Taylor
asked
Jennifer Weiner:
"Who Do You Love" was one of my favorite reads this year! I'm a runner who frequently reads running websites (especially LetsRun), so I'm interested on how you did your research. Your descriptions of the professional running world seemed pretty spot on! Did you go to any meets or interview any pros?
Jennifer Weiner
Thanks for reading WHO DO YOU LOVE! I’m a runner, too – a very slow, proud back-of-the-pack runner – but I loved the idea of running as a metaphor. We run away from things that hurt us, we run toward the things we want, and, sometimes, we just run around in circles.
For research, I read a LOT of runners’ memoirs – Dean Karnazas and Mo Farah’s books were favorites – and novels about running specifically, and the lives of elite athletes in general (Lionel Shriver’s DOUBLE FAULT is about tennis, but it’s also about how people whose careers rise and fall on the strength and agility of their bodies have to live). I spent a lot of time on runners’ websites, I interviewed actual runners, and coaches – no Olympians, alas, but people who’d been track stars in college. In the end, I took everything I’d learned and I tried to put myself in Andy’s head, and in his body, and imagine what it felt like to be him.
For research, I read a LOT of runners’ memoirs – Dean Karnazas and Mo Farah’s books were favorites – and novels about running specifically, and the lives of elite athletes in general (Lionel Shriver’s DOUBLE FAULT is about tennis, but it’s also about how people whose careers rise and fall on the strength and agility of their bodies have to live). I spent a lot of time on runners’ websites, I interviewed actual runners, and coaches – no Olympians, alas, but people who’d been track stars in college. In the end, I took everything I’d learned and I tried to put myself in Andy’s head, and in his body, and imagine what it felt like to be him.
More Answered Questions
Jackie Matey
asked
Jennifer Weiner:
So I've been reading a lot about the planning, structuring, and outlining of novels lately, and, to be frank, I've been incredibly intimidated in my own writing since then. When it comes to your books, especially those with three or four main characters, what does your pre-writing process involve? Scrivener? Index cards? Outlines? Character bios? Ritual sacrifices to the writing gods?
A Goodreads user
asked
Jennifer Weiner:
Hi Jen! I have loved following you on Twitter for a few years now, and I just recently read your debut novel, GOOD IN BED. I'm wondering whether your process to get that story out was similar to Cannie's process of getting her screenplay into the right hands? Did you have your own Maxi Ryder?
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