Interview with Douglas Gardham, author of The Drive In
Title: The Drive In
Author: Douglas Gardham
Publisher: iUniverse
Pages: 130
Genre: Short Stories
Format: Kindle/Paperback
Have you ever been intrigued by what mysteries lie behind the doors and windows of the places you pass by on your drive into work everyday? The Drive In takes you on Tom Johnson‘s commute. Unlike Tom, you’ll get to peek behind some of those closed doors. Remember going to the “Drive-In” theatre? Each story reveals what goes on like watching the “dusk ‘til dawn” features through your car’s windshield. Meet the people at the places Tom only passes by each day. Then discover how his drive in ends like no other.
Question1- Can you
please tell us about your book and why you wrote it? The Drive In is a
collection of short stories with a twist. The short stories are about what
goes on behind the doors and windows of the places a person passes on their
drive into work. The reader gets to find out what goes on (as the driver can
really never know) but along the way you discover why this particular drive
in is unlike any other.
I’ve written short
stories since I started writing. Years ago while driving to work, I was
struck by the idea of the places I passed being a unique way to bring a
collection of short stories together. I forgot about it. When I suggested to
my publisher wanting to publish a couple of my short stories to help promote
my STARBook awarded novel The Actor, iUniverse suggested I put a number of my
short stories together in a collection. My “drive in to work” idea came back
and hence The Drive In came to fruition.
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Question2- What were
some of the biggest challenges you faced writing it? There were many
challenges but three in particular. Keeping it short as it’s a “drive in” not
a “road trip”. Picking out the right stories to include from the dozens I’d
written over the years. The connecting story of the man driving into work and
not making it a business story or a business book but a story of human
emotion that a man is going through at this juncture of his life. I was very
pleased with the final outcome.
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Question3- Do you plan
subsequent books? Yes. I’m working on the follow-up to my STARBook awarded
novel The Actor. I have another novel in the works and another collection of
short stories.
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Question4- When and
why did you begin writing? . I started writing in high school where I wrote
the music and lyrics for the original songs my band performed. It was around
the age of twenty-five when I took to writing with earnest going from poetry,
prose and freeform writing into short stories. I didn’t take on a novel until
my late twenties. I’ve written nearly every day since then.
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Question5- What is
your greatest strength as an author? I have a hard time with this so I’ll use
my wife’s response. She said I am able to capture the passion and emotion of
how people react to the situations they are confronted with that connects
with readers’ hearts.
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Question6- Did writing
this book teach you anything? A lot. The connecting story of The Drive In
with the protagonist driving to work became somewhat cathartic for me in switching
from my engineering and manufacturing world into this “writing” thing
full-time. Although happening in a rather short space of time, there was much
more going on in my head than I realized. Much of that made its way into the
story. I also learned to never give up on an idea. Ideas have a way of surfacing
at the right time provided you’re open and listening and choose to act on
them.
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Douglas Gardham is the author of the STARbook-awarded novel The Actor. He lives near Toronto, Canada with his wife, dog and cat. He loves books, music and movies. This is his second published novel.
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