The Chancer was the winner in the POPULAR FICTION category of the 2024 IndieReader Discovery Awards, where undiscovered talent meets people with the power to make a difference.
Following find an interview with author Fiona Graham.
I am thrilled that my debut novel, The Chancer, has won the category for Popular Fiction at Indiereader’s 2024 Discovery Awards. There is always an element of stepping into the unknown when creating a work of fiction – not knowing how audiences and critics will receive your work, so it is a fantastic endorsement for The Chancer to win this award. I’m humbled to have won the category against other great novels, and this will put a pep in my step for some time. Thank you!
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
The Chancer, published May 5th 2023.
What’s the book’s first line?
Donnie scanned the stage for somewhere inconspicuous to puke, but it was too late.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
Set in 1989 in Ireland and LA, The Chancer is an uplifting, comedic tale about making it or breaking it, in Hollywood.
Donnie McNamara, fed up with being the family disappointment, buys a one-way ticket to Tinseltown to pursue his ridiculed dreams of acting. Abe Nelson, a once legendary film star, now wallows in LA dive bars. Their worlds collide, and Abe becomes an unlikely mentor, wrangling Donnie through botched auditions, brushes with the law, family dysfunction, and broken romances. But will the journey to stardom end in red carpets or red faces?
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
I wrote and produced the feature film ‘Songs for Amy’, and when doing so, I saw that the actors’ challenges were similar to those of the writer. The actor has to endure rejections, flops, cancelled films and so on. I wanted to explore this but set it against the backdrop of rural 1980s Ireland, where dreams would be seen as frivolous and contrast that with the modern, indulgent culture of LA in the 1980s.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
The characters are fictional, but I always draw on real-life traits of people and mesh them into the character. The most distinctive thing about the main character is his tenacity and naive but endearing positivity.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
This is a feel-good book written to be uplifting and make you laugh. The world can always benefit from more laughter.
If they made your book into a movie, who would you like to see play the main character(s)?
For Donnie, Alex Murphy, from the Irish hit series and movie, The Young Offenders and for Abe, someone who started their career in the 1980s and is still a star today – a great choice would be Kiefer Sutherland.
When did you first decide to become an author?
My father set up a business from home in 1986 and he had a word processor which I used to try and write my first book at the age of 12. It was terrible, but I’ve always had a love for stories – books, films, chatting around a fire.
Is this the first you’ve written?
This is my first novel but I have written a number of screenplays, and wrote and produced the Irish feature film ‘Songs for Amy’.
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I’m mostly writing, but I also holiday-let a couple of cottages in the west of Ireland and I have a daughter, a husband and 3 dogs – that’s not work, but life also needs time.
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
It’s always my aim to write every day, but the reality is about 3-4 days a week for several hours at a time. Sometimes I write late into the night if I haven’t fallen asleep on the sofa or got side-tracked binge-watching a new TV show.
What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
The best part is being able to publish when you want to, and not have to spend months querying, also you have control over decisions such as covers, marketing etc. The hardest part is the amount of work independent publishing involves when you’d rather be working on the next book.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
It’s something I would consider. It would free up more time to write – although even traditionally published authors spend a lot of time promoting their work.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
Entertaining others and making them laugh or lift their day is what motivates me. The writer can remain fairly anonymous, even if their name is well-known and as for fortune – to live without financial concern and enjoy some holidays is about as far as money motivates me – after all, you can only wear one pair of shoes at a time.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
There are too many, but I love William Goldman, and some of my favourite authors include Roddy Doyle, Nick Hornby, Helen Fielding, Noah Hawley, Iain Banks, and Gail Honeyman. I just read a debut novel, 23, by NJ Miller and laughed at every page.
Which book do you wish you could have written?
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby or The Commitments by Roddy Doyle, and I also wish I’d written the screenplay for The Lost Boys, and probably the screenplay for Four Weddings and a Funeral as well. I’d be doing really well and super proud of myself if all of those creative works were mine!