Author Interview: Darin Gibby, author of 'Chasing Hindy'

In addition to a thriving career as a novelist, author Darin Gibby is also one of the country’s premiere patent attorneys and a partner at the prestigious firm of Kilpatrick Townsend (www.kilpatricktownsend.com). With over twenty years of experience in obtaining patents on hundreds of inventions from the latest drug delivery systems to life-saving cardiac equipment, he has built IP portfolios for numerous Fortune 500 companies. In addition to securing patents, Gibby helps clients enforce and license their patents around the world, and he has monetized patents on a range of products.

Darin’s first book, Why Has America Stopped Inventing?, explored the critical issue of America’s broken patent system.  His second book, The Vintage Club, tells the story of a group of the world’s wealthiest men who are chasing a legend about a wine that can make you live forever. His third book, Gil, is about a high school coach who discovers that he can pitch with deadly speed and is given an offer to play with the Rockies during a player’s strike. Gil soon discovers, however, that his unexpected gift is the result of a rare disease, and continuing to pitch may hasten his own death.

With a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering and a Master of Business Administration degree, he is highly regarded in Denver’s legal and business community as a patent strategist, business manager, and community leader. He is also a sought-after speaker on IP issues at businesses, colleges and technology forums, where he demonstrates the value of patents using simple lessons from working on products such as Crocs shoes, Izzo golf straps and Trek bicycles.
An avid traveler and accomplished triathlete, Darin also enjoys back country fly-fishing trips and skiing in the Rocky Mountains. He lives in Denver with his wife, Robin, and their four children.

His latest book is the thriller, Chasing Hindy.

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ADDY’S DREAM AS a patent attorney is to help bring a ground breaking energy technology to the world. Addy’s hopes soar when she is wooed by Quinn, an entrepreneur, to join his company that has purportedly invented a car that can run on water using an innovative catalyst. After resigning her partnership to join Quinn, Addy discovers things aren’t as they seem. The patent office suppresses the company’s patent applications and her life is threatened by unknown assailants if she doesn’t resign.

When she is arrested for stealing US technology from the patent office she realizes Quinn has used her. Now, Addy must find a way to clear her name while salvaging her dream of propelling this technology to the world, all while powerful forces attempt to stop her.

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Thank you for this interview!  I’d like to know more about you as a person first.  What do you do when you’re not writing?

My day job is being a patent attorney. But when I’m not working or writing, I love to be outdoors. I’m from Colorado and I love skiing or hiking in the mountains during the summer. I also run triathlons and fret over my organic garden during the summer.

When did you start writing?

I started writing about 15 years ago.  I wrote several “practice books” before publishing my first book, Why Has America Stopped Inventing?  I’m now on my fourth book.

As a published author, what would you say was the most pivotal point of your writing life?

When I really learned what a “flat character” meant. Good writing is so much about character development and finding ways to make readers fall in love with a character was what really changed my writing.

If you could go anywhere in the world to start writing your next book, where would that be and why?

In a small cottage somewhere in rural England. Why? Because to write well, I need to be alone with my feelings and be away from all the distractions our modern world has to offer. If I could seclude myself for six months I could do a lot of good writing.

If you had 4 hours of extra time today, what would you do?

Helping my kids with their homework.

Where would you like to set a story that you haven’t done yet?

My next book is going to be set in New Jersey.

Back to your present book, Chasing Hindy, how did you publish it?

I published Chasing Hindy using Koehler Books.  They published my previous two books and we have a good working relationship.

In writing your book, did you travel anywhere for research?

Most of the action for the book happens in Sunnyvale, California.  I used to live there, so I didn’t need to travel there for the research. But, I do still go there several times a year for work.

Why was writing Chasing Hindy so important to you?

Chasing Hindy is a book that I started on more than a decade ago. I’ve rewritten the book at least five times. The reason why is because I could never find a main character that I liked. That all changed when I came up with Addy—a patent attorney with a dream to change the world. I decided on a female character (who was also a patent attorney) for several reasons. Perhaps the main reason was that female patent attorneys are in short supply and I wanted to encourage women to enter the profession. So I created Addy to hopefully show what a difference one person can make, and through her experience more women would want to become patent attorneys. What I love about Addy is her determination to make the world a better place, no matter the cost.

Where do you get your best ideas and why do you think that is?

Ideas for books come in the strangest ways. For me, they often just seem to fall out of the sky, usually at the most unexpected times. I’ve written books or articles from ideas that woke me up in the middle of the night, from thoughts that came to me while running triathlons, and while taking hikes deep in the Rocky Mountains. I’ve even had some ideas come while sitting on a ski lift during a freezing blizzard. I really don’t have an explanation for why ideas come this way.

The genesis behind Chasing Hindy came from a surprising source—a hypnotist. When I was in high school, we had an assembly where a hypnotist put a group of volunteers under hypnosis. One of the questions he asked them was what would be the fuel of the future. What fuel would people pump into their tank? Almost without exception they all said, “water!” The hypnotist then told the audience that every time he asked that question he received the same answer.

That was several decades ago, but I’ve always wondered whether that could possibly be true—and why all these people thought we’d all be driving cars that used water. In the following years, I realized that a car wouldn’t run on water per se, but from hydrogen that is extracted from water. The question, of course, is that if we know how to produce hydrogen, why aren’t there hydrogen cars? The answer is quite simple. As an engineer and patent attorney I know the science behind extracting hydrogen from water. The problem is that it takes more energy to do this than to just run a car on gasoline, or even electricity. But what if somebody invented a way to make it happen? That’s the germ of an idea that led to Chasing Hindy.

Any final words?

As Stephen King is fond of saying, as long as you can wake up and write, life is going to be okay.