Hi guys! As you can imagine I have been extremely busy promoting my novel The Buzz: When celebrity gossip goes wrong… But I wanted to take a few minutes and share with you how I came up with the idea for The Buzz because I get the question often.

About four years ago, I began freelance writing for Unrated Magazine and it was while writing for them I decided to start my blog – The Music Hot Spot. If you’re reading this and know me personally, you know that I love music and am drawn to music on many levels. You would also know that my creativity usually comes out in writing or through music. As a small child, I was classically trained in Suzuki (classical piano instruction). In grammar school, I wrote my first two books, The Two-Inch Boy and The Idea (lol). In highschool I started writing rap and r&b songs. As an adult, I penned my first song for an independent artist.

My life transitioned.

But one thing remained constant.

I was a writer.

I wanted to marry both my loves. Writing and music. And freelance writing allowed me to do that. Soon after completing my first writing assignment for the magazine, I was going to listening parties, interviewing celebrities, attending exclusive events and awards show. And at every turn I learned something new and interesting about the world of celebrity. I learned that celebrities are people just like you and I. That some can have inflated egos, while others are so down to earth you wonder if they really know how popular and adored they are? I learned that artists are extremely passionate  (i.e. Kanye West). I learned that there is an immense amount of scrutiny that goes with fame. But most importantly I learned that at the end of the day every artist is searching for the same thing – buzz!

Clearly, this celebrity life was a novel waiting to happen! But how could I tell the story in a unique way that had never been told before? Unbeknownst to me, the answer would soon come.

While the magazine was a great outlet for me, I was looking for additional ways to share my writing. I wanted to develop my own celebrity world within the confines of a novel. Afterall music was and is a central part of my life, it only made sense.

I would visit one messageboard in particular, Blackvoices.com to gather content for my blog. At that time, Blackvoices.com had one of the most visited and commented on entertainment messageboards on the Internet.

I would lurk.

Which meant…I read but didn’t comment. As writers we are usually observers, so there I was reading gossip on Beyonce, Karrine Steffans, Ashanti and any other celebrity that was creating a buzz at that moment. I would read the exchanges of the fans and “stans” and was intrigued by how intense the conversations would get.

It was upon frequenting Black Voices that I realized how much interest there is in celebrity gossip and that because of the Internet, the music industry was changing. The popularity of an artist could literally change overnight – based on an Internet rumor, a blog posting, or a Youtube video. Gossip blogs were becoming the norm and regular people were posting and sharing celebrity gossip at ever turn.

Then I began to wonder, who starts celebrity gossip? What about a person’s character would make them create a rumor about someone, even if that someone were a celebrity? And really, how harmful is celebrity gossip? Afterall…it does create a buzz! And there came the idea for my debut novel!

The Buzz is told from the perspective of a person who would start celebrity gossip. But also from the perspective of a person trying to break into the music industry and another person who’s recently acquired fame and fortune. What would their lives be like? What would their struggles be? And what would happen if all of their lives collided? Well that’s exactly what happens within the pages of The Buzz. Celebrity gossip. Scandal. Internet addiction. Revenge. But most of all, Buzz!

To purchase a copy of The Buzz: When celebrity gossip goes wrong…please visit our store or visit Amazon.com!

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Stefanie Newell

Writer at Write One Publications, Inc.

Stefanie Newell is an Atlanta-based writer and author of The Buzz: When celebrity gossip goes wrong….You can check out her musings on all things entertainment at TheMusicHotSpot.com and her The Life Of A Writer series on YouTube. http://youtube.com/TheLifeOfAWriter

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