Who would guess the woman writing this scene from Carousel Magic has degrees in biological sciences, library science and neuroscience?

But, those are the academic credentials held by Laverne Zaremba Coan, AS ’75, who writes under the name LaVerne St. George. Her striking career switch, the award-winning romance author says, all started when she was employed at a job she learned to hate.

“Writing became an escape, then a habit, then a drive. I work on my writing daily now and feel out of sorts when I don’t,” she says.

The official description of Carousel Magic says, “Thomas Martin never lets feelings get in the way of doing business. As the new owner of the Rocky Rapids Amusement Park, he’s determined to replace the old carousel with video games. The town’s mayor, Ginger Fairchild, is equally determined to fight him. Can Ginger make Tom see the magic of the carousel in time? And, can the carousel work its magic on them both?”

The blurb for A Private Proposal, published by Avalon Books, reads, “Hayley Lancaster hoped to make waves as an information specialist, but hadn’t counted on falling for the company’s president, David Mansfield. The time they spend together is sheer delight and torture, especially when it’s clear that David has trouble with the ‘T’ word—trust. Will the experience of David’s past stand in the way of something beautiful? A tender romance with a touch of mystery.”

Coan says she gets ideas for her books from the life she shares with husband, George Coan Jr., AS ’74, and she writes of things she’d like to share with others.

Carousel Magic, for example, grew out of her interest in old carousels, and A Private Proposal came from her desire to write about her original profession—librarianship. The Master’s Plan, a Christian romance, developed from her interest in medical topics—epilepsy, in this case—and her desire to share her faith.

Her current project, Passionate Secret, ties together her interests in Regency England, the Napoleonic Wars and code breakers.

“In genre literature, you can have infinite variety around a basic premise,” Coan says. “In romance, two people meet, begin to fall in love, discover some conflict to their love, resolve the conflict and are together at the end. From this premise was born the entire breadth of romance literature from sweet love stories to sensuous tales. The creativity of the genre still amazes me.”

Coan says she started writing stories and short novels in elementary school. In junior high, she wrote a novel with a friend based on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. television series.

“Does that date me?” she asks.

The two enterprising teens sent their script to a publisher and got their first rejection letter.

In college, one of Coan’s aunts introduced her to Kathleen Woodiwiss, author of The Flame and the Flower. The romance genre hooked her imagination.

In developing an idea, the story line and character are inseparable, she says. “I usually can’t imagine a story line without a certain type of hero or heroine. Certain aspects of the story line may suggest a quiet heroine or one who is more brassy. The characters, in turn, determine how the story line will work itself out. Motivations, past history, personality all play a role in exactly how the plot will unfold.”

Developing a character, she says, “is like meeting a stranger and learning about that person little by little until you can call him or her a friend.

“I don’t base my characters on anyone I know,” she says, “but I often infuse my characters with particular behaviors or actions that I’ve observed around me.

“As a writer, watching people, listening to them, observing their emotions and empathizing are all important. This is especially true in romance, a genre based on the emotional lives of two main characters.”

When not writing for herself, Coan is busy helping other authors become successful through her company, Open Book Communications. Using libraries, online services and personal contacts, she provides research services to writers, consultants and large companies.

She has, for example, found background material for a novel set in the 1860s in Montana and located information about Vietnam for another book. She’s also answered such varied questions from writers as “What mix of fertilizer chemicals become explosive if mixed with water?” and “I’d like one of my characters to be dying throughout the book. What disease can I use and what treatments are available?”

Why a literary career with her background in the sciences?

“The women in my family have a long history of breast cancer, and as I was growing up, I watched a number of relatives die from the disease,” Coan says. “My first career choice was to earn the science degrees that would lead to a laboratory research career. I intended to cure cancer.

“In my senior year at UD, I worked in a biology lab as an assistant to a grad student and realized that I was headed in the wrong direction. I loved the science, but felt that I was not focused enough for a research career. Also, I’m a social person, and lab research can be very solitary.

“I applied to the library science program at the University of Maryland, but they didn’t have any money until the spring term, so, I spent the fall semester at Vanderbilt University in the biology program (where there was money), affirming that I needed to do something else.”

Once at College Park, she focused on scientific information and special libraries, and, after getting her degree, worked in a variety of information settings—from contracting firms to university libraries to the U.S. Navy.

Meantime, she says, “That unfinished master’s degree in biology bothered me. I knew that to open up my opportunities I would need that second degree.”

While working in the library at the University of Kansas, she completed a nonthesis option master’s degree program in biology. The neuroscience specialty came about because of a gifted professor who inspired her to connect brain physiology to behavior and emotions and supported her desire to use the degree to further her career in biomedical information.

In the end, she landed a job at Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., supporting, to her great pleasure, the cancer drug development program. She had come full circle and, for more than 11 years, played a part in basic cancer research.

Eventually, she says, “writing wrestled its way up near the top of my life goals list,” and she also reached a point in her life where she wanted to have more control over her time. She also says she believed it would take years to build a serious writing career and needed a way, meanwhile, to supplement her income. Thus, Open Book Communications was born.

“Taking my research abilities and offering them to other writers helps maintain my skills and provides a service that I’ve found to be a great help to fellow authors. The research side has expanded to include online database searching and indexing biomedical documents for local companies. I’d like to maintain the current level of activity while I concentrate on my writing.”