Today, Canadian Kate Preston talks about how her first novel, A vintage Year, came about.  She  explores the life of a professional tennis player a few years after he retires.  She also reveals a lot about growing grapes and the wine industry.  I’ve read A Vintage Year and can tell you it is worth reading.  As one reviewer said, “The first chapter is worth the purchase price.”  Here’s how it all happened.

Awhile ago  I began thinking about what happens to professional athletes after retirement since so many of them retire in their 30s for physical reasons. Unless they become sports commentators , we never really hear about them again. I imagine it would be like the college football players only on steroids. All that success through their 20s, quite possibly the only thing they had lived and trained for until their retirement. When they’re playing whatever sport they were in, they’d be mobbed by their fans. Imagine going from that existence to almost anonymity the season following retirement.

To transition from being in the lime light, competing for trophies, receiving cheers from the crowd, having fans wanting their autograph, photograph, or just a piece of them, to becoming an unknown must be pretty difficult at first, even for the most emotionally mature. Their ego must take a beating….

Thinking about all these factors, I stared developing a character. He would be a tennis player because I play it and follow the sport, and he would have been groomed for tennis from an early age. He would have an overbearing parent. And, because he had an entourage looking after him and his needs for most of his life, he would be emotionally immature, leading to fits of temper, self-centeredness, and a lack of empathy. I know, he sounds like a charmer, but that’s the thing — he is quite the charmer, used to getting his own way with a wink and a smile. Maybe the naïve side of him didn’t quite accept that part of his charm lay with his fame and fat wallet, but as long as he was paying, he had a wide network of friends. Of course, he had to be empathetic deep down or the reader (or writer, for that matter) would never be able to bond with him.

I decided to start the story eight years after his retirement from tennis was because I wanted to see what he would do when he was at his own personal financial tipping point. The question was, would he be able to turn his life around or was he so spoiled and self-centered that he would dig himself into a deeper and deeper hole? I thought the best way test him was to give him a job that he would find unpleasant and unthinkable.

So, what could be worse for a man who has regular manicures and lives at five-star hotels than being, say, a farm hand?  Tasks include cleaning out animal stalls, tending grape vines, and taking orders from others, all while having to keep his mouth shut. Oh, I could feel for him, yes I could. I understood his resentment, his disbelief that he was in that situation at all. Every time I pick up a toilet brush, or mop the kitchen floor, the princess inside me screams “I’m too good for this!”

I like to hope that in real life most athletes eventually adjust to normal life after retirement, and I’m sure some even revel in it,  but I decided to explore what happens to one who refuses to accept defeat and realize that the glory days are over.

A Vintage Year, is an eBook available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and through other e-retailers.  Visit http:www.kateprestonbooks.com for updates or follow her on Twitter @kprestonbooks.