Friday 12 April 2013

S. E. Gilchrist - Author Interview

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/

 

6 comments:

  1. Hi S.E
    It'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.

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    1. Thanks for visiting Maryde!

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    2. HI Maryde, thank you for the kind congrats & for dropping by. I hope to have more fellow HRW join me soon, hint, hint.

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  2. Ah 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.

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    1. Kez, 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.

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  3. A 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.

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