Kathleen Eagle’s Love Affair With Basketball
By Kathleen Eagle
Mamas might not want their babies growing up to be cowboys, but writers don’t mind at all when the hero in their work-in-progress does just that. Readers have been snapping those guys up since Owen Wister’s Virginian warned, “When you call me that, smile!” But for years editors have admonished against musicians, artists, dancers, and–unless he rides something that bucks–sports heroes. I played by the rules for years. Write what you love, they say. Write what you know. I know cowboys, Indians, Indian cowboys, soldiers, the county sheriff, the struggling rancher, the dedicated teacher–I write hard-working heroes inspired by people I know.
But I’m pretty sure I was born a basketball fan. Growing up in Massachusetts in the ’60’s, I rarely missed a high school game. Those were the days. And who remembers the Celtics back then? Couldn’t be beat. Remember Julius “Dr. J” Erving at UMass? Glory days.
My father, circa 1940, Colonial Beach, VA. Within 2 years he would be training and then parachuting and fighting in Europe.
And then there was the time I asked my mother what made her fall in love with Daddy, and she said, “He was such a good basketball player.” What? And I thought he was all about golf. But Mama had the picture to prove it. So when I became a high school teacher on a Lakota Sioux reservation in the Dakotas, where basketball is the sport, I was there for every game.
This is my son, David’s favorite picture of his Mom.
Years and many published books later, I had an idea for a wounded hero–one who had to retire at the top of his game–and I knew what game it would be. I do believe in writing what I know, and I don’t know any NBA players. (I met Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at a book event and the late great Coach Flip Saunders at a Blockbuster store, both very briefly.) But I’m in the business if making people up. I decided to roll up some of the special basketball players close to my heart into one of my favorite characters–Reese Blue Sky–for What the Heart Knows. I sold my editor on the idea with a “secret baby” plot–one of the most popular conventions in the romance genre. But this book is bigger than that. Lots of family angst, secrets and lies, return of the native, casino gambling, murder, restoration and renewal. And there’s a love of basketball.
I was already a Minnesota Timberwolves fan when I started writing the book, but I became a close follower. I went to a few games, but mostly I watched at home. If I can’t do what a character does–generally I can’t–I have to find other ways to get inside that made-up head and pack it full of the stuff that life is made of. I dedicated the book to my father, Sid Pierson, and to Robert Eaglestaff one of my first high school students, both of whom died from heart problems, both of whom played basketball with a passion.
I still look forward to basketball season, and I watch my team, win, lose, or rebuild. I cheered our first #1 draft pick, celebrated Kevin Garnett’s homecoming, mourned the sudden death of Coach Saunders—like Robert and Daddy, much too young. Real life, real loss, real heartache. That’s where good fiction comes from.
But by definition Romance is uplifting. It’s about the “better angels of our nature.” The writer builds characters from human strength as well as flaws and vulnerability. Coaches build players the same way. Writers build communities the way coaches build teams. Start with a dream and weave the necessary elements into a story. There’s an arc to every game, every season, every era.
Make no mistake, What the Heart Knows is not about basketball. It’s about people’s lives. My interest in watching a team or reading a novel wanes when I can’t identify with the players or the characters. Like the kid getting his big chance, being mentored by the veteran nearing the end of his career. Or the woman burdened with baggage full of secrets and unrequited love and the man discovering the child he never knew he had. It’s an emotional roller coaster. It’s a story. And I’m sticking to it.
What the Heart Knows is on sale at all major e-format retailers from the 16th through the end of September.
Find it on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Google, and Apple
Excerpt available here.
