In The Hot Seat With Elizabeth M Darcy today is S. E. Gilchrist

 Hi S.E,  Can you tell my readers a little about yourself?

 SE can't remember a time when she didn't have a book in her hand. Now she writes her own stories where her favourite words are ...'what if' and 'where'?
She writes in the genres of sci fi / futuristic, fantasy, post apocalyptic/dystopian, historical and contemporary rural romance. The heat level of her stories range from scorching to sweet and everything in between.
SE lives down-under, in the beautiful Hunter Valley of Australia.
She is published with Momentum Moonlight, and Escape Publishing, and is also an indie author. 

Now how about some questions from my readers?

Q:  Can you tell our readers a little about your writing? What genres do you enjoy writing? I love writing spec fiction and have written science fiction romance, post apocalyptic romance, historical with a touch of fantasy – all on the hot scale. I recently wrote a sweet contemporary rural romance and hope to write more of these also.

Q:  Do you write on a schedule or when the Muse decides? Definitely on a schedule as I work full time and my writing is squeezed into what’s left. However, I always carry pen and paper with me and scribble down ideas and notes as they occur – even during the night.

Q: Can you tell us about your writing process, for example, do you write an outline first? The first thing that usually comes to me, is an idea or event / situation after that the characters arrive. At this stage they are fairly shadowy figures. I’ll write anything from one to four chapters before I sit down and do a story outline and more indepth character sheets. I find this process works best for me.

Q:  What qualities do you instill in your heroes? Kindness, generosity of spirit, protectiveness and an ability to acknowledge when they are wrong and grow. Also, they need to be able to ask for directions.

Q. Coffee or tea? I’m a tea drinker – china cops and a brewed pot – lovely.

Q. Beach or countryside? Beach – I love early morning walks across the sand.

Q. Do you write about the places you know or prefer to take your readers to exotic places? I have written about places I know for example in Storm of Fire & Paying the Forfeit I set these stories in a futuristic outback Queensland. Dance in the Outback was based on my travels around Australia and the time I spent on a cattle station. My sci fi romances I would have to say, they are out of my imagination plus the numerous books and TV series I have watched / read in that genre.

Q: Where do you get your inspiration? Often an article I read, provides me with a germ of an idea and it flows from there after a lot of ‘what if’s and ‘whys’. My sons are great with providing ideas for my spec fiction stories and my youngest in particular is very helpful with the dash of physics I include (or dabble with until they bare no resemblance to anything possible – lol).

Q: Would you change anything in your life to make writing easier. I’d love to be able to write full time however I often wonder whether that would take the sparkle out of my passion once it became the source of my livelihood.

Q: We have all suffered submission rejections. How do you cope? Do you have any advice to other writers on coping with rejection? After weeping and railing and tearing my hair out and feeling like the worst writer in the world and off loading onto my writing mates, I accept it and move on. If I’ve been lucky enough to have received a reason / advice, I take a good look at my story and see if / where I can improve. Then I write another one and keep trying.

Q: What do you like to read and who are your favourite authors? I read a lot of crime fiction and adventure novels. Oh and mysteries and romance and love science fiction romance stories. Actually I’ll read anything apart from horror. Favourite authors – too many really but here are a few: John Birmingham, Kerry Greenwood, Elizabeth Peters, Anne Gracie, Agatha Christie, Lisa Gardiner, Karen Marie Moning....

Q: Do you write one novel at a time or do you move between works in progress? I try to stay focussed on the one novel otherwise I’d have too many on the go and never finish anything.

Q: Do you have times when the Muse is away on holiday? OMG, YES! And its often when I need her the most.

Q. What motivates you to write? Deadlines; I try to give myself deadlines otherwise I’d procrastinate and research until the cows come home.

Q. What advice would you give to unpublished authors approaching an e publisher? Be professional, courteous and treat it like a business interview. Ensure the e publisher has been around for a while and has a good reputation in the market place. See what they can do for you in relation to marketing, promotion. Take a good look at their list of authors, do you recognise their names? Do you like their covers? Buy one or two and see how professionally edited they may be – basically do your homework. Never sign anything you are uncomfortable with, don’t give away all your rights and try for a fixed term contract.

Q: Is there anything you would like to share with us about upcoming releases? Oooh, yes please. My sci fi romance Star Pirate’s Justice was released 1st February with Escape Publishing and I’m running a contest / giveaway on my blog (as well as on other lovely people’s blogs) until 16th Feb. Be sure to check it out.

Q: Can you tell us a little about your current novel? What inspired you to write this story? At the moment I’m writing the third single title book in my Darkon Warriors sci fi series (titled, When Stars Collide). Its a continuation of the external story line with more focus on the ‘baddie’ who has, so far, been mainly lurking in the background.

 Star Pirate’s Justice

Blurb: BLURB: Carly has one focus in her life: to return home to her terminally ill younger sister. When she learns that a Darkon traitor possesses gateway maps to Earth, she uses all her skills to track him down. But capturing the charming star pirate turns out to be trickier than she anticipated…

Volkar is determined to prove his innocence to those who drove him to a life lived on the Outer Rim, and he will overcome anyone who gets in his way. But his surprisingly sweet captor has some skills that will come in handy, so he strikes a deal: the maps for her help. Neither expect their partnership to turn into more, but as dark secrets are revealed, their lives become forfeit — and the relationship blossoming between them nothing but a starburst of happiness in the deep shadow of the sky…

Here’s a little excerpt when Carly and Volkar first meet taken from Star Pirate’s Justice © S. E. Gilchrist 2014 :

Outer Reaches of the Besa System…..

Carly lunged from the chair and grasped the weapon with eager fingers. But the Darkon had moved too. He popped into her field of vision like an evil genie, gripped her hand with his larger one, tightening as she tried to tug free, her bones feeling crushed. Her screech was loud enough to wake the dead.

The stunner was wrenched from her numb fingers and tossed onto the floor. Strong hands grabbed her waist, plopped her back into the command chair and she looked up into her former prisoner’s implacable face as he stared down at her. With his hands clamped either side onto the chair’s armrests, his body looming over her cringing figure, she had nowhere to run. Couldn’t even move, as any attempt to slip from the chair would ensure she’d make physical contact with him. At the thought of colliding with that powerful form, she shrank a tad closer into the back of the chair.

“How did you escape?” she mumbled, her gaze trapped by the narrowed intensity of his stare.

Her head whirled with snippets of the back-handed whispers she had gleaned about this warrior, his feats as a re-known soldier, his dark deeds as a traitor. She waited, imprisoned, for him to strike. Strange how instead of the shoulder length locks of other Darkon warriors, he wore his hair short, in a shaggy style that gave him a tousled, just out-of-bed look.

Jumping mega bytes, where had that thought come from?

Carly snapped upright, forcing him to jerk out of the way before she rammed his chin with the top of her head. “Well?”

“I have heard of you,” he muttered, a heavy frown digging deep like war-time trenches across his forehead.

Carly shut her gaping mouth and spluttered, “Me?”

He straightened, his hands leaving the armrests and half-turned to examine the cockpit for several beats. His gaze swept back to take a long thorough look up her body and fastened onto her face. A mocking smile quirked one side of his lips and he said, tongue in cheek, “Not you. Your kind and how the Darkon males have found release from cycles of impotency. After seeing you, I find this difficult to believe.”

The man was a total dick.

Buy Link: Amazon || Amazon Australia || Amazon UK ||  iBooks || Barnes and Noble || Kobo || Goodreads

Author’s links: website - http://www.segilchrist.com
Twitter - @SEGilchrist1
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SEGilchrist
Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6587665.S_E_Gilchrist
F2F writing group - http://hunterromancewriters.wordpress.com/