www.segilchrist.com/twitter : @segilchrist1
Facebook : SEGilchrist
http://www.escapepublishing.com.au/
http://hunterromancewriters.wordpress.com/
Hi S.E
ReplyDeleteIt's great to see you are forging your way ahead in this new & uncertain world of the Indy Publishing. Also, congratulations on the release of your e-books with Momentum and Escape publishing.
Can't wait for the next release
Thanks for the interview Melissa.
Thanks for visiting Maryde!
DeleteHI Maryde, thank you for the kind congrats & for dropping by. I hope to have more fellow HRW join me soon, hint, hint.
DeleteAh yes, research... That's a big time suck for me. Along with the social media of course! I really need to do as you advise and set up a schedule.
ReplyDeleteKez, every time I'm zooming along on my schedule thinking, wow this is going great....hello, my othr life intrudes and shoots it into space! Thank you for dropping by.
DeleteA schedule helps to set those small goals which will ulitmately help us to acheive the bigger goal. I need to get better at it sticking to scheduled time as well! Best of luck Kez.
ReplyDelete