An Interview with Author – Chaz Fenwick by Book Goodies
What inspires you to write?
CF: The inspiration to write Hooligans came from reading/studying a book in high school called “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton. The idea that the story featured two feuding subcultures, the greasers and socials, really appealed to me. At the age of 15, I became a fan of heavy metal music and embraced the metalhead subculture which is fairly similar to the greaser’s lifestyle. While my teen years weren’t as violent as the events in Hooligans, there were instances where us metalheads would go to parties and be targeted by other groups just because we didn’t look the norm. So, I wanted to take the whole subculture conflict idea and craft a more modernised story of my own that centred on teenagers of the heavy metal/ metalhead subculture.
Tell us about your writing process.
CF: The story itself has gone through many different variations over the years and was originally written as a screenplay. I had never intended to turn it into a manuscript, so learning how to write a fictional novel has been fun and challenging experience. Though I’m glad I was forced on to this path since it gave me a chance to give the story much more plot and character backstories. 2012 I began writing and it took me about two and a half years to complete the novel with the help and advice from Paul Vanderloos who edited the book.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
CF: When it comes to the characters of ‘Hooligans,’ I try to ‘be’ the character and get into their heads as best I can. Most of them are a mix of friends and acquaintances that I have met during my teenage years. A lot of the time I generally have a basic idea of where I would like the story to go but the characters eventually take over and move the story in another direction to what I had planned.
What advice would you give other writers?
Simple advice! Just write, write, write and read! Don’t be in it for the money.
How did you decide how to publish your books
CF: Due to past unfortunate experiences working with people where creative differences ruined the projects, I wanted full control of my own work. I did not want to answer to anyone so I chose the self-publishing route.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
CF: Self-publishing has definitely made things a lot easier for authors to get their work out into the world though it does have its challenges. Thousands of books are being published each day making discoverability much harder. The book publishing industry in general can’t be doing too well if bookstores all over the world are going bankrupt and closing their doors. From what I’ve read and researched, it seems to be in a state of turmoil.
CF: The inspiration to write Hooligans came from reading/studying a book in high school called “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton. The idea that the story featured two feuding subcultures, the greasers and socials, really appealed to me. At the age of 15, I became a fan of heavy metal music and embraced the metalhead subculture which is fairly similar to the greaser’s lifestyle. While my teen years weren’t as violent as the events in Hooligans, there were instances where us metalheads would go to parties and be targeted by other groups just because we didn’t look the norm. So, I wanted to take the whole subculture conflict idea and craft a more modernised story of my own that centred on teenagers of the heavy metal/ metalhead subculture.
Tell us about your writing process.
CF: The story itself has gone through many different variations over the years and was originally written as a screenplay. I had never intended to turn it into a manuscript, so learning how to write a fictional novel has been fun and challenging experience. Though I’m glad I was forced on to this path since it gave me a chance to give the story much more plot and character backstories. 2012 I began writing and it took me about two and a half years to complete the novel with the help and advice from Paul Vanderloos who edited the book.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
CF: When it comes to the characters of ‘Hooligans,’ I try to ‘be’ the character and get into their heads as best I can. Most of them are a mix of friends and acquaintances that I have met during my teenage years. A lot of the time I generally have a basic idea of where I would like the story to go but the characters eventually take over and move the story in another direction to what I had planned.
What advice would you give other writers?
Simple advice! Just write, write, write and read! Don’t be in it for the money.
How did you decide how to publish your books
CF: Due to past unfortunate experiences working with people where creative differences ruined the projects, I wanted full control of my own work. I did not want to answer to anyone so I chose the self-publishing route.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
CF: Self-publishing has definitely made things a lot easier for authors to get their work out into the world though it does have its challenges. Thousands of books are being published each day making discoverability much harder. The book publishing industry in general can’t be doing too well if bookstores all over the world are going bankrupt and closing their doors. From what I’ve read and researched, it seems to be in a state of turmoil.
No comments have been added yet.
