Ask the Author: Patrick Kelly
Answered Questions (9)
Patrick Kelly
The entire human race wakes up one day having lost all ability to communicate with one another. The species immediately enters a horrible period of fear and death and soon goes extinct.
Patrick Kelly
I would travel back in time to my college days and be able to relive them knowing what I know now. Hopefully, I would make fewer of the same mistakes but still manage to have a good time.
Patrick Kelly
Maeve Binchy's Quentins. A friend told me I have to read Binchy's novels. I'm starting here.
Ginny Dye's Storm Clouds Rolling In. Very popular series on the Civil War. I look forward to seeing how Dye treats the subject.
Delia Owens's Where the Crawdads Sing. I'm generally not a big consumer of depressing literary works, but this one is so hot, I've got to see what all the fuss is about.
Ginny Dye's Storm Clouds Rolling In. Very popular series on the Civil War. I look forward to seeing how Dye treats the subject.
Delia Owens's Where the Crawdads Sing. I'm generally not a big consumer of depressing literary works, but this one is so hot, I've got to see what all the fuss is about.
Patrick Kelly
My most recent novel is Survivors' Dawn, authored with the pen name of Ashley Warren. Survivors' Dawn is a heroic story about three college women's fight for justice.
In 2010 I read a series of articles in the Richmond Times Dispatch about the crisis of sexual assault on college campuses. Soon after I heard a NPR feature story on the same subject. At the time I had two daughters in high school. As you might expect, the stories freaked me out, and I began to pay attention to the issue.
The unending accounts of sexual assault on campuses compelled me to write Survivors’ Dawn. My goal in writing the novel was NOT to focus on the act itself, but instead to write of the victim’s journey, to tell a story about the strength, courage, and determination of survivors, to describe the obstacles they face in their pursuit of justice, and finally, to offer hope for a future where students can pursue their dreams without fear of being attacked.
In 2010 I read a series of articles in the Richmond Times Dispatch about the crisis of sexual assault on college campuses. Soon after I heard a NPR feature story on the same subject. At the time I had two daughters in high school. As you might expect, the stories freaked me out, and I began to pay attention to the issue.
The unending accounts of sexual assault on campuses compelled me to write Survivors’ Dawn. My goal in writing the novel was NOT to focus on the act itself, but instead to write of the victim’s journey, to tell a story about the strength, courage, and determination of survivors, to describe the obstacles they face in their pursuit of justice, and finally, to offer hope for a future where students can pursue their dreams without fear of being attacked.
Patrick Kelly
I wake up, brush my teeth, sit down at the keyboard, and I'm good for one to two hours. I have breakfast, perhaps work out, get cleaned up, and keep writing. A quiet room is helpful but not essential. I'm usually good for five to six hours a day. After that I need to do something else, because my writing brain is fried.
Patrick Kelly
I'm working on a historical fiction novel that tells the story of a woman's life from birth to old age. The girl/woman is born in Sydney, Australia in 1916. She lives through the depression and World War II and eventually moves to the US.
Patrick Kelly
First of all, make sure you want to do this by taking this simple test. Lock yourself in a room and write for four hours. Don't worry about the quality of the writing. That's not the test. The test is, did you enjoy yourself for those four hours? If yes, then you can write a book. If no, find another way to spend your time.
Second, do what everyone says you should: Write a lot. Read a lot. Revise a lot. And keep writing.
Second, do what everyone says you should: Write a lot. Read a lot. Revise a lot. And keep writing.
Patrick Kelly
When I sit down to write at the start of each day, I don't know what will emerge from my effort, but there is a good chance something will show up that I like. For me, that is the best part. To see something good on the screen that did not exist before, and to believe that if I string enough of those phrases together I will create something that entertains readers, that is a thrill like no other.
Patrick Kelly
I've been writing for seven years and have yet to run into the writer's block problem. Maybe it's because I keep multiple projects working at the same time. I do occasionally grow weary of first draft and may start procrastinating--gosh, I haven't weeded the back yard in a while. When that happens I turn to another project that needs research or outlining, or more likely, another rewrite.
Some days the words do seem to flow like mud, and they don't read well, either. On those days I just keep pounding the keys, deleting, pounding some more, and for the most part some sort of inspiration eventually shows up.
Some days the words do seem to flow like mud, and they don't read well, either. On those days I just keep pounding the keys, deleting, pounding some more, and for the most part some sort of inspiration eventually shows up.
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