The Romance Reviews

The Romance Reviews

Patricia Carrigan Pink Diamond Interview


Hello and welcome back to another Pink Diamond Interview! This month's guest is the young and talented Patricia Carrigan, author of Antiserum.
Patricia Carrigan, author Antiserum



We (Minnie and I) became friends with Patti on, you guessed it! Twitter!! And we have finally been able to sit down with Ms. Carrigan to find out what makes her tick!

So! Let's begin!

Welcome Ms. Carrigan! I'm so happy you can be here with us today! Grab a snack, make yourself comfy and let us begin!

Please tell us a bit about yourself and what inspired you to begin writing.

Well, :) for those of you who don't already know, I am now 18 years old and have graduated from high school. I also wrote and published my first book, Antiserum Part I, when I was 16. And believe it or not, I wasn't always inspired to write. In fact, in elementary school I used to dread Creative Workshop which is what my 4th grade teacher would make us do when he wanted us to write something. But now that I think back on it, I just didn't like it because we had to write about a subject that he gave to us. We couldn't really come up with our own subjects, which is what I really loved to do mainly because I was obsessed with animals like tigers, sun bears, horses, dolphins, etc. Haha!

So at home I would... well, I would draw out all these scenes for my own picture book and then randomly come up with a story about whatever animal I had chosen, except I never wrote down the story! Hahaha! I just came up with it as I went and would say it out loud.

We had a big family so there was always an audience! It wasn't until about 7th grade in my Core class (English and History), when my teacher told us that we had a writing assignment and we could choose whatever subject that we wanted :) My excitement was through the roof! The minimum page requirement was about five pages. By the time I finished my story, it was fifteen pages long! Hahaha :) So I guess, just being able to choose my own subject, or any subject that I loved the most and being able to write freely about it became my drive and, of course, my love for vampires was my inspiration. It was also just a really great pass time :)

Minnie and I thought Antiserum was a fun read. Everyone is young and having fun! We thought the coolest thing was the developing young love between Jocelyn and Adrian. Ah, young love! I’m not going to ask whether this story has any truth in it, but I will ask how you came up with the idea for this story?

Haha :) the truth behind the love story will never be revealed!! ;) The idea for Antiserum came from my head of course!!! Haha. And many, many days of revising the storyline. The main part of the idea was to be different from all of the other vampire stories that are already out there but to keep it similar enough to where people won't see it as a gigantic jump from the original theory of vampires. I was really feeling adventurous when I wrote it though, hence, Jocelyn's spontaneous trip to Transylvania with her friends and sister.

This story is entitled Antiserum Part I.” Have you started Part II yet and if so when will it release? Do you have plans for additional installments after that?

Oh! Definitely yes! I have started Part II, The Rising and there is a sneak peek of Chapters One and Two on my website here :) Take a look if you dare. Muahahahaha! :-F

Actually, I am fairly close to it being finished which is super exciting for me. I'm just a little slowed down in the home stretch because of work and my current enrollment process into college. :) But I am working on it :) No worries!!! Also I'm hoping that it will be published and released within the next 6 months or so. My fingers are crossed!!

That's fantastic!! Keep up the good work and good luck with your college enrollment process! We're sure you will have so many acceptance letters the hard part will be choosing a college to go to!!

Now, it is a fact that you donate 50% of your profits from the sale of this book to The Burn Institute. Tell us who they are and why this organization was chosen to be the recipient of such a generous gesture.

The Burn Institute is a non-profit organization that hosts a burn camp called Camp Beyond the Scars, that helps re-establish the self-esteem of burned children and teens through fun games and workshops and confidence building that helps them feel more comfortable about their burns or how to cope in school or society. My oldest sister, Amber (or Missy, in my book), was burned when she was younger and she attended Camp Beyond the Scars for many years. She was always so happy every time she returned from camp :) I never forgot how she would be bursting with stories and how she would come back with so many cool things from what they did. She is now a counselor at camp.

even had the privilege to go and spend part of one week with the camp last summer, and I could say from my experience, it was the most fun that I had ever had. I'm more than proud to be donating to them. They also have programs for adult survivor support!

Wow! That's really awesome and a great example to others!  We're so proud of you!!

Now, Minnie was asked the following question during an interview, and I think it is a great question, so I will ask it here: If we were to observe you in the act of writing, what would we see?

Hmmmm..... You would see me leaning on a ton of pillows -- and maybe a few stuffed bears. There’s either a small Chihuahua or a large cat next to me… depends who got there first. I’m barefoot and comfy… my glasses are on, my headphones would be in and I'd be listening to "Avenged Sevenfold", "Evanescence", "Creed", "Paramore", or any song that could help get me in my “dark vampire "mood.  Next you would see my laptop on my lap and if you looked out my window, it would definitely be at night. My snacks, which are a must during writing, which used to be pretzel sticks and nutella, but I kinda over did it :/ a while back. Bleh. So now, my snacks would probably be fruit gummies or a cutie :)  OR it would be one of the HoHo's that I bought a couple days ago if someone didn't eat the rest of them. Hahaha.  

That's funny! What is your process when writing? Do you listen to music and are you a plotter or a pantser?

0_0 I have no idea what a pantser is. Hahaha. I’m not exactly a plotter, but I have an idea where I want things to go:). I do a lot of research and I have complete backstories and histories on all my main characters. I think it is important to keep the integrity of the story.

am most definitely a music listener. I have two different playlists that I listen to when I'm writing, they are labeled, Antiserum Part I and Antiserum Part II.

You recently hopscotched through the British Isles as Student Ambassador, I saw the photos and they are beautiful!! Tell us about that trip!

Oh goodness, the trip was very busy!!! London was a total blur. Probably because I was a walking zombie for the first day. Our flight landed the next morning at 7:00 a.m. and I had only gotten an hour of sleep on the flight. When I woke up I nearly fell out of my seat. So when we landed we had a full day of activities to do and a bunch of walking. 

My favorite part of London would be when we went to the Tower of London and I got to see where Sir Walter Raleigh stayed in the Bloody Tower. :) I also was really happy when we went over into Chester and I was able to go meet my good friend Lord David and Lady Julia and their daughter Yvonne :)

After London, we drove into Wales, and GOOD GOSH it's so pretty. It glows!!! I mean it. The green there is kind of a dark forest green but I feel like it glows. I don't know how else to describe it, but Wales is probably on the top of my list because of it's glowing. Oh! And, please don't judge me on this, but I saw a ghost at the hotel we were staying at! I know it was something out of the ordinary because the day after, BBC was there for a paranormal investigation :) Pretty creepy. One of my favorite pictures from the trip was taken in Wales too, so that's always a plus.

I also was a ninja and broke a wooden board with my bare (non-dominant) left hand in a confidence workshop before abseiling down a 100 foot castle wall. It was a ton of fun :)

After Wales, we took a ferry over to the Republic of Ireland where we had our "homestays." I, luckily, was roomed with one of my favorite girls on the trip, Varsha. She was like a little sister to me.

During the days that we were in the Republic of Ireland we got to do a lot of shopping in Dublin and walk around the campus of Trinity College. It was kind of hard remembering that we were shopping with euros instead of pounds though, especially when we went to different cities in the Republic because I always thought we had gone into Northern Ireland! Haha! But I thought the most beautiful place in the Republic of Ireland was the Gap of Dunloe. So pretty! And I don't think I'll ever forget how the mountains would look like they had white streaks on them because the streams that were running down them were reflecting what little light there was.

So then in Northern Ireland, we got to go to two of the coolest places ever, Carrick-a-Rede Rope bridge, that's were I got my picture taken where I have my arms thrown backwards and its all 'Sound of Music'-like. Haha!

The second place would be The Giants Causeway, which is a volcanic formation that created a whole bunch of hexagonal-shaped pillars of all different heights and sizes. Super, super cool, but really slippery when wet. I would know... I almost fell, and I saw a whole bunch of other people slip as well.  No one was seriously hurt though. Just a few bruised bums. Haha!

Then after Northern Ireland, we took a short ferry ride over to Scotland!!!! I GOT TO GO TO THE WILLIAM WALLACE MONUMENT!!! The Gaurdian of Scotland!  Braveheart!

Honestly though, I didn't know he was a real person until I found out about the monument and it just made it that much cooler! Especially since when I first spotted the monument, it was all drizzly, hazy, and gray outside and then I look out my coach window and see up on a tall hillside this really cool castle looking tower that looked like it should have a really cool dragon wrapped around the top of it roaring… does that make it sound even remotely as cool as it looked to me?  I have no idea but that is the best way I could put it because it was SO COOL!!

Originally we weren't really scheduled to go to the William Wallace Monument, BUT we turned out to be much closer to our next destination than we had planned and we had plenty of time to go up to the monument, take some pictures to gloat about, come back down to the gift shop (:-D YAY! SHOPPING!!), and then hop back on the coach and to go learn about some Scottish History and Weaponry.

I am so proud to be Scottish.... and Welsh... and English... and Irish... HAHA!  Face it, the coolest part of this trip is that it was all about my cultural heritage!

Yes that is cool! Your exuberance is infectious!

As a young author, so accomplished, there must certainly be young people out there who look up to and admire you. What advice would you give to them?

Be yourself, and do what you love!  Because in the end, you'll need to be happy with yourself.

Very good advice! Now we'll move on to my favorite part of the interview. Lipton-isms!!

1.  Who is your hero?

WILLIAM WALLACE!!! haha! Nooo, just kidding. I think it would have to be.... my mom or my dad. I switch back and forth to make it even :)
2. What would your friends say is your best trait?
Uuuhhhh.... my blonde hair! No one expects half the stuff that I write to come from a blonde, giggly, bear lover.
3.  LOL! Ok! When is your favorite time of day?
Night time! It's quiet, and I'm most creative at that time.
4.  If you had to choose one superhuman power, what would it be and how would you use it for the better good?
Telepathy. But only the type of telepathy that Jocelyn has ;) and I would use it... of course not to be evil. It'd just be there I guess because if you use it like a superhero then you'd get villains too and then it'll just turn into a big mess. Haha.
5.  Chocolate or vanilla?
CHOCOLATE OF COURSE! I have nothing against vanilla though... I still love vanilla.

Words of Wisdom:
Do you have any words of wisdom you can offer up to aspiring writers?
If you do your research, and write what you need to do to get your stuff done, the ride is so much smoother.
 

Thank you Ms. Carrigan! Wasn't that fun folks?? Come back and visit with us tomorrow as Patti returns as our guest blogger!

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~~Sinner

2 comments:

  1. A lovely interview which allowed the real Patti to shine out with her usual exuberance.Not being a particular fan of vampires I was surprised when I first read Antiserum Part 1 to find the characters so engaging. I'm considering not reading part 2 though as the cricks in my neck from checking who/what is behind me all the time has only just been cured. I had to sit on a revolving piano stool while spinning round but letting someone hold my head still. Not recommended. But if you don't mind the pain I sincerely recommend the first book and then lets see how brave you are when No 2 is released !

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  2. Thanks for visiting Lord David Prosser as well as for the very thoughtful comment! I am so impressed by this wonderful young lady! I see many beautiful bright things in her future!

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