‘if YOU REALLY BELIEVE in A STORY you just have to write it’
Author Tessa Bailey on her love of Ireland and her new book… By
Bestselling author Tessa Bailey has told how there are“so many” locations she wants to set a book in one day — including returning to Ireland. Her latest book, Fangirl Down, hits shelves later this week and follows Wells Whitaker, a golfer who was once at the“top of his game and the number one in the world”— but is now at the point where he“wants to quit”.
However, he’s got one fangirl, Josephine, who continues to show up — and he doesn’t want to disappoin t her, so he keeps playing.
Until he quits in a blaze of glory, and she goes home.
But when a disaster strikes a few weeks later, Wells sets out to make amends — and asks her to be his new caddy, help him turn his game around and they’ll split the prize money.
And while Tessa told Chic how it was “really an unexpected book”, it’s also “probably my favourite book that I’ve written”— and opened up about the decision to centre the story on golf.
She said,“i had this story in my head that was inspired by watching golf and getting invested in some of the players and their backstories with their spouses.
“And this idea came out of nowhere, and it just happened to be a golf idea.
“I loved this sort of plot where the number one fan becomes his love interest, you know, because I don’t know — I just haven’t seen a lot of that. I’ve seen a lot of women who are the one that refuses to be enamoured by the star athlete — that seems to be the plot a lot.
“I wanted it to be the opposite, where she’s got this big affinity for him, she believes in him, she thinks he’s still great — and it ultimately causes him to believe the same thing about himself.
“That was just really satisfying to me. “And I was like,‘this is a big gamble’. My publisher was like,‘i don’t think people are gonna want to read a golf book’. And I was like, ‘well, that’s the story. That’s the story in my head, and I have to write it and just hope that people read it and love it as much as I do’.
“If you really believe in a story, you just have to write it.”
Tessa added that one of her favourite scenes in the book — and the“most fulfilling scene for me”— takes place when Wells and Josephine are in the middle of a tournament and“he’s ready to throw it all away because he’s frustrated; he wants to quit again.”
She continued,“and she’s just like, ‘well, you know what, you’re quitting on yourself so I’m out of here, too’.
“She storms off and she gets run over by a golf cart.
“Obviously, he panics, he goes over and picks her up and is looking for a place to set her down.
“I don’t want to give away the end of that scene, but what happens is sort of like a turning point for them.
“He realises she’s in it with him 100%, and she’s on his side and it just gives him his confidence back.”
Wells and Josephine’s story is the beginning of the Big Shots series, with the second — The Au Pair Affair — set to be released later this year.
And Tessa told how while it currently says“duology everywhere”, there’s “potential”for the series to continue — and the third book has already been written.
She said,“what happened was in the Au Pair Affair, the secondary characters showed up and I was like,‘oh my gosh, these are so rich — I have to write their story’.
“I emailed my editor and I was like,‘i think there’s going to be more books in the series’.
“And then more and more characters — it was this hockey team that you meet in the second book, there are so many funny characters that are interesting. And I was like,‘i think I’m going to have to write a freaking hockey series’.
“I never expected it, but here we are. “I already have the fourth and fifth book plotted in my head.
“I don’t know where it’s going to end, I just hope my publisher allows me to keep playing in the sandbox.”
Tessa told how becoming an author was something she dreamed about — but it“just always kind of seemed like something that was really far outside of my reach”.
She said,“it was something that, like, Ivy League college graduates did. It’s not something that any normal person can do. That was kind of my mindset.
“I had tried to write a couple of manuscripts and actually ended up finishing them — like, not happy with them, but did finish them. And then I kind of let it go for a while.
“This is going on, like 12 years ago. And then I had my daughter.
“That’s when I was like, ‘Alright, I need to figure out something to do with myself. Like, I want her to be proud of me one day, I want to have something to show her; I need to support her’.
“I decided to give it another try. And I still didn’t think I’d have any success at it.
“It really comes down to the only thing I’ve ever loved is romance novels, and the only thing I have ever been semi good at is writing. I decided to combine the two and give it a shot.
“I’m kind of surprised to be here at this point — I’m surprised to still be doing it.”
Tessa told how there’s one book she wrote“a long time ago”that continues to be“one of my favourites until this day”.
She said,“i have one book that I wrote a long time ago that I set in Ireland. It’s called Unfixable.
“It was like — I think it was like my third or fourth book, so it’s really old.
It’s set in Dublin, and it’s one of my favourites until this day.
“I have to do more. It’s been a long time — and it’d give me the perfect excuse to go over and do some research.”
The author added that while she’s currently writing a few Boston-set books, there are several other places she would like to set a book in one day.
She continued,“i spent some time in Galway last year and I really just adored it — I’d love to do an American abroad kind of thing.
“And I love Edinburgh. I would love to set a book in Edinburgh. And Canada as well — Canada has such nice people that it would feel it would be ripe for a comedy.
“They’re so nice, they’re almost over the top nice, and I think that could be really interesting.”
I never expected IT BUT here we Are...”