Interview by Lynne Jamneck http://www.lynne-jamneck.blogspot.com/

T.R. Gilmore was born May 26th 1978 in Portland Oregon. Being a PK, she moved around probably just as much as a military family, never staying anywhere longer then 10 months before moving to a different church in a different town. After her parents divorced at the age of 21, she moved to Australia for two years. T.R traveled back and forth to Australia until she met her wife and moved to Canada to marry her.

What did you like to read when you were growing up? Who were some of your favorite authors?

A few of my favorite authors growing up would have to be John Fowles, Diana Gabaldon, and of course Robert Burns for his poetry. Anything Scottish I was obsessed with reading, which played a huge influence on a lot of my beginnings as a writer.

Have you always wanted to write?

Actually I didn’t discover writing until I was in the 9th grade. Growing up as a P.K. (Pastor’s Kid) I never really was allowed to read or watch anything that wasn’t “Straight Society”. When I hit the 9th grade I wanted to read what I was able to imagine about the girl that sat in front of me, but since I wasn’t allowed to even go into that section of the book store I decided if I couldn’t read what I wanted I would write what I wanted to read.

Tell us a little about the inspiration behind your first book, Humkhats – The Union.

When I first came up with the idea of Humkhats I was sitting in my Greek Mythology class learning of Sappho and the wonderful Island of Lesbos. An island filled with women appealed to me at that age, but I had to work out the kinks on how they would reproduce and survive without men. I actually started writing on the prequel first but at that age the plot was rough as they were a science experiment that went wrong. But as I grew up and matured that plot twisted and changed right along with me.

What sort of research did you have to do for the book? Is it something you enjoy or view as purely a necessary evil?

This being more of a fiction fantasy novel most of the research came from my imagination, if that makes sense. Although I did research a lot on Native Americans and their culture to kind of give that culture to my new races. Since my new races basically live off the land with no technology I had to learn a lot about the ins and outs of a fully functional village and it’s inhabitants. I actually quite enjoy researching new things if I am interested in it, and if I am writing about it I already know I would find it interesting.

What about the language you created for the story? I believe there will be more of that in the prequel?

When I first came up with the idea of Humkhats I immediately knew that I wanted their language to be different. So I wrote up a whole dictionary of the Humkhats Language, which took me 3 years to actually finish. The finished product actually sounds really close to French which was purely accidental. In “Humkhats: The Union” since it’s the middle of the story there really isn’t a whole lot of the language mentioned, but in the prequel it explains more of what happened and will even introduce new races. So there will be a lot of things in the prequel that wasn’t mentioned in my first book.

What are you working on right now?

I actually never work on one thing at a time. My mind gets so scattered with ideas I usually have more then one notebook filled with notes on some new story that will probably never see the light of day. But I am currently working on the prequel as family and friends have threatened me that they do not want to wait 2 years before they are able to read it.

What was the most challenging part of writing Humkhats?

The most challenging part about writing this story was putting my wife’s beautiful personality into Dela (one of the main characters) Actually that part was easy, the challenging part was having to write a sex scene between a character that I based after my wife and Rayne who…well wasn’t based after me. It was one of the most beautiful scenes in the book and it took me a weak to write it because I would actually find myself getting jealous of Rayne. But in all seriousness since I had been working on Humkhats since high school the most challenging thing was actually sticking to a plot without re-writing it over and over again so that it could be read by others.

How did it come about that the book was published through Publish America?

Well that was actually a surprise to me. My wife actually sent it to a few different publishers and one morning I received an e-mail from Publish America saying that they were interested in signing with me. To be quite honest I was very happy to just leave all my stories stashed in my closet collecting dust, but my wife obviously wasn’t. So I sent the contract to my father who made sure it was all legit and I signed on.

Do you rewrite often?

I rewrite more then I should. I could probably make a novel out of all my rewrites.

What’s your writing atmosphere like?

My writing atmosphere is more like my own personal bubble. As long as I have a comfortable seat, inspirational music playing in my ears, a pack of cigarettes, and a fresh clean notebook I am ready to go.

What do you find most appealing about writing speculative fiction?

Probably that there are no real rules. Any rules that are made are by me. It is a world I create and control. I am actually quite a realistic person so it is sometimes challenging for me to break out of that but I think that is what makes it so appealing because it allows me to let loose and let my imagination take over.

What would you say is the greatest misconception about being a writer?

Wow this is a good question…lets see. Probably that writers always know how to express themselves properly. When you watch a movie that has some artsy fartsy writer as a character they always come out with an overly thought out, deep beautiful thing to say at the right moment. To be quite honest it takes me awhile. But then again…maybe I am the only one who doesn’t do that. Hmm.

What do you consider your best and worst attributes?

My worst attribute would have to be my overly active imagination; it keeps me up late at night to the point where I am a borderline insomniac. But then again I would have to say it is one of my best attributes as it gets my stories written.

Would you like to try your hand at any other types of fiction in the future?

I have actually written all types of fiction just haven’t done anything with them yet. My writing style reaches into sci-fi, murder mysteries and even horror, but there is always a main female character falling in love some where in the plot. I am too much of a romantic to not have love even in the most ugliest of situations.

What was the last book you read?

“Abigail” By Malcolm MacDonald, one of my favorite books that I could probably read over and over again.

Who would you like to send to Room 101?

This interview is too public for me to say who I would like to send there, but trust me they are already in Room 101 for me.

Tell us something about T.R. Gilmore no-one else knows...

I have a phobia of the bathroom. It’s a closed in space that I just cannot handle for long periods of time. There now all of you know!

What's the best advice you can give to aspiring writers?

Keep writing even if you think no one is going to read it, or that no one will want to read it. It is your world to create and construct. As long as you keep writing you have the world at your fingertips.

A happy writer is a…

Writer with a fresh notebook and a really cool pen to write with.