Interview with Douglas Gardham, author of The Actor

Title: The Actor
Author: Douglas Gardham
Publisher: iUniverse
Pages: 352
Genre: Fiction
Format: Ebook
 Purchase at AMAZON

 It is 1991 when Ethan Jones finally wins the role of his dreams in an upcoming, big screen movie. With the envelope holding the script clutched in his hand, he arrives at his California apartment where he can hardly wait to tell his girlfriend the exciting news. But when he finds the door unexpectedly ajar, he has no idea that in just a few seconds, the life he has fought so hard to obtain will be shattered. Eight years earlier, Ethan is attending university in Ottawa, Canada. One evening after seriously contemplating suicide, he finds his way into a club where he meets Mila Monahan, a beautiful acting student who saves him from himself. After he watches Mila rehearse a university play, Ethan catches the acting bug and decides to pursue his own creative passions, causing a collision with his more secure ideals. But when Mila suddenly disappears, Ethan vows he will never stop chasing the dream she inspired in him, believing in a world entirely different from the one he is living in. The Actor is a gripping tale of a young man’s unforgettable journey of self-discovery in overcoming the trauma of a personal tragedy. It is a story of love, hardship, persistence and overwhelming joy where The Actor learns he can portray anything he can imagine.

    


Can you tell us why you wrote your book? 

Initially, I wrote The Actor after seeing the movie Titanic when it first came out. I became fascinated by what someone would go through—the ups and downs—of getting up from what they were doing and chasing a dream. I could not find a publisher at the time. It sat on the shelf for a number of years. I pulled it out every once in a while and re-wrote parts but it was really three years ago, when we were taking our daughter to the west coast to go to school that I realized after having written for most of my adult life, I didn’t have a keepsake for my family. That’s what pushed me to go after rewriting and publishing it again.

Which part of the book was hardest to write? 

The end. I wanted the story to be more than it was at the time. The main character continued to tell me his story was the same one everyone knew but it really wasn’t his story. I had to discover what that was. After letting the story simmer for some time, the end came out and all but wrote itself.

Does your book have an underlying message that readers should know? 

The Actor is the story of a young man’s journey of self-discovery in overcoming the trauma of a personal tragedy in his life that he does by chasing a dream—a dream that not quite what it seems. Being well is more important that almost anything else in life.

Do you remember when the writing bug hit?

When I was about 25 years old.

Besides books, do you write anything else? 

I write prose and poetry, short stories and music.

Douglas Gardham is a writer who loves music, movies, and books. He lives near Toronto, Canada, with his wife and dog. This is his first published novel.