After five years of work, FOX Sports host Kaitlyn Vincie has achieved a career goal. She has released her debut novel, “Save the Queen City,” and provided a fresh look at the life of a reporter.
Vincie’s novel, which is available on Amazon, follows two main characters. One is a detective who is investigating a serial killer that preys on women in Charlotte, N.C. The other is a reporter who is determined to help solve this case while also navigating the intense world of TV news.
“I just had the story idea come to me one day that was kind of founded in the sense of my journalism degree and print journalists’ work because the protagonist is a news reporter,” Vincie told Heavy after the novel’s release.
“So from all of my years that I’ve been working in TV, that was how I was able to kind of come up with different things about her character, pulling from my own experiences in a way of what it’s like working in journalism. So that was kind of how it began.”
From my very first fiction writing class, I knew I wanted to write a book. It took me 5 years, but it’s finally here: my debut novel available on @AmazonPub!
Thx you to editors, copy readers, beta readers, cover designer & countless others for their dedication to this project!
Vincie does not hunt down serial killers; she focuses on telling significantly different stories, those in the world of NASCAR. However, she is able to use her own background as a reporter to help everyday people truly understand the ins and outs of working in TV news, down to the location of the cameras.
This authentic knowledge base takes center stage as Vincie highlights the rules that reporters must follow and the struggles that they must face while covering these stories.
“That’s a great point because she’s interviewing some of the victims, of course, their families, and their parents, and trying to shed light on who these girls are that are going missing in the city of Charlotte,” Vincie said. “And there is a certain protocol that you go through when you’re handling delicate subject matter as a journalist.
“Same goes even for sports. Obviously, it’s a completely different type of journalism, but there were my own experiences definitely kind of worked in and weaved into the story from things I had observed myself from working in this field.
“And one of the biggest things, I think, with this story was just how consuming it became for her, which I think does happen a lot of times with journalists who are covering this type of thing,” Vincie added. “It weighs pretty heavily on them because they’re so close to the story at this point, and they get close with the family members. The whole news team is kind of going through this together.”
Vincie’s Own Research Led Her Down This Story Route
FOX SportsKaitlyn Vincie (right) balanced her writing with a packed schedule.
How does one select a subject for a novel? There is an unending supply of inspiration depending on where each author looks. For Vincie, there were multiple factors that influenced her decision.
The first was her background. She has always been an avid reader, especially when it comes to suspense, but there wasn’t a focus on a newsroom-type setting in many books. Vincie was able to fill this gap by drawing on her own life as inspiration. Another factor was her time in college. Vincie studied serial killer investigations and spent time examining the role of journalists.
“So the other part of this story, because it’s twofold, is it’s certainly a serial killer investigation,” Vincie said. “I know this may sound strange, but I’ve always been kind of interested in those types of stories. I did a couple of different, larger-scale projects on serial killer investigations while I was in college.
“I was very interested in crime in media. I took a Crime and Media course while I was in college. I’m sure you can agree that those types of stories, whether they’re fictional or based on actual past serial killer investigations, are very popular.”
Vincie had a background working in television and an interest in serial killer investigations, but she had to seek out some assistance for other parts of the novel. Specifically, she had to talk to members of the law enforcement community so that she could accurately portray how they handle these types of investigations.
A fitting example of this is the relationship between law enforcement and reporters. There are countless examples in books and television of the two sides actively working against each other, but this is not always the case. There are occasions when they will join forces to solve a crime.
“Save the Queen City” addresses this unique relationship between law enforcement and reporters. The two main characters do not immediately get along or start working together to solve this case. The friction between them has its own role to play in the story.
“I definitely wanted to show that too,” Vincie said. “Usually, there’s a bit of pushback. They don’t want the media too engrossed in their investigations if they can sort of keep a separation.”
Creating a Novel is a Massive Task
FOX SportsKaitlyn Vincie (center) poses with Todd Bodine (left) & Trevor Bayne (right).
“Save the Queen City” is now available to the public after five years. Vincie can now see the result of her hard work, which can not be understated considering all of the things she had to balance while crafting this tale.
Vincie has a busy schedule. She hosts multiple NASCAR shows for FOX Sports while working alongside Trevor Bayne, Todd Bodine, and other analysts. She travels to races and other important events. She and her husband Blake Harris have two children, and they also run an Airbnb in Black Mountain, N.C.
Vincie had some deadlines to meet, but she was able to take more time with the writing process since she didn’t take the traditional publishing route. Instead, she went with Amazon’s KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), which was the perfect fit for her busy life and her needs. Though there were still some difficulties due to her schedule.
“It was hard, I’m not gonna lie,” Vincie said. “It was sort of whenever I could fit it in was kind of how I did it at first. And when we would travel on the plane, a lot of times I would be working on it. If I ever had downtime in the hotel, I would be working on it. And it definitely took a lot longer than I thought because once you just complete it, that’s only the very beginning. Then it went through two major developmental edits.”
The developmental edits led to some major rewrites as Vincie put more of an emphasis on the investigator and the two-character perspective. After that, there was proofreading, which featured her going through the entire manuscript looking for commas and other little details.
“After I got the first developmental edit back, I was like, ‘Man, this story has a long way to go before I get it to a place where I’m gonna be happy with it,’ where I felt like my editor was going to be happy with it,” Vincie said. “It takes a long time. I don’t think many writers probably come right out of the gate and create a story that’s just incredible. Maybe they do. It doesn’t seem to be that way based on the ones I’ve heard speak about the writing process.
“You would go through so many different drafts. I mean, I would work on one chapter for weeks, move on, and then come back two weeks later and change it again. At a certain point, though, you had to be good with it how it was. You could sit and fine-tune and tweak it for years, but you had to just sort of eventually be like, ‘It’s in a good place. I’m gonna let it go.'”
There were certainly struggles during the process. However, Vincie did not take the easy route and quit. She continued to work and push through before ultimately accomplishing this major life goal. Now, she can sit back and celebrate her accomplishment as the NASCAR season prepares to kick off.
Comments
FOX’s Kaitlyn Vincie Brings Journalistic Authenticity To Debut Novel