Jennifer asked Loree Lough:

Hi Loree, What has been the oddest place that has sparked an idea for a book?

Loree Lough Good question, Jennifer! I'd have to say while chowing down on baby back ribs at T-Bonz in Ellicott City, one of our favorites. The restaurant specializes in sports of all sorts, so there are TVs all over the place. Usually, the sound is turned down, but one night while the evening news was broadcasting, a like-minded viewer asked the waitress to turn it up...and the highlighted story sparked the idea for my Turning Points series (Harlequin's Love Inspired line).

The basics: Several teen boys, looking to 'pull' an original prank on Halloween night, made a dummy dressed in boots, jeans, plaid shirt, and battered Fedora on its pumpkin head, and proceeded to toss it onto the railroad tracks...in front of a moving freight train! The engineer, thinking the dummy was a vagrant, did his best to stop, but couldn't. A huge search ensued, and Baltimore County made use of every available tactic: dogs, helicopters with spotlights, teams on foot.

Well, my mind began to wander long before the announcer cited what it cost the county to conduct that search: How did the incident impact those boys? Did they feel guilty? Sorry? Or was the thrill responsible for similar pranks?

I answered those questions in novels that open with a chapter, told from the point of view of one boy--what they contributed to the creation of the dummy, etc.--and ends with him hearing about his massive search, then picks up again 15 years later. In my version of the 'what happened next' story, the engineer had a heart attack after the dummy was "killed," and died despite the valiant efforts of EMTs and ER staff.

Guilt inspired the first boy to become a cardiac surgeon. The second becomes a decorated paramedic. The third an ER doctor.

The baby back ribs got cold as I jotted potential story ideas, and I didn't mind one bit! :-)

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