Research, Olympic Style

One of the cool things about writing a novel is doing the research. I like researching. I've learned a lot and have met some interesting people. In fact, sometimes research can end up being life altering! Like, what if after researching Uncharted, Story for a Shipwright, I learned how to build a boat and then changed my vocation to shipwright! 

Well, that didn’t happen, but in the course of my gadding about the internet, I became acquainted with an author whose research led her to the Olympics, and I don’t mean as a spectator. I met Carol Newman Cronin over two years ago when I submitted a few lines of Uncharted—then known as Story for a Shipwright—on MissSnark’s First Victim. Carol left a kind and helpful comment so I followed her over to one of her Websites (she has several) which featured a nautical theme (what’s not to love!) and from there, I found her middle grade novels, Oliver's Surprise and Cape Cod Surprise.

Maaike Bernstrom Photography

From time to time, I would lurk, checking in to she what she was up to. Last year, I found that Carol had completed an adult novel, Game of Sails, anOlympic Love Story. The logline intrigued me: The story is about two opposites who team up for the sole purpose of making it to the Olympics—and then try hard not to fall in love. I then read an excerpt and knew I had to finish the story.

I snooped around her Website a little more and found out that as part of her research for Game of Sails, Carol helped on the race committee for the 1996 Olympic Trials. That's impressive enough—I mean, talk about getting into your research!—but soon thereafter, she won the next Trials she attended. 

Then, in 2000 she decided to put together her own Olympic campaign. Of course, she would have to put her writing on hold for four years, but after she returned from the 2004 Games in Athens, she had collected all the research she needed and finally completed Game of Sails! Imagine that! “Research” that would land you in the Olympics!

I read Game of Sails and loved it, not only the story, but her apt writing. I don’t normally post reviews on Amazon (or here, for that matter—a blog post for another time), but I enjoyed it so much, I just had to. My review is here. You don't need to know the difference between a tack and a jibe to feel the tension she creates in a sailboat, to experience the elation of victory and shed tears of defeat.

So, how’s that for the practical application of research!

—In addition to writing novels and sailing, Carol also writes articles for assorted boating magazines.