Tawna Fenske reveals 5 weird things she researched for her new romantic comedy, THE HANG UP
Do you ever glance at the windows open in your internet browser and realize
youβd have a lot of explaining to do if someone walked up behind you?
Thatβs an everyday thing for me as an author of offbeat romantic comedy. People
see βromance authorβ in my title and assume any research I might do would
involve fur-lined handcuffs or creative uses for butterscotch syrup.
But for my newest romantic comedy, THE HANG UP, there were
several unique bits of research required for me to tell the tale of a devout
city girl and talented PR pro who hooks up with a sexy mountain man turned CEO.
Here are five things that made my research list when I wrote THE HANG UP.
Spelunking
Contrary to what my city girl heroine believes, spelunking is not a sex act.
Itβs a fancy word for exploring caves, and itβs kind of a hobby of mine.
In real life, Iβve been lucky enough to explore caves as far away as Slovenia,
Mexico, and Greece, but my favorites are the lava tubes in Central Oregon where
I live. I wanted to set a scene in THE HANG UP in one called
Arnold Ice Cave, but needed the nitty-gritty of the caveβs layout. I hired a
local naturalist to guide me (along with my husband and step-kids) through the
cave and answer questions about everything from rock formations to
triboluminescence (no, thatβs not dirtyβthatβs what makes Wintergreen Lifesavers
spark in the dark).
Incidentally, that particular cave tour did not end in a steamy makeout
session the way it does in the book.
Table manners and professional dining etiquette
Professional etiquette is one area where my mountain man hero lacks polish,
which is unfortunate since thereβs some wining and dining required for his new
CEO gig. Luckily, PR expert Miriam knows a thing or two about it. Unluckily, I
didnβt.
Donβt get me wrong, I know not to talk with my mouth full or belch at the dinner
table. But for the rules on utensil placement and the right way to spell
charcuterie, I had to turn to the internet.
When it came to writing the sex scene that takes place on the dining room table,
a different sort of research was required . . .
Hiccup cures
Hiccups factor prominently into the lead-up for the bookβs first sex scene.
Incidentally, you probably wonβt hear that phrase from anyone besides a rom-com
author.
For this scene, I scoured my memory from almost 20 years ago when I was a
budding young journalist interviewing a doctor for an article on hiccup cures.
After that, I turned to the internet.
In case youβre wondering, some of the more creative cures mentioned in the scene
(rectal massage, anyone?) came from the internet.
Sex toys
I think this oneβs pretty self-explanatory (or at least it will be when you read
the scene). While I already knew how I wanted to incorporate some (ahem) devices
into a scene, I wanted to make sure I chose names for my products that werenβt
already in use.
Suffice it to say, this was not an internet search I performed while my
step-kids were in the room.
Canoe paddling techniques
Iβve paddled many a canoe in my day, but when it came time for Jason to teach
Miriam proper paddling techniques, I realized I needed to bone up on my terminology.
Letβs all take a moment to appreciate that I used the words βpaddlingβ and βbone
upβ in a sentence with absolutely no sexual connotation at all.
Tawna lives in Bend,
Oregon with her husband, step-kids, and a menagerie of ill-behaved pets. She
loves hiking, snowshoeing, standup paddleboarding, and inventing excuses to sip
wine on her back porch. She can peel a banana with her toes and loses an average
of twenty pairs of eyeglasses per year.
PR specialist Miriam Ashley makes her living cleaning up bad boys. Mountain
climber-turned-CEO Jason Sanders should be an easy fix. And with a nephew to
care for, heβs motivated. The problem? Every time she tries to help Jason get
his head in the boardroom, they end up in the bedroom.
What the hell is she thinking? Heβs the definition of off-limits. Not just
because heβs a clientβhe spends his free time risking his life mountain
climbing. The same thing that got her father killed. Sheβs not going to open her
heart to a guy who could disappear at the drop of aβ¦well, sheβd rather not
finish that thought.
She needs to leave complicated alone, but every time she sees Jason,
something tells her itβs her who might fallβ¦
Romance Contemporary
[Entangled Lovestruck, On Sale: June 13, 2016,
Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781633756434 / eISBN: 9781633756434]
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