Transcript Of Live Chat With Author Patricia Gilliam

I am having such problems with Gather this week that I am afraid to not submit this post, even though it is not completed.

I will try to edit it again later.

just do the best you can you'll be fine

I know what you mean this is why I'm not doing so much commenting it take so long for pages to load and I could barley do anything with yesterdays chat :)

Today has been better for me so hopefully it will all work out better. As Lynda said do best you can

It has been like this for me all week long. I could not even get on gather late afternoon today. I tried on all three of our computers. I finally called our oldest daughter in SC and she could not get on either. So it must have been gather. I assume they were working on it.

This post has 17 comments and no views. LOL

That is funny.

LOL - over 60 comments now but still no views...very odd "bug" indeed

That "0" views has been showing up on quite a few posts tonight.

Welcome August Lady,

You are sneaky. I did not know you were here. At one point today, you couldn't even get into Gather. I was really concerned. I called my daughter in SC and she couldn't get on either.

thanks for sharing with us

Thanks for dropping by, Stephannie!

I won't be here. We are going out to look at the old cars that is in town.

Sandy,

YOu can ask Patricia questions now if you want too. She will answer them during the live chat.

I really missed this, didn't I?

I hope I will be out of bible study on time to make it. But if not I am asking my questions now.

Patricia how long have you been writing books?

I wrote my first full-length novel in 2009--Out of the Gray, which is now the first book in the Hannaria Series. Before that, I had practiced with a lot of short stories and just experimented and studied on how I could do a bigger project.

Oh wow congrats to you.

Patricia what made you want to write books? And did you have a favorite book or books your read when you was a kid?

I've loved reading ever since I was a kid--used to max out the number of books the school library would allow me to check out at one time. I read a lot of Beverly Cleary when I was around 8 or 9, and Chronicles of Narnia sticks out in my mind, too. Anything with good characters and setting just drew me in.

I am that way I love to read. Those books you read are good ones to read.

Can you tell me more about the book Legacy?

Legacy is the second book in the Hannaria Series--I've had some people read it before Out of the Gray, but you'll know more of what's going on if you read them in order. The storyline in Legacy is divided in two--the first providing more background on a character in book 1 (Jernard) and the second half picking up where Out of the Gray leaves off. Jernard (who is an alien called a Hannarian) is asked by a friend to go on a rescue mission to save his friend's wife and children. They have been captured by a very dangerous and brutal group of aliens called the Liozi, which are also in the planning stages of attacking Earth.

That would be intresting to read.

Do you have kids Patricia? And do they like to write to? Who inspired you to start writing?

My husband and I don't have any kids yet--would love to adopt once we get in a good financial and time position to where we could do it. Right now we have four dogs, three of them ours (two dachshunds--Turk and J.D., one greyhound--racing name Lucius Malfoy, but we call him Mal) and the fourth a foster greyhound we're taking care of until she gets a good home.

aw I have 7 mini dachshunds. I love them so much. Adopting a child would be wonderful.

I was going to say she could have my kids, but they may be older than her.

lol Larry

Love your choice of Lucious MAlfoy Now I know your are a potter fantoo!

LOL@ Larry. LOL

LOL, Larry.

Sally--you've got a mini-dachshund army! :)

April--When we adopted Mal, he had already been named by his previous owner--loved the coincidence, though. Racing greyhounds make really great pets. They're not hyper like most people assume. One cool thing you can do with most of them is get access to their pedigrees online. I know more about my dog's family tree than I do my own, lol! (If you click on the link, the photo was when he first came off the track--he's gained a nice amount of weight since then.)

My brother has retired greyhounds too. They're wonderful pets.

Patricia do you have many books published? And are you going to writing more books?

I have three novels in the Hannaria Series published so far--they're available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble's websites--and am currently working on the fourth. I have books five and six plotted and even though I know how I'm eventually going to end the series I'm in no hurry.

On Kindle I also have short writing guides on character and setting development, and I have plans to eventually turn that into a full-length how-to book sometime in the future. I'm still learning new things everyday, and I try to pass on things in free articles whenever possible.

That is great you have that many books out. Sounds like you are doing great. I bet your books sell well.

Hi Connie and Patricia. Nice to see you both.

Thank you for coming, Sally. I appreciate your questions. :)

thanks for sharing, not going to be around sorry.

Thanks for dropping by!

I had a lot of trouble trying to get here. I may have to read this later. I will try though.
Patricia, tell us your thoughts on ebooks. If we choose to go that route do you think we can still sell our books to a large audience?

I think ebooks give us the opportunity as authors to reach a larger audience. If you look at Kindle for example, over the past year Amazon has expanded into the UK and Germany--and I think that's going to continue until almost the whole planet will have potential access. I don't think we should ignore paperbacks at this point, but that seems to be the overall trend.

Hard trouble reading post and commenting on any thing..

Thanks for dropping by.

I really hope I don't forget about the chat.
I lost my internet for an hour earlier. Finally got it back.
Got my new posts up on my spotlight now. Finally.
And, will be writing later, I hope.
It's sad that I have to work tomorrow though. Sigh.

I'll try to pop in about 9pm eastern time. Cheers, Don

Hi Connie and everyone!

I'm looking forward to the chat tonight! Hopefully all the technical issues will work out for everyone. Here in Knoxville, TN, we've had severe storms the past few days that knocked out power for over 100,000 homes at one point. Right now there are utility crews taking down fallen trees all over the city and trying to get everything fixed. So if I suddenly stop responding in the middle of the chat or something, that's likely the cause. (I do have an Android phone, but I think there would be a slight lag in my response time...)

Thank you so much again for doing this, Connie. You are awesome, and I'm very grateful for the amount of hard work you put into these chats and your Today on Gather posts. :)

I'm going to wait on answering questions until the chat starts, but if you're unable to make it feel free to leave a comment early. I promise I'll still answer you.

See you in about an hour...

Hey everyone! It is only 23 more minutes until the live chat with Author Patricia Gilliam begins.

Get those questions ready! You have a chance to win a free book. All you have to do is join in the chat for your chance at winning.

10 minutes till the live chat with Author Patricia Gilliam begins.

This will be a great chat. Patricia has published several books. She started her writing career online.

She is a wealth of information and loves to share with others.

speaking of sci-fi we are currently watching A Wrinkle in Time and my husband and daughter didn't know it was based on a book...Callisto wants to read the book now...cause books are always better ;)

(Sean did say he thought the title sounded familiar but didn't know why till I said it was a classic)

Katryn,

I have never read or viewed the movie.

definite must read :)

That is funny Katryn, that's when you don't want to sound like a know it all but it's hard not to giggle a little at something so obvious (to us ;p) That was such a great story... Stewie in Family Guy always makes me think of a demented... was the little brother named Charles? I can't remember now...

Charles Wallace

Madeline L'Engle is an exceptional author, even as an adult I still love her books.

I remember that book scared me.

Roni - the movie was made for TV by Disney...it's not scary...you should have your kids watch it...

though I hear you thought Spiderwick Chronicles were scary...hmmm...

No I didn't read or watch Spiderwick because someone else told me they found it scary and I took their word for it. I have found I have bad dreams after reading the skeleton creek series. So yes, I'm a wimp.

Callisto has even watched Nightmare on Elm Street....and she doesn't like scary movies either...though it was the original movie not the remake and she said it wasn't scary at all...which reminded me of mommy saying how Them scared her

Veronica,

How did I miss you??? You sneaky gal. I did not even welcome you. I hope you are not in your room crying because I failed to make you feel welcome. :)

Welcome Veronica!

I am so glad you were able to make it to the chat. It is always good to see you.

If Roni went off to her room to cry I want to know...

Since she didn't make last night's chat I was glad to see her here tonight :)

I am always glad to see her at the chats. I love seeing everyone at the chats. We not only have fun but I know I learn a lot and I feel the chats bring us closer together as a community.

Will you go check on her and take her some tissues. :)

This chat is officially started!
I would like to thank each of you for attending this chat tonight. Just get comfortable and have fun chatting. The time goes by rapidly in these chats. This chat will last for one hour.

Welcome to the live chat with Author Patricia Gilliam

Thank You for joining us.

Patricia kis here to answer your questions.

Welcome Patricia!


Remember to keep refreshing the page to see all the latest comments.

always love author chats...though I fell asleep last night ;)

Katryn,

We do always have a lot of fun at these chats and learn so much about each other. It is a great way to pull authors and readers together.

You feel asleep???? LOL Shame on you.

yes, well, things have been a bit crazy here...I've been tired a lot...woke about 10:30 and went to bed...

Katryn,

Are you pregnant? Those are the symptoms, you know?!? LOL

Connie,

LOL - no worries there, I was "fixed" over 12 years ago ;)

LOL Love how you said you were "fixed". LOL

HEllo, I think I made it .

LOL - definitely made it :)

Welcome April,

I am so glad you could make it.

Patricia,

What are your thoughts on e-publishing versus "old fashioned" books?

My husband has been doing a lot of research on it and he has found that a lot of authors and publishing companies are going more toward e-publishing...is it just a sign of the times?

Welcome Katryn,

I am so glad to see you. The Today post will be submitted later tonight. :)

Yes there are editors who have said they wouldn't recommend epublishing now changing their tune.

that's pretty much what Sean is finding out...and getting a following on Twitter and/or a blog is a good thing

Yes it is and I've found many places for promoting mom writers. It doesn't help your hubby, but it does well for us. ;)

Look - she got the comment where it belongs :P

Yeah Roni...we need to work on that book...

I think you have to factor in your genre and audience, but in my case my sales are now 90% Kindle/nook and only 10% paperbacks. It was roughly 50/50 in 2009. Things are changing. From a financial standpoint, it's not a bad thing for you as an author--you can get paid the same if not more for the purchase of an ebook copy because there's not the cost of printing built into it. If I can provide the same story to readers for less money and not lose money in the process, I can see the benefits in it.

It appears to me that eReaders are taking over the world even quicker than computers did. I see elderly people in the Doctors office with eReaders. It seemed funny to start with but now it just seems natural.

I mean if you are reading a book and you only have a couple chapters left, you have to carry two books with you to the Drs office. With eReaders, you only need to carry one light and small eReader with all your books on it.

Connie, I had my first eReader ages ago when the first one (they said) came out, called a Rocket eBook. It was bulky, weighed about 2 pounds I think, but still a wonderful experience. At the time there were almost no books available and it cost around $800 (back when I had money to spend crazy ;p) but after reading David Copperfield in two nights in the dark (they had backlit screens) while sitting with a sick child, I was hooked.

I remember all the people saying they were too bulky and expensive and would never take off. I had faith they'd get better.

Angela,

I have a Sony eReader and I love it. The only problem I have with it is that the battery does not stay charged as long as they say it does. Even if I don't use it for a week, the battery goes down.

I love it so much I got my husband one as well.

I read that Amazon is coming out with a tablet this fall--don't know if it's going to be a successor to the Kindle or more of a competitor to Ipad.

I have really been wanting an iPad but I cannot see paying that much for one. They are super expensive.

Exactly, I want an iPad but I think it's because of the advertising. A few key features keep me loyal to kindle: Mine lasts a month or more with heavy use before I have to recharge. When I finish a book I can post a message on Twitter and Facebook to rate and share, as well as favorite quotes as I read it. The availability of free books... blows my mind.

Any eReader is awesome tho. Imagine all the paper, fuel for shipping volumes of books... we are saving the planet, one book at a time ;p

I love the free ebooks on kindle--introduces me to writers and I've found several I start looking out for after reading on kindle first.

Ok I finally made it

Michele,

It is so good to see you! Welcome! You will just love Patricia, she is a wealth of information.

Ask her anything, you always wanted to know about writing online, novels, finding a publisher or anything else. :)

Thanks Connie!

Thanks for coming Michele!

Hi, everybody! Thank you, Connie!

So I don't lose anyone, I'm going to start up at the top at the earlier questions then work my way down. Hope that's all right.

sounds like the best way :)

How do you first flesh out your characters?

I was a psychology and broadcasting major in college, so the approach I ended up using was basically creating profiles of the characters before I even started on the books and tried to come up with as many details as I could. This takes some time to do, but the result is you have realistic characters you can work with--that makes the rest of the writing process a whole lot easier. You can get as detailed as you like, but I started with basic physical characteristics, key relationships with other characters, a short bio of their lives up until the story begins, etc. I still refer back to these every once in awhile as I'm writing--keeps me organized.

Patricia,

I’m curious about how you come up with names for your characters. There are many sites that discuss this and many writers still struggle with that. What works for you?

Welcome Len,

It is so good to see you. Patricia, like you, is a wealth of information. She loves to share too. You two have a lot in common.

This question of mine fits in with yours Len, When naming your characters, do you give any thought to the actual meaning?

OOO...and do you try to keep names different enough so you do not confuse the reader? I hate when I am reading and getting the characters all goofed up because names are just too similar

If I get stumped on trying to come up with a name, I honestly have done a Google search for "Random name generator." This is the address for the one I end up using a lot:

http://www.kleimo.com/random/name.cfm

I don't go for the first names that pop up but instead run it several times--using it as a prompt until I come up with a name I like.

With the aliens in my series, I've tried to do names that are unique but still easy to recognize. Even though it's explained that Hannarians have much longer names in comparison to humans, nicknames get used. I've tried to read a few sci-fi books where the names get confusing, and I think it does harm to the story and kicks readers out of it.

I have never even heard of "Randon Name Generator"! That is so cool! Our youngest daughter just found out that she is having a boy. They can't seem to find a name. Wonder what she would think of that site. LOL

Well I found a random word generator...we had a lot of dragon tales over that one!

Brian,

I think Greg used a random word generator as well one day for his prompt. It was fun.

Who is your favourite author and is you writing style similar to theirs?

I have a lot of favorite authors, so that's a tough one--I've got a wide range from John Grisham to Stephen King to C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling. Just in general I like authors that are very detailed in their characters and setting.

I do try to study other author's techniques, but I think every author has their own unique style.

Patricia,

You seem to be attracted to the some of the same authors I am.

What's your favorite part of a book?

I like beginning a new book--the endings are hard because you don't want to stop...which is probably why I'm writing a series instead of stand-alone novels right now, lol. :)

Patricia,

I like to read books in a series. I hate to wait a year for the next volume to come out though. That just drives me crazy

Hi everyone

Welcome Jeanette,

It is so good to see you. Gather is acting up this week so we are all just doing the best we can to adjust. :)

Hi, Jeanette! Thanks for coming!

If you could work with any author who would it be?

I really like Joss Whedon's (Firefly, Buffy, Angel, etc.) work as a screenwriter. If I ever adapt my books for television, I'd like to work with him and his team.

Oh Wow! That would be so cool. Will you let all your Gather friends come watch you work? LOL

Cool!

Hello everyone.

my twin made it :)

Thanks for coming, Veronica!

Veronica,

I really am sorry that I missed your entrance. I hope you felt welcome. :)

how could she not feel welcome with me here :D

it's cause we look so much alike you didn't notice her ;)

Patricia if you could tell a teen who wants to write, one thing what would it be?

Welcome Renee,

It is so good to see you.

Patricia is a great source of information. She started her writing career online. Now she has published books.

I would explain that being an author is a lifelong process, and it should be something fun and that you enjoy doing. One of the things that struck me when I first got started with this is a lot of people that we see as overnight successes put years if not decades of preparation into their careers before they became famous. It takes work and a lot of learning, but it's worthwhile if it's your dream. Just stay persistent when things get hard, and don't give up.

I am having to refresh often and it is taking forever.

hello everyone can't stay sorry connection is bad here right now but wanted to jump in real quick cause i know connie misses me lollll.......Hi patricia!!!!

LOL Lynda,

I always miss you when you are not here. Have you ever considered publishing your writing? Patricia could share tips with you that she has used. I know you are talented.

well i just got out of a sticky situation and all my stuff is packed right now but hoping to do something with it once i get it back out and working on it again

Lynda,

Patricia has tons of helpful tips on her web site. She has also shared a lot in the gather community.

The Writing Essential group is a great place to start. I will be hosting live chats with the WE member editors soon. You don't want to miss those chats either.

Hi, Lynda! Thanks for coming! My husband Cory and I are in the process of updating my site with more resources and tools I want to share with other authors--basically things I wish I could find when I first got started and am trying to collect all in one spot.

In what order do you write things

I tend to vary on this. With my first book (two narrators, Rica Miller and Alex Verin), I actually wrote out each character's story separately then alternated between them when I put together the final draft--there were some areas where I had to smooth it out where the time would line up and make sense. Books two and three were written almost in the order you read them. With my current book I'm doing a second draft that goes back a little on the timeline.

I do use outlining to a certain extent--I know the overall plot from the very beginning and try to think 2-3 scenes/chapters ahead as I'm working on a particular chapter.

Helpful answer. Thanks.

am I the only one that's not getting any response?

it's slow to load jeanette give it time they'll be right with ya ....... and hello to ya

Jeanette, She started at the top of this page and is answering down the questions.

Patricia started at the top and Gather is loading really slow tonight. She will be down here as quick as her fingers can type.

Jeanette,

You will find out soon, just how tired your fingers get during these chats. LOL

I can attest to that! My husband took me out to lunch yesterday afterwards... he said I looked "absolutely knackered", as they say here...

Sorry it took me so long, Jeanette! How are you? I think I've almost worn the letters off my keyboard, lol.

LOL Angela,

You gotta admit. . . . you loved it!!

I did, 100%! It was great fun ... you know you've had a party by the mess and how pooped you are. If I left the chat all fresh I would have been sad cuz that would mean no one asked me anything ;p

Now it's our turn to wear Patricia out >;p

You did, lol! Loved it, though. :)

How do you develop your plot? Do you outline? If so, to what extent? How much is a surprise to you as you go?

I start off with plotting key events--scenes I know have to happen for the story to have a basic arch (set-up, building conflicts, climax, resolution). If you visualize it like a map, most of your day-to-day writing then becomes getting yourself from one key event to the other, and there's still freedom there to explore without losing momentum. I play with different scene ideas, and there's a nice level of surprise in that. The main thing is to not wander off too far--to the point you either get writer's block or have written yourself into a 100 page corner...I have been there and done that.

Why do you choose to work in this genre? Do you consider yourself a genre writer, or do you want to try other modes?

These are great questions April. Keep them coming. Patricia will stay as long as she needs too. She was excited about the chat. I love seeing all the great questions for her.

I like sci-fi for a lot of reasons. Growing up, my dad worked for Magnavox (so did my mom before I was born), so for the most part I was surrounded by what was advanced technology in the 80s and 90s. I've kept up with current changes and like looking at where things are heading from that standpoint. I also think a futuristic setting is interesting because you can take issues in our current culture and ask, "What if this was taken to an extreme?"

Even with what I see as almost a "coat" of aliens and fun gadgets, a good sci-fi story needs to have a very human core to it. The physical and cultural differences are still there, but I wanted to write Jernard and his family as being influenced enough by us that they're more human in their thinking but still have to deal with problems hitting them from both sides--humans still not trusting them and their own people questioning their loyalties. You have situations where they're trying to do right but make mistakes--and there's not an immediate solution to fix the issue.

I keep refreshing and I can't get anything. I will return this weekend and hope to read it all.

Sorry you're having so much trouble, Jeanette. Thanks again for coming!

APRIL??? can you please slow down or lump your questions together. you have so many and by the time i refresh either you asked a question i was or it's lagging so slow cause this page is so long... thanks

Lynda,

Gather is having problems today. Well, I think they have had problems all week but today it was/is bad.

Hello Patricia! Sorry Gather is having so many problems tonight, but we all promise to be patient while we pick your brain. I'm interested in your marketing, what are some of the resources you use, and what are your biggest challenges promoting your work would you say?

Welcome Angela,

You know a bit about the problems with gather during a chat too. :) I am glad to see you here tonight. How did you like your chat last night?

Connie, that was so much fun. I loved having a chance to try to return something to the Gather community that has given me so much support and I loved all the questions - my brain (and fingers) were def challenged!

Hi Angela! Great to see you!

It's kind of weird and counter-intuitive, but letting readers have free access to my rough drafts of my current book has resulted in sales of the previous ones. (I think it's the equivalent of catching a TV show in mid-season and wanting to catch up on what's happening.) When I finish a core rough draft, I do take the majority of it off-line for editing--maybe leave the first four chapters for people to preview.

In between book chapters I do short projects and articles and link my Amazon author page at the bottom. Right now my husband and I are in the planning stages of a larger website where I can do more with my series and how-to's, and I'm very excited about growing into that. In addition to Gather, I'm active on Writing.com (started out with them in 2006) and just starting out with Wattpad (which has an app where people can download chapters to their smartphones and tablets--pretty cool concept.)

Once I finish my current book, I'm in contact with a very nice radio DJ here in Knoxville that's going to feature the series in her book club. I found her through a speaking event David Baldacci was having--learned a lot from him, too. I haven't really explored a lot of writer's conferences yet, but I try to keep a look out for local events where I can learn and make friends with similar interests.

Facebook and Twitter can be helpful tools in small doses. I don't bombard people with book posts everyday, but if something like this is going on I let my friends know.

There's also a book I came across called Guerrilla Marketing for Writers (the newer 2010 one) that's really helpful. I accidentally left the first copy I bought on a plane and thought it was worth buying again--can't really say that on every writing guide I've ever bought.

I think the biggest challenge I've had is just learning to get out of my comfort zone. I think most people--myself included--are repealed by the idea of someone trying to hard-sell them. In response to that, I've had a tendency to go the other extreme and keep my mouth shut during times that could have led to a good opportunity for me. There's a balance to it, and I think it just comes down to recognizing opportunities and being prepared.

I have Guerrilla Marketing on my desk right now! I love that book... such good reading. Thanks for all the info... good luck with your radio spot!

Thanks!

Interesting, Sounds like Guerrilla Marketing's worth looking out for.

I love your how-to series. Lots of good helpful info in them.

Elizabeth,

Welcome! I am so glad you were able to make it. Patricia is a wealth of information and loves to share it.

She always adds links to the end of her posts.

I to have read several of your How To series. I really appreciate them

Thanks, Elizabeth and April. I hope to be adding more to the collection soon. :)

Who inspires you to write and who are some of your favorite writers? Do you feel they have influenced your style of writing in any way?