Please help me welcome Stephanie Queen to my blog. Be sure and leave her lots of comments to be entered into the drawing for the copy of her book.
I’m thrilled to be guest blogging with Cynthia Woolf! In honor of the occasion, the least I can do is give away a book. One lucky commenter will win a copy of my romantic comedy mystery The Throwbacks.
One of my favorite things about writing novels is doing the research. My latest novel, Playing the Game, is about a superstar basketball player who gets taken down a peg by a woman in the habit of taking men down a peg. She’s been accused of murder because of her habit. But I digress, let me tell you about how I did my research.
Long, long ago, back in the Larry Bird and Michael Jordan era of NBA basketball, I was a fan and I thought about how single-minded an athlete had to be to achieve world championship status. So I did some research that would later go into my recently released novel Playing the Game.
Research you say? What need I do besides go to a few basketball games, read a few books and follow the sports page? Oh no, I did so much more. Let me tell you about what I had the nerve to do for research.
I was nervous about making the call–I wasn’t sure how they’d respond to a romance writer. But I figured what the heck. So I called the Boston Celtics PR office and told them I was writing a book.
They did the following for me: gave me a tour of the garden including the locker rooms and all the behind the scenes facilities (no big deal you say—you’ve seen it all on TV); next, they invited me to attend a practice, but not just to watch—I had access to all the players and coach for interviews, which I took advantage of (well, that’s something…); AND finally, they gave me a media pass to attend a game which meant I entered through the secret back door, sat at a courtside table, hung out in the media room at half time with all the sports guys and gals and after the game I hung out by the locker rooms for post-game interviews. Talk about soaking up atmosphere. The one thing they did NOT let me do: go inside the team locker room after the game. Working media with deadlines only were allowed inside. Shucks.
Anyway, that’s my fabulous research adventure for Playing the Game. And it all began with a bold telephone call. What would you dare to do in the name of research?
Playing the Game buy link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007BUD1VC
Author Bio
Stephanie Queen is a romantic at heart, a writer by nature, and has the soul of a cheerleader. She enjoys creating stories where her rose-colored world-view comes to life and the good guys always win. Spending most of her life in New England, she’s attended many of the area colleges, including Harvard, and even earned a couple of degrees along the way. Although she lost count of all the jobs she’s had before she settled on being a Novelist, her favorite was selling cookies as a Keebler Elf.
Other novels by Stephanie Queen include two romantic suspenses, The Throwbacks and Between a Rock and a Mad Woman. Both are available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Visit the author at www.StephanieQueen.com, or Stephanie Queen on Facebook and follow her @StephanieQueen on Twitter.
Links:
THE THROWBACKS
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0067DDUTW
PLAYING THE GAME
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007BUD1VC
BETWEEN A ROCK AND A MAD WOMAN
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005M23KQW
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephanie-Queen/198484900209330
I love doing the research too. My latest research had me getting a book about how pirates talked back in the golden days of pirates! :0)
Live pirate research would be tough to pull off these days–unless you count the ride at Disneyland…
For one of my historical westerns, I took horseback riding lessons as the hero in the story teaches the heroine to ride. That way I know how long it would/could take for the plot.
Oooh–sounds like fun! I love horseback riding and I haven’t been in years. I might be seeing a western novel in my future…
Thanks for the inspiration!
What an awesome store, Stephanie! I’ve never done anything quite that bold! But I did do a ride along with a local police constable (now a sergeant) and I had a forensic anthropologist come and speak to our local writers’ group. She had slides. Of real stuff!
Oh, I’d love to do a ride along with the POLICE! That sounds downright exciting!
I haven’t done anything odd for research. I’ve had live intervene and it became research, like it or not. But there are times when I decide DH needs to do some research. He he he.
Your lucky DH!
Will you need to issue him a W-9?
Selling cookies as a Keebler Elf sounds like a cool gig!