Meet Gallagher Green

 

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Gallagher Green. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Gallagher , really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

I just look back at the bad things that have happened in my life, and the bad things happening in the lives of others and say, “I don’t want anyone else to go through this,” and then work towards making that happen. I want my novels to make people feel seen, to know they aren’t alone.

That’s one of my purposes. I say that because I don’t just have one purpose, I don’t think anyone does, and we find them in many ways.

It was the manga My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, that gave me words for deep realization about myself. And many other stories have done the same. It made me realize that I want to be this for others. That I want to help them find their way with stories.

Purpose is a funny thing. I don’t think you ever find it because you can’t search for your purpose. It is pretty cliché to say, but purpose finds you. Only after being changed by stories did I realize that’s what I wanted to do for others; I wasn’t searching.

So for anyone reading this who is trying to find their purpose, stop searching and start paying attention. Look for the thing that makes you feel how you want others to feel, then go for it. You can do it, you got this.

There was one more thing that helped me. It was writing in a group short story for fun on a gardening forum. A forum member who was an author messaged me to say that I was good at telling stories, and should consider pursuing writing. I had never seen myself as a storyteller or writer. They showed me part of my purpose. So when you see someone’s purpose, something they have true passion for, tell them. If this person hadn’t told me, I would probably still be a farmhand, and not an author of five novels.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I published my first novel, “Love, Sorrow, and the In-Between: A Novel for the Rest of Us,” in 2022, and have since published four more, “Born of Death: A Novel of After,” “Anti-Aging Cream,” “We’re Not Queens, We’re Bitches,” and “A Plane Christmas.” My novels always have queer charactors, and I try to represent those who are not represented enough in media. And with the recent attack on 2SLGBTQIA+ rights in the United States, representation is more important than ever.

One thing I have always wanted to do with my writing is to find a way to make the world better, and right now I am doing that with my novel, “We’re Not Queens, We’re Bitches.” For the foreseeable future, all of the proceeds from that novel are going towards providing supplies and food for children and families in Gaza. I don’t have the means personally to help, but I can give with my writing.

I plan to do more as I release more novels. I have three novels going through editing right now, and am writing my first horror story. The most exciting thing at this moment is the release of a music single this spring, which I specifically wrote the lyrics to accompany the summer release of a Rom-Com novel.

Honestly, there is always something exciting happening. There is always at least one novel being edited, I am always working toward expanding the bookish products on my website, and writing never stops.

As an indie author it is even better because I can write and publish what I am passionate about, and I don’t have to convince an editor or publisher to let me. So if I want all my main characters to be queer, they can be. And if I want to give the proceeds of a novel away, then I will. I pursue my passion without restrictions or fear.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The first is something I often say is one of the most useful things in my writing is my lack of education or knowledge about writing. I didn’t read my first novel until I was twenty-six because reading is something that was extremely hard for me. After that I started listening to audiobooks while working, but I only listened to classical literature because it was free on Librivox.org and I didn’t have money to buy books. I have never attended college or taken any creative writing class.

I list this as a good thing because it made me start writing with no outside influence on what writing should be. When I started writing, I just wrote down the story as I told it to myself in my head. It has led me to having a unique voice because I wasn’t trying to write like someone else, or trying to write in a way I was taught.

The second is I am naturally an empathetic person and good at seeing from the perspective of others. Not only does this allow me to write characters of all walks of life without prejudice, but I have expanded this to allow me to write an absolutely horrifying character and then understand why they are the way they are. Learning that everyone has a life story that explains them is the most important thing I have ever learned.

The third is I love knowing how things work, and I mean actual mechanical things. I like knowing the details of everything, and having facts right. A major pet peeve of mine is when an author gets a detail wrong that could have been searched in a matter of minutes.

When I wrote “We’re Not Queens, We’re Bitches,” I did hours of research about how to open and close graves because one character is a groundskeeper at a cemetery. But after this research, I included very little in the book because the important part isn’t including the details and facts, the important part is not including details and facts that are wrong.

The best way you can develop these in your own work is mostly mental practice. Don’t let yourself get too caught up in outside influence from other writers. Yes, read lots of other authors’ work, but then remember to write as yourself.

Empathy is also a trained skill. When you are watching a movie or a TV series and there is an awful, cruel antagonist, think deeply about their story, why are they like that? When you can find yourself relating to a character like this, you’re on the right path.

Getting details right isn’t hard, it is just admitting you don’t know everything and then doing the research. The fun part is, you end up knowing a little bit of so many things. You can really annoy friends and family with this.

Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?

The hardest challenge is getting my novels in front of readers. I don’t write the really popular genres like romance and fantasy, and queer main characters also make it harder. There are millions of books, so convincing someone to try mine isn’t an easy thing.

Marketing is a common issue for all authors, whether you are independent or through a publisher. It is not only hard but very expensive and time-consuming. But it is something I continue to learn more about and work on, and I know that one day I will break through, but until then I will continue writing.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Kim Winey Photography.
Golden Art Publishing

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