One bet, four girls, eight weeks, multiple dates. What could possibly go wrong?
Following his traumatic eight month dry spell, Dan Hilles is back in the driving seat and ready to put his dating disasters behind him.
But if only it were that simple.
After a drunken afternoon in the pub, fuelled by the confidence of alcohol, Dan makes a bet with his three best pals that will complicate his love-life more than ever when he brazenly declares that he could juggle multiple women all at the same time.
With just eight weeks to prove his point, Dan is about to find out how hard it is to date a flood of women without them all finding out about each other, especially when they come in the shape of an ex-girlfriend, a stalker, the office ice queen and the one that got away.
The Flood is the hilarious follow-up to The Drought by lad lit author Steven Scaffardi, chronicling the adventures of unlucky-in-love Dan Hilles
Title: The Flood
Author: Steven Scaffardi
Published By: Lad Lit Press
Date: Ebook: April 30th Paperback: May 19th 2016
Link: UK:
Amazon US:
Amazon
Hi Steven, welcome to Sincerely Book Angels
blog.
Thank you for having me, it’s great to be here!
First of all can you tell us what exactly LadLit is?
Lad lit is best known as the male equivalent of chick-lit, primarily written by men exploring relationships, emotions and day-to-day life experiences from the perspective of a male protagonist. Often told with humour, charm and wit, lad lit leaves many readers laughing out loud at the scenarios men get into.
What was the inspiration behind
this novel?
I think I fell in the love with the characters I’d created in the first
book (The Drought) so much that I didn’t want to leave them. It was like some sort
of bizarre literary separation anxiety! Part of me wanted to know what would
happen next, so I decided to write The Flood to find out. I didn’t set out to write a series, but I can see Sex, Love and Dating Disasters running
for another two or three books after this one, which is quite exciting.
Did you always want to be a
writer?
I always enjoyed writing stories, but I don’t think I ever really
considered it until I was about 23, but even then it took me nearly a decade to
actually write a book! Better late than never I guess.
What other jobs have you had?
When I was younger I worked on a building site, I was a barman, and a
white van man. Then I studied journalism at university and I was sports
reporter for a couple of years. After that I moved into sales for a publishing
house before moving on to events in the media and marketing sector, which I am
still doing to this very day. I get to work with some cool clients like
Facebook and Twitter, and I’ve been lucky enough to travel all over the world
because of my work, so lots of my writing now gets done on planes and in hotel
rooms.
How did it feel when your first
novel was published?
I love how eBooks have transformed the way people read, but nothing
quite beats seeing your book in print. I guess the best way to sum up how I felt
was proud. You put so much time and effort into writing a book that it’s a
great feeling to finally have all that hard work come to life in that
paperback.
Have you ever had writer's
block? If so how did you overcome it?
Oh yeah, it happens quite a lot. The way I deal with it is to walk away
from the laptop and try not to think about it too much. One technique I use is
to create a music playlist for the book I’m working on – like a movie
soundtrack. I normally go out jogging to clear my head and listen to the songs
and that helps me come up with new ideas. The problem is, the older I get, the
less I’m able to run so the ideas need to come pretty fast!
What motivates you to keep
writing?
It sounds a bit corny, but just the love of it really. I enjoy making
people laugh, and so far the first two books I’ve written seem to be doing just
that. About four years ago I did a bit of stand-up
comedy for a year, and it was such a buzz being able to make a room full of
people laugh at the stories I would tell them. I still get that same feeling
when I get a good review or a reader contacts me on social media to tell me something
crazy like they laughed so much that they spat tea out on the train! It makes
it all worth it.
Do your characters moods ever
affect your mood and vice versa?
No, not really, although some of the characters and themes are based on
my own experiences or stories I have been told by friends, so I feel very close
to these characters. Because I write comedy I guess I have to be in the right
mood to write it. There is no point trying to write something that you hope
will make people laugh if you’re feeling a bit down or angry about something. The
jokes probably wouldn’t be that funny!
What three pieces of advice
would you give to an aspiring writer?
2. Carry some form of notepad, whether it’s paper or an app on your
phone. The best ideas will always come at the most random of times, so you
should always be prepared to take notes.
3. Create a music playlist for your book, as I mentioned earlier.
Listening to your book soundtrack will help unlock those ideas floating around
in your head trying to get out.
Which authors inspire you?
Any author who can continuously come up with new and brilliant stories
over a sustained period of time inspires me. Whether it’s Stephen King drawing
us into an intense horror, or JK Rowling creating an amazing new world, or John
Grisham expertly guiding us around a courtroom drama; I am in awe of anyone who
can use their imagination to create something that captivates so many on
something as simple as written word on a piece of paper.
What are you reading at the
moment?
I’ve just finished reading an autobiography called Milk-Blood by Adrian
Simon. Adrian’s father was sentenced to 12 years in a Thai prison when he was
only a young boy for drug trafficking in what was a huge media story in
Australia when it happened. Adrian tells his story about how he coped with that
burden growing up, but what really made this such a good read was that Adrian and
his mother have led such incredible lives. Next on my reading list is This Thirtysomething Life by Jon Rance.
If your book was made into a
film what song would you choose for the opening credits?
Great question! You know how I love my soundtracks. I think Take Her Back by The Pigeon Detectives
would be a really good shout. It’s fun, up-tempo, and it’s about a guy hooking
up with a girl (or a series of different girls) so the theme works. Other than
that, The Flood by Take That would be
a good choice for two reasons: 1) The book is called The Flood and 2) I’m just a massive Take That fan!
Who would you choose to play
your favourite character in the film of your book?
This is getting freaky now! Two years ago I blogged about what actors
would play the lead roles if The Drought was
made into a film. For Dan Hilles (the lead character in both books) I opted for
an actor called Alex Carter who played a character called Lee Hunter in TV soap
Hollyoaks. Both Dan and Lee Hunter
have a lot of similarities so I thought it was a good match. You can read all
of the blog posts here.
What is your next book about?
It will be the third book in the Sex,
Love and Dating Disasters series and this time the boys all head off to
Latvia in search for a girl who dated Dan’s best friend Rob. The story itself
is a little bit different to the first two books, and in a way it is a bit of a
tribute to The Book With No Name from
the Bourbon Kid series of books,
which is one of my favourite books at the moment. There are some very weird and
whacky characters planned for this book including a Russian mafia don, two
karaoke loving corrupt cops who worship Wham, a pimp who is stuck in the 70s, a
couple of drag queens, a sleazy hotel boss and his strange wife, and a local
henchman called Ray the Local. I’m excited about this one.
And now think about the books
you've read and just give the first one that comes into your head for our quickfire
'Which book round.'
Which book has made you:
Laugh out loud?
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby.
Cry your heart out?
I’ve never read a book that made me cry; then again my wife doesn’t think
I have any tear ducts because I rarely cry at anything!
Want to read it again?
The Godfather by Mario Puzo.
Think more?
Milk-Blood by Adrian Simon.
Wish it would be made into a
film?
The Book With No Name (anonymous author).
Shocked?
In The Shadow of Papillon by Frank Kane.
Scared?
IT by Stephen King
Thanks for joining us today Steven and good luck with the book.
Sincerely
Book Angels x
