Ask the Author: Nadine Monaco
Answered Questions (7)
Nadine Monaco
My next book is FAIR PLAY. It's the story of a basketball player who left the pros after a knee injury and steroids scandal, and Jannine O'Connor, the PR expert who is tasked with helping him get back on top.
Nadine Monaco
I play with characters, scenes, dialogue in my head. When it feels like "something" I know I'm ready to give it a go.
Nadine Monaco
Make time if it's what you want to do--and keep at it.
Nadine Monaco
While I loved being a corporate writer, it's much more fun writing about characters in my head. No matter what I'm writing, I'm thrilled when people say they loved my article/blog post/book. Nothing is better!
Nadine Monaco
Embarrassing to admit, but it's chocolate. Then, I force myself to quit surfing the web (and other distracting things) and get back to my story. Usually if I give it 20 minutes or so, I'm back in the zone.
Nadine Monaco
A book tentatively titled FAIR PLAY. FAIR PLAY is the story of PR pro Jannine O’Connor and former basketball superstar Jack Montgomery. In the past, Jannine and Jack worked together and had a romantic relationship until it’s revealed that Jack is using steroids. Feeling hurt and betrayed Jannine ended their relationship. Three years later, Jack is attempting a comeback and Jannine is running the publicity campaign to win back the hearts and minds of fans.
Nadine Monaco
I’m sure there are a million things that can inspire an author to write a particular story. Here’s how BLUE ANGEL was born:
I started writing my first draft more than three decades ago. I was newly married to a wonderful man who was an officer on a nuclear submarine, the USS Haddock, stationed in San Diego. I was incredibly impressed with his sense of honor and duty. He loved being out to sea, and he loved helping to protect our nation.
When we were married only a year, he was deployed on a West-Pac (Western Pacific) sea tour. He was gone for six months straight (with brief stops at ports in the Pacific.) Our only communication was through family grams (50 word “telegrams” that could be sent to my husband while his boat was submerged.) Each wife received six family grams during the six-month deployment.
Since I was alone in San Diego, I decided to try my hand at writing a novel. In the local media I’d heard a new romance writer’s group, the Romance Writers of America, was hosting its first convention in town. I was curious. While I didn’t attend that convention, I did sit down at the typewriter and start typing.
My first hero was a submarine officer who had lots of dinner dates with the heroine, a nurse. It didn’t take a professional editor to tell me it wasn’t working, so I started again. This time, I decided my hero would be a Navy pilot who had lost his best friend to a flying accident. Understandably, he develops anxiety about being in the cockpit. That plot twist comes directly from my experience flying.
When I was a 21 year old college student in Boston, I was returning to school after winter break and my plane (a DC-10) overshot the run at snowy Logan Airport and landed in the Boston Harbor. It was a terrifying experience. I was sitting toward the front of the plane, and I watched in horror as the nose of the plane separated from the body and descended into the icy water. Two men, a middle-aged man and his elderly father, had been sitting in the from row and they were never found. I had to walk on the wing, wade through hip-deep water and climb up an icy incline to get back to safety. (It wasn’t easy as I’d been wearing Candies shoes at the time.) While I was unharmed, I never got over the experience. I do fly today, but I never relax and enjoy it.
So, it seemed fitting to me to create a scenario where a fear of flying (and getting over a fear of flying) played a key role in my story. Also, most of BLUE ANGEL takes place in San Diego where I lived during my husband’s Navy sea tour. I loved the city–truly the most fabulous weather in the world–and hope that comes out in my book.
I hope you enjoy BLUE ANGEL.
I started writing my first draft more than three decades ago. I was newly married to a wonderful man who was an officer on a nuclear submarine, the USS Haddock, stationed in San Diego. I was incredibly impressed with his sense of honor and duty. He loved being out to sea, and he loved helping to protect our nation.
When we were married only a year, he was deployed on a West-Pac (Western Pacific) sea tour. He was gone for six months straight (with brief stops at ports in the Pacific.) Our only communication was through family grams (50 word “telegrams” that could be sent to my husband while his boat was submerged.) Each wife received six family grams during the six-month deployment.
Since I was alone in San Diego, I decided to try my hand at writing a novel. In the local media I’d heard a new romance writer’s group, the Romance Writers of America, was hosting its first convention in town. I was curious. While I didn’t attend that convention, I did sit down at the typewriter and start typing.
My first hero was a submarine officer who had lots of dinner dates with the heroine, a nurse. It didn’t take a professional editor to tell me it wasn’t working, so I started again. This time, I decided my hero would be a Navy pilot who had lost his best friend to a flying accident. Understandably, he develops anxiety about being in the cockpit. That plot twist comes directly from my experience flying.
When I was a 21 year old college student in Boston, I was returning to school after winter break and my plane (a DC-10) overshot the run at snowy Logan Airport and landed in the Boston Harbor. It was a terrifying experience. I was sitting toward the front of the plane, and I watched in horror as the nose of the plane separated from the body and descended into the icy water. Two men, a middle-aged man and his elderly father, had been sitting in the from row and they were never found. I had to walk on the wing, wade through hip-deep water and climb up an icy incline to get back to safety. (It wasn’t easy as I’d been wearing Candies shoes at the time.) While I was unharmed, I never got over the experience. I do fly today, but I never relax and enjoy it.
So, it seemed fitting to me to create a scenario where a fear of flying (and getting over a fear of flying) played a key role in my story. Also, most of BLUE ANGEL takes place in San Diego where I lived during my husband’s Navy sea tour. I loved the city–truly the most fabulous weather in the world–and hope that comes out in my book.
I hope you enjoy BLUE ANGEL.
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